Russ Moore on God, the Gospel, and Glenn Beck
Perhaps you’ve heard that Glenn Beck is the newly annointed leader of American evangelicals. It is a self-annointing that has apparently found widespread approval in the secular media (the latter, no doubt, has their own reasons). Lots of Christians seem unconcerned by this, while others are aghast that a Mormon with small government political convictions has so successfully bamboozled socially conservative evangelicals. Co-belligerency, including that of the Religious Right, is a useful strategy for activism, but it always carry the temptation toward syncretism. Thus, we find ourselves at this particular moment in the history of American evangelical Christianity.
My own thinking about Christian cultural engagement, including political engagement, was profoundly influenced by Russ Moore during my two years at Southern Seminary. His teaching (both in the classroom and in our local church) helped me find words to articulate a number of semi-formed thoughts that had been swimming around my head since college. I was not surprised to find that I resonate with Moore’s recent blog post about the Beck controversy, titled “God, the Gospel, and Glenn Beck.” Some choice quotes:
In order to be this gullible, American Christians have had to endure years of vacuous talk about undefined “revival” and “turning America back to God” that was less about anything uniquely Christian than about, at best, a generically theistic civil religion and, at worst, some partisan political movement.
Rather than cultivating a Christian vision of justice and the common good (which would have, by necessity, been nuanced enough to put us sometimes at odds with our political allies), we’ve relied on populist God-and-country sloganeering and outrage-generating talking heads. We’ve tolerated heresy and buffoonery in our leadership as long as with it there is sufficient political “conservatism” and a sufficient commercial venue to sell our books and products.
Too often, and for too long, American “Christianity” has been a political agenda in search of a gospel useful enough to accommodate it.
The answer to this scandal isn’t a retreat, as some would have it, to an allegedly apolitical isolation. Such attempts lead us right back here, in spades, to a hyper-political wasteland. If the churches are not forming consciences, consciences will be formed by the status quo, including whatever demagogues can yell the loudest or cry the hardest. The answer isn’t a narrowing sectarianism, retreating further and further into our enclaves. The answer includes local churches that preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, and disciple their congregations to know the difference between the kingdom of God and the latest political whim.
I’d highly recommend you read the whole thing.
3 Responses to “Russ Moore on God, the Gospel, and Glenn Beck”
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Nathan A. Finn serves as Associate Professor of Historical Theology and Baptist Studies at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina. He's a husband, father, elder, baseball enthusiast, and Broadway musical fan. He's still trying to figure out why we drive on parkways and park on driveways.
[...] Finn, Professor of Church History at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, wrote on his blog One Baptist Perspective: Perhaps you’ve heard that Glenn Beck is the newly annointed [...]
Nathan,
Surely we aren’t to confuse political activism or social justice with the Gospel. But aren’t we to actively apply those eternal convictions and truths to the vocational setting in which the Lord has been pleased to place us and avoid being held captive by worldly philosophies? Arent’ we to have a holistic biblical worldview that governs our reactions to circumstances and secular thought in order to fulfill the call to subdue the earth. Leaving our friend Beck aside, what is your view of the cultural mandate?
John,
I agree with everything you said. I do believe we have a cultural mandate, and I think that Beck (or any other non-believer) is a potential ally in aspects of that mandate. My problem is that far too many evangelicals are confusing the cultural mandate with the Great Commission (or revival, or whatever) and adopting an “All-American syncretism” that clouds the gospel. I am 100% for co-belligerency, but not in a way that clouds or redefines the gospel. Too many conservative Christians are more the former than the latter. I expect that from Beck. It troubles me when Southern Baptists, Presbyterians, Pentecostals, and non-denominational folks start talking like that.
Jane,
Since your comment was directed to Dr. Moore and not to me, I opted not to publish it. Please engage him at his blog.