The Evangelical Outpost is running a series of posts entitled Know Your Evangelicals.
I’m getting a kick out of it. Person number seven is up. I haven’t gone back in the series to see why Joe has picked these particular people, but I have noticed they have some things in common.
a) They are highly educated US citizens
b) They are male
c) They are white, with the exception of a Reverend T.D. Jakes
One of Joe’s sub-headers is ‘why you’ve heard of him.’
I haven’t heard of many of these guys, but apparently they are famous. I’ll crawl back under my bear rug in my igloo now.
If you’d like to read about an evangelical who has achieved a different kind of fame, head over to Real Live Preacher’s post on a man named Red Davis.
Update: I went back and found out why Joe is running this series.
Contrary to the way we may be portrayed in the media, not all evangelicals think alike. You would be mistaken, for example, in assuming that because Jim Wallis is an “evangelical activist” that he’s would agree with the views of the “religious right” (he doesn’t). Or that referring to a person’s political persuasion as “progressive evangelical” is an oxymoron (it isn’t). While we may tend to agree on the most basic theological issues, on social concerns there is a broad spectrum of views. Some evangelicals, for instance, are vehemently opposed to same-sex marriages while others support “gay rights.”
In order to help clear some of the confusion about “who’s who” and where particular evangelicals stand on the issues, I’ve decided to start this intermittent series in order to profile the views and backgrounds of some of the leading thinkers, leaders, publications, and organizations within evangelicalism.
If you are interested in how religion is portrayed in the media or religious writers, you might like The Revealer or GetReligion.
Quantum Tea asks a very basic question…does everything have to be ministry?
Dr. Mark Byron is beat, kind of burned out on hard news, settling into a new life, and mentally and emotionally tired. That is quite understandable. I had a news director who cared more about his staff than about getting the news out.
And I think thats why it was an efficient newsroom. He’d notice when we got low, and would send us out on a ’soft’ news story, like a day at a provincial park. Soft news is actually a bit harder to write, you drive yourself so hard, it’s hard to slow down, relax and get creative.
There is a new way to communicate on blogs. It’s called the Chatango and it works like MSN messenger. Cre8d has one. When you type a message in, the blogger gets a popup window like messenger. And only you and the blogger can see what is being said. Unlike a tag board, it’s real time.
Redwood Dragon nearly lost his beloved dog Oka. If you are a bit squeamish, don’t head over. Oka is recovering. What is sobering is that it may have been a small peice of a plant…
Foxtail awns (the pointed, dual-spined seed packages shown here) are designed to work their way into the ground under the impetus of the slightest breeze, and will easily do the same to flesh. Their points are incredibly sharp, and the spines are covered with microscopic barbs that point backwards so that they only move one way: deeper. Back in April Oka had an episode of coughing, and his x-rays indicated some lung irritation, so it is quite possible that he inhaled a foxtail, which then worked his way out of his lung, through the pleural membrane, and into his subcutaneous layer. If so, he is very fortunate it didn’t take a slight turn into his abdominal cavity, with resulting peritonitis, and further did not damage any muscle tissue. Mind you, a foxtail doesn’t have to be inhaled to cause this kind of damage: they often enter a dog’s body from between its toes, or even, in thick-coated dogs, through the skin. (Today, in a somewhat Dantean mood, I was thinking about suitable Infernal punishment for the Spaniards who introduced the damned things to California, and pretty much wiped out the native grasses in the process.)
If you are squeamish, don’t click on this. It is about a poster, with old fashioned type like a handbill. It is facts, gruesome, hard facts. No pictures. As old looking as war and death themselves. Stark. Words. Numbers. Black. White. Life. Death. Haunting, unbelievably haunting. I think of parents counting the fingers and toes of their newborn. The numbers shake even a statistican.
While Fragments from Floyd is away, sneak over to his blog, enjoy his amazing photographs and drink in some well told lessons about Queen Anne’s Lace, Liverwort, Joe Pye. Many urban dwellers if they see these at all, call them weeds. And follow the adventures of Waldo, a watersnake that has taken up residence.
Gee, looked in the mirror lately mate?
Do you have a sexy name? The Green Man found this one. If you are a Matt you may and if you are a Paul, well…
Go to school kid…Mike looks at how some tourists treat begging children.
he was begging, of course. I see him often; he comes from a homeless camp down in the valley, and like most of the beggars up here, he comes in order to gain a little bit of income from the tourists in town. Now, the digruntled American obviously objected to being ‘harrassed’ by the kid, and decided to give him some ‘friendly’ advice. “Go to school!” he was shouting. “Understand? GO TO SCHOOL!”
Stranger in a Strange Land is heading back to her birthland.
I am heading off now to what is on paper my homeland. However, I am not fully American anymore. I am a Bosanka, or at least a Bosansko-Amerikanka. America is to me as much a Strange Land in some ways as Bosnia has been. Therefore, while there will be some blog silence as I travel home and get settled, you can expect that in the near future you can find me blogging here with a redesigned site still as a Stranger in a Strange Land. I hope to be able to use the blog to process my reentry and reverse culture shock.
