Reflecting his love for 1980s pop songs, Michael Wittmer recently wrote a book entitled “Don’t Stop Believing: Why Living Like Jesus Is Not Enough,” published on Nov. 5 by Zondervan.

Wittmer is a professor of systematic theology at Grand Rapids Theological Seminary. He started working at GRTS in 1996 as an adjunct professor and became full-time in 2000. Wittmer first had the idea to write this book a couple years ago when he noticed that the questions his students were asking started changing.

He said his students started asking questions about things he used to assume they knew. Wittmer said the questions were “about sin, the Atonement, other religions, Hell, and Scripture.”

He wrote the book to address the questions this generation of students is asking.

Wittmer said that the emergent church believes in order to be a Christian people do not have to necessarily believe Christ as the Son of God; they just need to love.

“It doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you love,” Wittmer said is the mantra of the emergent church. He said that they use “following Jesus as a substitute for believing in Jesus.”

On the other hand, Wittmer said he grew up where all he had to do was “say a prayer and be saved. That’s it,” he said. “Following Jesus [was] optional.”

Wittmer said that his book confronts these opposites and “argues for a third way that transcends both.”

“We should believe like the conservatives say and love like the liberals say,” Wittmer said. “It is a false choice to say believe or love.”

Thus, his book asks 10 key questions that address the above mentioned matters.

Wittmer said every chapter begins with a “fundamentalist extreme” and then discusses a balance between this and the emergent church’s view.

Several examples of these questions are reflected in Wittmer’s chapter titles: “Which Is Worse Homosexuals or the Bigots Who Persecute Them?,” “Is Hell For Real and Forever?” and “Must You Believe Something To Be Saved?”

A couple of Cornerstone faculty members familiar with the book had nothing but good things to say.

Douglas Fagerstrom, president of GRTS, said the book “addresses and initiates a thought provoking dialogue on the emergent/postmodern discussion of the direction of Christ’s church.”

Fagerstrom said the book fits well with Dr. Stowell encouraging students to embrace the person, work and word of Jesus.

“This [book] fully engages our young adult culture. It opens up an honest and meaningful conversation,” Fagerstrom said.

Speaking of the content of the book, Fagerstrom said, “I would love to see an open forum of students and faculty coming together to participate in this dialogue.”

“It’s of benefit to the church,” said John Duff, associate professor of Bible, about the book.

“I think it’s well articulated…and accessible to the average reader. It’s not too technical,” he said. This makes the book even easier to grasp for students, not only in content but also in how it reads.

Duff said that Wittmer “wants to say that right belief and right behavior are both emphasized in Scripture.” Duff said he agreed with him.

Duff said, while the book is written primarily for believers, he would encourage everybody to read it.

“It’s very relevant to our community, students and it’s just really relevant to the church in North America,” Duff said.

Duff has used the pre-published book as a supplemental text in his Theology I class and said he might use it in Theology II or Christian Theology. He said the responses that he received from his class were all positive.

“I think the book is timely, and its message reflects the tenor of scripture, that both belief and behavior matter to God,” Duff said.

“Don’t Stop Believing” was not Wittmer’s first book. Wittmer said the first book he wrote, “Heaven Is a Place on Earth,” was also a 1980s pop song, and he hopes to write a third book in the future entitled “Total Eclipse of the Heart.” He is still working out the ideas for that book, however.

Wittmer said he wants any book he writes to “have theological depth, but communicate to a general audience.”

“I hope that the book generates a conversation about the essentials of the Christian faith,” Wittmer said.