"The Courage to Stand" penned by Russell D. Moore is an empowering exploration of what it means to uphold one's convictions in a world full of challenges. Moore's central message revolves around the idea that, despite facing opposition and uncertainty, individuals can find the strength to stand firm in their beliefs by drawing upon their faith and a deep sense of purpose. Through engaging anecdotes and thoughtful insights, the book urges readers to embrace their values, even when it's difficult, and to navigate the complexities of contemporary life with courage and integrity.

As I delved into the pages of "The Courage to Stand," I discovered that the book offers a roadmap for overcoming fear and doubt. Moore's stories about individuals who stood up for what they believed, often in the face of criticism or backlash, provided me with a renewed sense of hope and inspiration. One key takeaway is that courage isn't the absence of fear, but the choice to act despite it. Moore also delves into the idea that one's beliefs should shape their actions, even when it's counter-cultural. This book helped me see that my convictions matter, and that standing up for what I believe in is a vital part of living a meaningful life.

I recommend "The Courage to Stand" to anyone who has ever felt pressured to compromise their beliefs or stay silent in the face of opposition. Whether you're a student navigating peer pressure, a professional facing ethical dilemmas, or simply someone seeking to live authentically, this book offers valuable insights and encouragement. Moore's writing is accessible and relatable, making this book suitable for individuals of all backgrounds. Reading this book could be a turning point in discovering the inner strength needed to navigate life's challenges with unwavering courage and integrity.

"The arc of history is long, but it bends toward Jesus."

A strong book filled with personal stories as well as lots of biblical narrative exposited from both Old and New Testaments. It's cheesily funny, strongly encouraging, and an enjoyable read. It came out last fall so knowing the decisions Moore later announced regarding the SBC, it strikes me as a deeply learned and felt book.

Moore examines different aspects of fear: anxiety, shame, integrity, vulnerability, community, justice, and the future. This is mostly helpful and poignant, though a bit rambling at times. I really appreciated many of his literary examples (Poe, Tolkien, Lewis, Wendell Berry).

My one criticism is in the second chapter he conflates fear with [clinical] anxiety, and completely ignores commonly known poly-vagal information. This may be an unhelpful "man up" call for some, but keep reading as later chapters are much stronger.

"Elijah was courageous because he learned how to be afraid in the right way. And so must you. You, like he, will walk through the valley of the shadow of death, and the only way you can learn to fear no evil is to conclude that someone is walking with you, someone is, in fact, shepherding you (Ps. 23), even when you cannot see him. We walk not around that valley but straight through it. That's how we learn that we can trust him. That's how we learn to be brave. The demons are there in the dark, that's true, but they are not the only things chasing you. Goodness and mercy are too."

"Good news: Judgment Day is coming. Even better news Judgment Day has already come. And here you stand, hidden in Christ, hearing the verdict pronounced over you that was pronounced long ago over the waters of Jordan and again at an empty garden tomb: "This is my beloved child, in whom I am well-pleased." The criterion is not the strength of your faith—weak and wavering as it no doubt is—but rather, the criterion is the Life to which that faith has joined you, the crucifiable but irrepressible life of Jesus."

I started Russell Moore’s latest book last week, having no idea that I would be reading it right alongside the headlines about his leaked letter regarding the SBC. It’s been such a striking and timely combination, and I am ever-grateful for Moore’s words and his look into the life of Elijah through these pages.

This book has me praying for more courage— not the cutesy inspirational kind that’s printed on mugs but the real, forged-in-fire kind of virtue.

I'm not terribly familiar with Dr. Moore, to be honest with you. I know him by reputation, but this book was my first careful encounter with this work. I appreciated his honesty, transparency, and analysis of ongoing situations. There is certainly much to consider in matters of courage these days, and Dr. Moore touches on several of them. There were times when the jumps from one chapter to the next didn't flow for me as much as I would have liked, but the conclusion did bring it all together very nicely. The book is certainly Scripture-filled and thought-provoking. A solid read.

I received a digital copy of this book from NetGalley to enable me to provide an honest review.