And Virtual-Doug remains in the States, with his heart reaching toward Viet Nam.
Life at work is the norm, but as I confided to a friend, my heart is not there. I feel guilty that I don’t submerse myself in my work with the same enthusiasm as I normally have. My mind seems to have already retired, despite the fact the decision to go to Viet Nam in February has not been made yet, and despite the fact I have not told anyone in an official position that I intend to retire.
Someday - someday soon.
(just a few evangelicals - and why might want to hear about them)
Advertising in online news
On line spending in the US is estimated to reach 8.4 billion dollars this year.
And as the competition for our dollar gets stronger, a new way of advertising has sprung up. Embedded ad words in a news piece.
Published 4 years agoRising from this volatile mix of competing interests is a product called IntelliTxt by Vibrant Media. It works by underlining certain words in an article so that when a reader runs his cursor over one of them, an ad springs up. For example, in a story on antivirus software, words like “virus,” “security” and “worms” might be highlighted. Then readers, if they so choose, could mouse over one or all of them, click on a “sponsored link” and go straight to the advertiser’s website.
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Bene,
***I have noticed they have some things in common.***
***a) They are highly educated US citizens***
There are a few Canadians (mostly from Regent’s College) and Brits (i.e., Alister McGrath, John Stott, Os Guinness) on the way. While evangelicalism is growing into a world-wide movement, the majority of its adherents still come from Europe and North America.
***b) They are male***
I’ve tried to find influential female thinkers and activists in evangelicalism but they are a rare species! I can think of numerous women in the Christian entertainment industry but they are harder to find in other areas.
***c) They are white, with the exception of a Reverend T.D. Jakes***
Well, most evangelicals come from America, Canada, or England which are mostly white countries. Only 13% of the U.S. population is black so black evangelicals are already overrepresented on my list. ; )
Honestly, though, I think it is easy to make too much of demographic criteria. While Christianity should be inclusive and exclude no one based on their race, gender, or country of origin it shouldn’t make too much of those factors either. After all, we could argue that male, middle-eastern Jews had far too much influence on the early church.
***I haven’t heard of many of these guys, but apparently they are famous.***
Not necessarily famous, just influential. One of the reasons I started the series was because I often hear names over and over (i.e., Jurgen Habermas) without really having a clear idea of who they are or what they stand for. I figured that other people had the same experience.
Most of the people I have profiled so far are regularly mentioned in the U.S. media but I intend to get to more obscure names soon. I want to show people that “evangelicals” are not all like Jerry Falwell or Pat Robertson.
Hi Joe:
Good luck to you.
Okay. Influencial works as opposed to famous. How you would define influencial? Noun, verb?
Question for you…do you believe that the average person believes that Jerry Falwell or Pat Robertson represent ‘evangelicals’? I see those two men as cariatures, so desperate for the spotlight, so needy for attention and power they’ll use whatever they have to.
LoL. If I read scripture correctly and even history, lineage was defined by patriarchy.
That doesn’t minimize others from Ethopians to women, it’s perhaps that we just notice what is in front of us. I don’t assume that male middle eastern Jews had far too much influence on the early church. I dare to strongly state that many of the people who influenced them so they wrote, worked or got written about were just as critical to the whole, your’ male middle eastern Jews just got the credit.’
I accept your demographics, I don’t know the race distribution in the US. It wasn’t a criticism, just an observation.
I think I understand what you are attempting to accomplish. In some ways I find a painful dicotomy and your qualifier true but sad.
***Honestly, though, I think it is easy to make too much of demographic criteria. While Christianity should be inclusive and exclude no one based on their race, gender, or country of origin it shouldn’t make too much of those factors either***
What choice do you really have?
How God finds people and how we find people really are poles apart.
Each generation raises people of influence. To paraphrase an old saying, they may never write a book or hold an office, they may never start an organization or catch the attention of media…
If it’s a who’s who list for media outlets, I guess you are accomplishing your goal.
I shall have to re-read your series more carefully, and look for fruit - it read on first read like resumes for high achievers.:^) Blog on!
I haven’t heard of many of these guys…
Ha! Me either. So come out from under your bear rug….at least until winter.
It’s a good blog topic…generates a lot of chatter and probably a lot of hits.
Hey, the temp dropped so much last night a bear rug might have been a good idea. So much for August.:^)
Joe is going to have to focus on prominent and popular US people whether he wants to or not. He could name someone who has influenced him from outside a regional or national media spotlight, but I think he’d lose his audience.
It is true that evangelicals are seen as undiverse, I know Barna and others did some research on that.
There are lots of links so we can figure out where these men fit into the religious/evangelical/popular culture. A fair bit of the language in the posts and comments is politicised, so the links are valuable so we can hear their own voices.
