Nice Radical Centrist take...
Beyond Evangelical
| The Blog of Frank Viola Following Jesus Beyond the Culture Wars
I wrote the following post on Saturday, November 3, 2012 . .
. 3 days before the world knew who the next USA President
would be. And at Jonathan Merritt’s suggestion, I decided to
wait and publish it today.
Here it is . . .
–
Saturday: November 3, 2012
When I publish this post on Wednesday, the United States will
know who their next President is for the next four years.
Upon learning this news, one part of my country is so angry
right now their eyes are crossing. Others are so depressed
they feel lower than a whale’s navel.
Still others are euphoric . . . or relieved.
And then there are those who aren’t paying attention and
don’t care two hoots.
A reminder to all: Jesus of Nazareth is still on the
throne. Everything is under His control. Whether “your
man” won or lost, Jesus is our ultimate hope for this world.
That said, a new book that may help Americans to think
through where their country stands politically is Jonathan
Merritt’s A
Faith of Our Own: Following Jesus Beyond the Culture Wars.
(The title of this post comes straight from Merritt’s book.)
In some ways, Jonathan Merritt’s book is a follow-up to Carl
F. Henry’s classic work, The Uneasy Conscience of Modern
Evangelicalism, Hal Miller’s seminal piece The
Uneasy Conscience of Modern Evangelicalism, and James
Barr’s Beyond Fundamentalism . . . only with a
stronger political emphasis added to it.
Kristen Powers,
Fox News Political and USA Today contributor, wrote the
Foreword to Merritt’s book.
Cal Thomas (USA Today columnist and Fox News contributor), Ed
Stetzer (president of LifeWay Research), and Ronald Sider
(author of Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger)
wrote strong endorsements.
In addition, New Testament scholar Scot McKnight highlighted
Merritt’s book numerous times on his blog.
Last week, I interviewed Jonathan Merritt on his new book.
Here it is . . .
![A Faith Of Our Own: Following Jesus Beyond The Culture
Wars -<br /><br /> By: Jonathan
Merritt</p><br />
<p>]()
Jonathan, why did you write this book and what is the
main thesis?
Jonathan Merritt: I wrote this book because I saw so many
young Christians who had grown frustrated by what the
Christian movement in America had become. Their
disillusionment stems, in part, from the American church’s
partisan political entanglement. These Christians love Jesus
but they don’t think the church should be the handmaiden of
either political party.
I understand the frustration of my peers because I grew up in
the inner-sanctum of the religious right. My dad was President
of the largest protestant denomination in America, the
Southern Baptist Convention.
Jerry Falwell was a family friend who paid for my college
education. Growing up in this context, I witnessed the way the
church has become intertwined with partisan politics. A
Faith of Our Own provides hope that there is a better
way.
Any work that challenges traditional or status quo
thinking is going to be attacked. And some who can’t refute
an argument on its own merits will
misrepresent it by creating straw man scenarios. Has
your book been misrepresented at all? If so, what have the
misrepresentations been and what is your response to them?
Jonathan Merritt: Yes. Such is the burden of most any
creative work, I suppose. Some say this book is anti-religious
right. That isn’t true. I believe the Christian Left is
equally complicit, and I point that out.
Others say it is pietistic, that I encourage Christians to
become apolitical and do good works instead. This is not true
either, for following Jesus cannot be purely a private matter.
Others claim that I’m just promoting political liberalism.
That’s also false. When I call for a ceasefire in the culture
wars, I’m not asking people to keep fighting, just for the
other side. I’m talking about a different approach altogether.
The fact that the book has endorsements from those on
the Right and the Left should clue any thinking person into
the fact that the above assertions are misrepresentations of
your book. Thanks for clarifying your position for those who
may be swayed by inaccurate reviews before reading the book
themselves. Moving on, what do you see happening with the
future of evangelicalism?
Jonathan Merritt: Contrary to what some believe,
evangelicalism is not (and has never been) monolithic. I think
it will continue to be a banner under which a range of
Christians will be able to gather. As this book shows,
however, I think we are seeing a less-partisan,
less-polemical, less-power hungry _expression_ of the faith
arise. And this, I believe, is a good turn.
I agree. That’s what I’m observing as well in the
broader body of Christ as I travel and speak into different
settings. What does “a faith of your own” mean and how do
God’s people move “beyond the culture wars,” as you put it?
Jonathan Merritt: The title of the book, comes from a story
of a faith struggle I had in seminary. A friend recommended
Faust by Goethe and I read the following quote: “That which
you have received as heritage, now discover for yourself, and
thus you shall make it your own.”
In that moment, I realized that I could maintain respect for
the faith of my father and grandfathers but I also needed to
make it my own. As it turns out, this is a call to all those
who desire to follow Jesus in this era. When considering
Christian history, Albert Schweitzer once said, “Each
successive epoch found its own thoughts on Jesus, which was
indeed the only way it could make him live.”
Who specifically should read your book and why?
Jonathan Merritt: A
Faith of Our Own is for Christians who are discouraged,
disillusioned, or disenchanted with how partisan the American
church has become. Unlike similar books–that curse the
darkness without lighting a candle–this book will force
readers to dream and hope.
That’s much the same audience for my book, Beyond
Evangelical, which has resonated with countless
Christians who are disaffected by the Christian Right and
the Christian Left categories. In that regard, voices like
yours, Scot McKnight, Roger Olson, N.T. Wright, Leonard
Sweet, Greg Boyd, and the late Michael Spencer are
resonating with more and more evangelicals today who are
looking for a way beyond the Right and Left paradigms.
See also 20
Reasons Why the Christian Right & the Christian Left
Won’t Adopt Me
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