The Courage to Stand: Facing Your Fear without Losing Your Soul by Russell D. Moore is a phenomenal book. I was excited to read this book because the topic sounded promising. What I found in this book surpassed my expectations. This book blew me away. I found myself highlighting passage after passage and taking time to ponder the words of this book. This is the first book that I have read by this author but not the last. I highly recommend this book and have recommended it to family who purchased it as a result. It is an important read. I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher with no obligations. These opinions are entirely my own.

This book was good. Not the biggest can of Russell Moore but he gave great insight on today's issues and what hills to die on

I have been blessed by Russell Moore's writing. His blogs, his books, and social media posts are always so insightful. He has a way of communicating the truth that makes me think long after I am finished. His newest book, The Courage to Stand, is excellent as well. Set with the backdrop of the story of Elijah, Dr. Moore discusses how we can have courage and not fear. He points us to the Gospel as he always so eloquently does. What a great read for our day.

It's a great book. I came to know Russell Moore through the release of this book. His honesty and writing style really cultivate me. In the Courage to Stand he talks about courage using the example of the life of Elijah in a way i have never considered before. With a healthy biblical view he helps the readers to face their fears and pointing them to Jesus Christ which is the one who gives the Courage to Stand. He exposes "issues" that we are facing every day as a Christian in the midst of our church community that so many people dont dare to talk about and sadly these issues have hurt so many resulting in either abandoning their churches or even the faith. Throug his beatiful testimony Russell Moore encourages you to keep walking with integrity keeping your eyes on Jesus. I totally recommind this book as a study book in churches or small groups.

I always enjoy reading and listening to Russell Moore - this book is no exception. A lot to think about and I appreciate his vulnerability.

The Courage to Stand
Facing Your Fear without Losing Your Soul
by Russell D. Moore
B&H Publishing Group (B&H Books, Holman Bibles, B&H Español, and B&H Kids)
B&H Books
Christian | Religion & Spirituality



I am reviewing a copy of The Courage to Stand trough B&H Publishing Group and Netgalley:




We live in a time of fear, and cowardice, there are some that are anxious and withdrawn, seeking to hide from whatever has them scared. Others mask their fear by resorting to bullying and quarreling. The root of all our fear if that we lose our belonging in whatever tribe in which we seek safety, the fear that we might have to stand alone.





We face a crisis not of clarity but a crisis of courage. It is not so much that we lack knowledge but the fact that we often lack courage, despite the fact that Jesus told us to stand with courage. Standing with courage does not mean we will be fearless though, it means that we will know how to face our fear and keep walking toward the voice that calls us homeward. The courage we find through the Gospel, through his word is nothing like the Bravado we find in an an anxious world.


The call to courage is terrifying, because it is a call to be crucified.





Russell D Moore calls readers of The Courage to Stand to a Christ-empowered courage by pointing the way to real freedom from fear—the way of the cross. The way of the cross means integrity through brokenness, community through loneliness, power through weakness, and a future through irrelevance.



If you are looking for a powerful read on what courage is and what it isn’t, I highly recommend The Courage to Stand!



I give The Courage to Stand five out of five stars!



Happy Reading!

