The electronic stopping power of liquid water for protons over the 50 keV to 10 MeV energy range is studied using an improved dielectric response model which is in good agreement with the best available experimental data. The mean excitation energy (I) of stopping power theory is calculated to be 77.8 eV. Shell corrections are accounted for in a self-consistent manner through analytic dispersion relations for the momentum dependence of the dielectric function. It is shown that widely used dispersion schemes based on the random-phase approximation (RPA) can result in sizeable errors due to the neglect of damping and local field effects that lead to a momentum broadening and shifting of the energy-loss function. Low-energy Born corrections for the Barkas, Bloch and charge-state effects practically cancel out down to 100 keV proton energies. Differences with ICRU Report 49 stopping power values and earlier calculations are found to be at the approximately 20% level in the region of the stopping maximum. The present work overcomes the limitations of the Bethe formula below 1 MeV and improves the accuracy of previous calculations through a more consistent account of the dielectric response properties of liquid water.