David Wells

David Wells

David F. Wells (born 1939) is a Christian theologian and an ordained Congregational minister. He is also the Andrew Mutch Distinguished Professor of historical and systematic theology at Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary, South Hamilton, Massachusetts.

Wells has a ThM from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (1967), a PhD from the University of Manchester (1969), and post-doctoral Research Fellow from Yale Divinity School (1973-74).

Dr. Wells began teaching at Trinity Divinity School in 1969, advancing to full professor and appointed chair of the department of church history. In 1977 he was named to the chair of the division of systematic theology. He joined the faculty at Gordon-Conwell full-time in 1979.^[1]

The Cambridge Declaration

"Both the conference and the eventual declaration came about as a result of David F. Wells' 1993 book No Place for Truth or Whatever Happened to Evangelical Theology? (ISBN 080280747X). This book was highly critical of the Evangelical church in America for abandoning its historical and theological roots, and instead embracing the philosophies and pragmatism of the world."

"While not a best seller, the book was critically acclaimed by a number of important Evangelical leaders. In 1994 a number of these leaders formed the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. Since much of Wells' thesis stemmed from the modern church's abandonment of historical confessions of faith (such as The Westminster Confession and the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith), the Alliance was based upon Evangelicals who not only adhered to these Reformed confessions of faith, but were able to direct their ministries accordingly." ^[2]

Selected publications

• The Courage to Be Protestant: Truth-lovers, Marketers, and Emergents in the Postmodern World. Eerdmans, 2008. ISBN 0802840078
• Above All Earthly Pow'rs: Christ In A Postmodern World. Eerdmans, 2006 ISBN 0802824552
• Losing Our Virtue: Why the Church Must Recover Its Moral Vision. Eerdmans, 1998.
• No Place for Truth, or Whatever Happened to Evangelical Theology. Eerdmans, 1993.
• ed., Reformed Theology in America: A History of Its Modern Development. Eerdmans, 1985.
• The Use of the Bible in Theology: Evangelical Options. Westminster John Knox 1985.
• The Person of Christ: A Biblical and Historical Analysis of the Incarnation. Crossway, 1984.
• The Search for Salvation. InterVarsity Press, 1978.

References

1. ↑ http://www.gordonconwell.edu/faculty/wells.php
2. ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cambridge_Declaration#.22No_Place_for_Truth.22

External links

• Faculty page
• Eerdmans interview with Wells on Above all Earthly Pow'rs
• No Place for Complacency: David Wells on The Courage to Be Protestant, an interview by Collin Hansen at Christianity Today

Online writings

• The Nature and Function of Theology
• The Word in the World
• Is the acknowledgement of God's Holiness Essential?
• Regeneration (Psalm 51)