Think of a time you took a risk to stand for something important. What did you stand for? What was the result?
When I think of standing for God against a culture that runs from His love and authority (whether that culture is among His people or in the broader world), my mind has always gone to prophets. Elijah’s stand for God against the prophets of Baal is a particularly vivid narrative that comes to mind. And if you were to ask me who I think of as a modern prophet, my mind would immediately go to Russell Moore. It is fitting, then, that Russell Moore’s new book, The Courage to Stand, speaks on how to stand on God’s Word and His promises, even in fear, and he uses Elijah as the engine of the narrative. I cannot think of a more perfect combination of message, messenger, audience, and exemplar for the church for this crazy year in which we are all currently living.
When talking about “courage” or “standing for truth”, our culture often dictates what that means without us even realizing it. Our modern notion of those terms has taken a masculine turn that equates worldly strength or power with the ability to “stand”. Dr. Moore writes to disabuse us of that unhelpful notion. His primary message is clear in an early passage:
What it means to “stand” for Christ is not, it turns out, to evacuate our internal lives of all fear, or to humiliate our enemies with incontrovertible “winning,” but instead to live out in our very lives the drama of the cross. That means that courage does not come from matching the world’s power and wisdom with more of our own, but instead by being led, like Elijah, where we do not want to go (John 21:18). The courage to stand is the courage to be crucified.
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This shifts the paradigm of courage for many of us. It becomes not the alpha-male prototype that we see in the world, but instead a type of servant leadership that is rarely seen outside of the church. But what makes this so much different is when it comes into practice. Moore writes:
The problem is that much of what is actually defined as courage in Scripture — the bridling of the passions, kindness, humility — is seen as timidity, while many who feel themselves “courageous” because they “tell it like it is” are really just seeking to be part of their protective tribes, even when those tribes are boisterous and angry.
So the courage to stand requires knowledge of Scripture (as much as possible, not just handpicked verses), knowledge of Jesus, and a relationship with God where you are guided by him at every turn. That is why you know it when you see it. It’s noticeable because it is overwhelmingly strange. But why is it so important to stand for what God says? Can’t God handle things all on His own? Why do we need to be vocal and go where we don’t want to go? And why is it so important that we’re standing for the right things? These may sound like silly questions to ask out loud, but if we don’t internalize them and ask ourselves where we fail in standing for God’s truth, it can have disastrous consequences. In a shocking and raw moment, Moore shares that he has maps in his home that act as a reminder for what he almost was:
And what I almost was is a teenage suicide.
How is this related to having the courage to stand? In two ways. First, Moore was able to find that courage and survive. But second, he spiraled into this place because he felt that, outside of his local church, Jesus was being used as a prop and nothing more. It was being used to legitimize racism, cover up abuse, and enrich hucksters. And for Moore, that meant his life had no meaning. He lays it bare:
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If Christianity were just a means to an end, if Jesus were just a hood ornament on top of southern honor culture, then that means that what held everything in the cosmos together was not the Sermon on the Mount but the survival of the fittest. All that would be left is a universe red in tooth and claw, a universe that at its heart is not about love but about power. If that were so, then, however well-intentioned the people were who taught me to sing it, Jesus didn’t love me, no matter how the Bible told us so. I wanted to die — and I realize only now that my life as a writer started not with my writing short stories or essays but suicide notes, trying to explain why I didn’t want to hurt anyone but that I couldn’t bear to live.
You’re reading this, so listen up. How we act matters. How we represent the gospel matters. How we treat others, especially those who are less powerful, matters. Because there are kids and adults looking at our behavior, looking at what the Bible teaches, and deciding if those two match or not. And if they, because of our behavior, decide that Christianity cannot be the truth because the people who follow it are, at their core, just like everyone else, they will die without knowing our Lord and Savior who can sweep in and make dead, rotting hearts alive again. We have to let God change us to our very core. Be transformed heart, soul, and mind. People’s lives, temporally and eternally, are at stake. We cannot be Christians and be of the world. We must have the courage to stand and be crucified.
But if courage looks like radical sacrificial servanthood to God, what does cowardice look like? Moore helps us understand that as well. He unearths exemplars of cowardice from the story of Elijah, Ahab, and Jezebel:
The very reason the Baals (the false gods) existed in Israel was due to fear. Ahab and Jezebel were from two opposing nations, not because they were Romeo and Juliet star-crossed lovers, but as an act of pragmatic statecraft. The marriage was no doubt part of a geopolitical alliance meant to stave off hostilities, from one another and from other potentially hostile powers. Moreover, the people participating no doubt did so because they feared the royal house. They did not want what would happen to Elijah to happen to them — exile and presumed death. And, of course, there were (there always are) the court prophets, those who would tell the king precisely what he wanted to hear, for fear of losing their access, their influence, or their heads. That’s cowardice.
The pursuit of worldly power is cowardice. I’m going to keep my tongue in check here because I don’t want to put words in Dr. Moore’s mouth, but I can imagine what modern “court prophets” he has in mind. And he would be right.
But before we think, “Well yeah, I always stand for God’s Word when the whole world is going against it”, we must make sure that what we are standing for is God’s Word and not the word of our political tribes or ideologies. That’s what is most dangerous, Moore warns:
Those who “fight” but who don’t fight the right enemy in the right way are the equivalent of the person who, in order to vent his anger, slams his fist into a wall while his family is being murdered in the next room. Such venting of emotion may help the man to feel better about himself, but is of no help at all to the real danger afoot.
And before we think that being counter-cultural means castigating the culture of the world for everything they are doing wrong and propping up professed Christians (whether actually Christian or not) at all costs, Moore points us to Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians:
“For what have I to do with judging outsiders?” the apostle Paul wrote. “Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge?” (1 Cor. 5:12). Why is this the case? “God judges those outside” (1 Cor. 5:13). The church is freed from acting as rulers over the outside world, ripping the weeds up from among the crops or separating out the goats away from the sheep, precisely because we know there is a future Day of Judgment to come, and that we will not be the ones on the throne there.
…Clearly, the Scriptures call us to judge those on the inside, who bear the name of brother, and not those on the outside. Doing the reverse can make for a much easier ministry, as a hack.
So cool it off with the pitchforks pointed toward the outside world, put them down, and look to Jesus. We should be defensive of God’s people, not American culture. God has a bright, eternal future for us, and we must stay focused on that. We bring as many people with us as we possibly can, and let God deal with the rest. That means evangelism, discipleship, and accountability, in that order.
I could write for days about Russell Moore’s The Courage to Stand, but it comes out tomorrow (October 6th), so I must stop and simply recommend it to literally every Christian who can read and every non-Christian who doubts the authenticity of Christians. Dr. Moore is the most authentic, prophetic writer I have ever read. Readers of my year-end favorite books list know that Moore features prominently when I read one of his works (2017 and 2018), and this year will be no exception. The Courage to Stand is essential reading.
I received a review copy of The Courage to Stand courtesy of B&H Publishing and NetGalley, but my opinions are my own

