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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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