Book Review: When Christians Disagree by Tim Cooper

Not everyone is going to agree with you. That is a fact of life. That is including those in the church. I always thought that Christians agreed on everything except for personal opinions. I was wrong.

Not every Christian is going to agree on matters of interpreting the Bible and theological beliefs. Not every Christian agrees on baptism, Bible translations, church government, etc. In our social media age, we have seen Christians disagree and sometimes it can get nasty.

Christians disagreeing with one another is nothing new. Tim Cooper, in his book, When Christians Disagree, dives into church history as two prominent figures that had some issues with one another, John Owen and Richard Baxter. 

Cooper begins with a brief look at Owen and Baxter's background which includes their experiences in life and their theological developments. They did have some similarities in their theology, but they had some disagreements that led to Baxter calling Owen a messenger of Satan and Owen condemning Baxter's pride and arrogance. Sounds like Christians disagreeing on social media.

I won't go into great detail as to what were cause their conflict, but I will tell you that, according to Cooper, Baxter and Owen never reconciled. This is sad that two men like Owen and Baxter never truly reconciled before they died. 

Why should Christians read this book? We can learn how to disagree and do it better than those who have gone before us. Yes, we may never see eye-to-eye on everything, but the Bible does say to pursue peace with everyone (Hebrews 12:14) and forgive as the Lord forgave you (Colossians 3:13). 

I received this book from Crossway in exchange for an honest review.