This book is really interesting. It's not getting 5 stars because I dont think it achieves its goal, but having said that, each chapter does delve deeper into its topic than the usual 21st century book. Russel Moore's writings are always a good read.

Thank you B&H Books and netgalley for this arc of The Courage to Stand to review! This book will absolutely be one of my favorite personal development, spiritual books of the year! My husband and I both respect and enjoy Russell Moore's writings already, and this book didn't disappoint.

In this book, Moore teaches how Christians can be courageous in our faith and in Christ following the story of Elijah. I'm familiar with those Old Testament tales of the legendary prophet, but I've never studied him like this. Moore brought Elijah's story to life and reminded me how we can have the same courage as Elijah did in the face of our current political, spiritual, relational, and personal circumstances. Our God transcends time and place, generation and country. Moore highlights that as we live and act upon our faith, we must remember how big our God is! So much bigger than our current troubles.

And more than that, Moore does indeed touch upon some of US 2020's dramas. He does a superb job of touching upon the racial injustices and fear for our health that we've seen this year. However, he does so in a way that is not so specific to this year that this writing will be irrelevant next year. The tact and clarity in his words are impressive, and I'm grateful for Christian authors to touch on this so respectfully. He makes smart arguments defining morality vs moralism and personal vs social justice.

Every chapter spoke to me. Every chapter stirred my heart. Every chapter stoked my awe of our God and His Word.

My biggest criticism for this book, and I'm tempted to take a star off for this, is that it's just so long. The chapters are so long. Very long. And there are no breaks, no sections or subsections. The flow of the chapters makes sense and builds wonderfully upon itself, but it could very easily have had titled sections within each chapter to give the reader a mental break, a visual tool to mark Moore's points, and a stopping point if the reader needs to put the book down before chapter end. While the subject matter is not so advanced for any adult to read, the length makes it harder to recommend to folks who are not already enthusiastic readers.

I will post a further review to my Instagram (bookstagram) account, Goodreads, and Amazon closer to publication date. I've already pre ordered copies because I love it so much!