If I were so inclined, there might be a blog posting each day culled from those publications that comprise the regular household reading list.
Generally speaking, I resist the impulse … though not today. Reprinted below are the opening paragraphs from a book review by Alan Wolfe that appeared in the New York Times (November 25, 2007). The highlighted section is my doing. After all, it's about polemics with me, isn't it?
Evangelicals Everywhere, a review of “Faith in the Halls of Power: How Evangelicals Joined the American Elite,” by D. Michael Lindsay.
In August, Washington watchers were titillated by a particularly fascinating insider account of the Bush White House: Matthew Scully, one former speechwriter, accused another, Michael Gerson, of egocentric careerism. It is not usually considered sinful in Washington to advance yourself; that is pretty much what the place is about. But Gerson, an evangelical Christian, had developed a reputation among the Washington press corps just this side of sainthood. One need not accept every word Scully wrote to conclude that Gerson had expended considerable energy on his own deification.
Should we expect evangelicals, because they are so upfront about their faith, to act differently than the less devout? Evangelicals, as D. Michael Lindsay demonstrates with impressive research and inexhaustible energy in “Faith in the Halls of Power,” have made great strides in entering mainstream institutions like academia, government, the media and business. Unless we are interested in religion for reasons of pride — the way young Jewish baseball fans would single out Sandy Koufax, or, in my Philadelphia childhood, Saul Rogovin, for special notice — Lindsay’s subject matter should pique everyone’s curiosity. Evangelicals are best known for their determination to witness their faith to others. This makes others inevitably interested in them.
Lindsay conducted 360 interviews in all, including one with Michael Gerson in 2005. “Christianity is not just a statement about personal piety,” Gerson told him; “it’s a statement about social justice.” It is, I guess, a worthwhile sentiment, not so much for what it says — don’t we all profess to believe in social justice? — but because the person who said it worked for a president singularly intent on cutting taxes to redistribute income to America’s wealthiest. It would be interesting to know how Gerson reconciled his faith with the priorities of his party …
Not to mention the Bush administration’s reactionary social agenda as a whole, encompassing the whole range of positions espoused by evangelical lobby organizations like Reclaim Our Culture Kentuckiana (ROCK).
Has anyone heard whether One Southern Indiana will be bringing Gerson to New Albany to speak on social justice, the bridges project and what Jesus would say about 8664?
Generally speaking, I resist the impulse … though not today. Reprinted below are the opening paragraphs from a book review by Alan Wolfe that appeared in the New York Times (November 25, 2007). The highlighted section is my doing. After all, it's about polemics with me, isn't it?
Evangelicals Everywhere, a review of “Faith in the Halls of Power: How Evangelicals Joined the American Elite,” by D. Michael Lindsay.
In August, Washington watchers were titillated by a particularly fascinating insider account of the Bush White House: Matthew Scully, one former speechwriter, accused another, Michael Gerson, of egocentric careerism. It is not usually considered sinful in Washington to advance yourself; that is pretty much what the place is about. But Gerson, an evangelical Christian, had developed a reputation among the Washington press corps just this side of sainthood. One need not accept every word Scully wrote to conclude that Gerson had expended considerable energy on his own deification.
Should we expect evangelicals, because they are so upfront about their faith, to act differently than the less devout? Evangelicals, as D. Michael Lindsay demonstrates with impressive research and inexhaustible energy in “Faith in the Halls of Power,” have made great strides in entering mainstream institutions like academia, government, the media and business. Unless we are interested in religion for reasons of pride — the way young Jewish baseball fans would single out Sandy Koufax, or, in my Philadelphia childhood, Saul Rogovin, for special notice — Lindsay’s subject matter should pique everyone’s curiosity. Evangelicals are best known for their determination to witness their faith to others. This makes others inevitably interested in them.
Lindsay conducted 360 interviews in all, including one with Michael Gerson in 2005. “Christianity is not just a statement about personal piety,” Gerson told him; “it’s a statement about social justice.” It is, I guess, a worthwhile sentiment, not so much for what it says — don’t we all profess to believe in social justice? — but because the person who said it worked for a president singularly intent on cutting taxes to redistribute income to America’s wealthiest. It would be interesting to know how Gerson reconciled his faith with the priorities of his party …
Not to mention the Bush administration’s reactionary social agenda as a whole, encompassing the whole range of positions espoused by evangelical lobby organizations like Reclaim Our Culture Kentuckiana (ROCK).
Has anyone heard whether One Southern Indiana will be bringing Gerson to New Albany to speak on social justice, the bridges project and what Jesus would say about 8664?
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