Jeff Sharlet (Killing the Buddha) got after me once for taking a few cheap shots at American popularity and celebrity culture, and I don’t want to do that to Joe, but I honestly haven’t heard of most of these gentlemen so far. Millions of Americans probably have though. And I have no suggestions for him.
I read the Focus on the Family headquarters is like some kind of shrine for the faithful.
Having seen some parachurch and mega church places down south, that makes sense.
And inquiring minds want to know if Dr. James Dobson really did whallop a dachsund with a belt.:^) Blog on!
So far, all of the guys he’s listed fall almost exclusively into one of two categories: guys I’ve never heard of (or know nothing about), and guys I detest as horrible examples of Christianity. So much for evangelical diversity.
And the fact that there are practically no female or non-American evangelicals says a lot about that particular subculture of Christianity, in my opinion…
I’ll play devil’s advocate Jonathan…
what else is there?
If you are going to play Know Your Evangelicals…what else is there?
In fairness to Joe and his readers…
what else is there?
It is all they know, isn’t it?
That was my point, Bene. Sorry, wasn’t clear. The last sentence was referring to Joe’s explanation that hardly any non-white, non-American, non-male Evangelicals exist. THAT was what I was referring to, not the fact that he isn’t including them on his blog. He’s absolutely right, and I totally understand why they aren’t there. And that’s what I think is so very sad about 90% of “evangelicalism.” It’s solely the product of a small group of white, well-off, American men who actually think that they and only they represent True Christianity.
I will make some exceptions here, though; I am painting with a broad brush. If Joe posts profiles on Jim Wallis or Tony Campolo, then I’ll have to add a third category to the two I mentioned above; guys I really respect, even if they are “evangelical” American men.
Bene,
***Okay. Influencial works as opposed to famous. How you would define influencial? Noun, verb?***
For this series, I would define it as people who have are able to affect the way people think or approach the Christian faith.
***Question for you…do you believe that the average person believes that Jerry Falwell or Pat Robertson represent ‘evangelicals’?***
Unfortunately, I think they do. The U.S. media often associates all evangelicals with the “Religious Right” and Falwell and Robertson are often the first names that come to mind.
***How God finds people and how we find people really are poles apart.
Each generation raises people of influence. To paraphrase an old saying, they may never write a book or hold an office, they may never start an organization or catch the attention of media…***
Absolutely. But I think that if we were to ask these “obscure influentials” they would confess that they were influenced by other more well-known influential Christians. I think it’s important to understand who these people are so that we can gain a better understanding of the evangelical movement.
By the way, I just came across this NPR interview with Jerry Falwell AND Jim Wallis simultaneously, on the topic of “Morality and the Presidential Election.”
http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=3354001
Definitely a “must listen” clip.
Male: There aren’t too many females that would make that list. Joyce Meyer, Phyllis Schlafly, Beverly LeHaye and Janet Parshall come to mind; however, with the exception of Meyer, they come from the conservative political activist camp given the bias against women preachers in many evangelical quarters.
Well-schooled: I don’t know of too many prominent evangelical leaders who aren’t, unless it might be a musician or two who never went to college.
White: right now, Jakes brings him about on pace. Luis Palau would be a good ad, as would Tony Evans; however, Jakes and Evans both work mostly in a broader “white” evangelical context. A few prominent black-church evangelicals (Calvin Butts comes to mind, although I’m not sure how orthodox he is) might be good to look at down the line.
American-Of my suggestions, all of them are American citizens, even though Palau was born and raised in Argentina. John Stott and Os Guinness are good writers (I got to meet Guinness a while back at an InterVarsity conference circa 1990), but they fly under most people’s radar. In Pentecostal/charismatic circles, some international names come into play, like South African Rodney Howard Brown, German Reinhard Bonnke (he’s African-based), and Canadian John Arnott, not to mention the Lebanese-born Benny Hinn.
Outside of that list, you’d have to start looking at some of the more prominent musicians/composers from overseas, like Rebbecca St. James and Darlene Zschech from Australia or Delirious’ Martin Smith from England.
Thanks guys, and Joe, your series will do well, if your comment section is any indication.
I’m not trying to be contrary, but I am trying to raise a voice of caution. Many are called but few are chosen. We want our celebrities, our kings, our influence. I’m not anti-american or anti-leadership. I do balk at the notion of ‘culture wars’ ‘liberal media’ ‘engagement’ and I balk at the reality that this is how it is.
I don’t know where you are going with your posts, I’ll wait with everyone else.:^) So far, they have all been professional christians. That says more about us I think.
We can pray for the workers in the media at local, regional and national levels. A lot of believers quietly do their job in this field. We can pray they find the real deal, listen carefully and tell it well.
We can pray for the church -us - that God will plant a desire in our lives to mature, grow past wanting only milk and we can move past the cult of personality and stand, wise as serpents and as gentle as doves. We can pray we will learn to know the wolves among us and refuse them.
We can pray for those of influence, whether they are under the glare of a media spotlight or in a cell in a country we know little about. Blog on!
well said Bene