I picked up Tony Campolo's latest book at Costco a few weeks ago. I saw Dr. Campolo at my college a long time a go for a week of revival. He does bring the message home quite well. He also opened my mind quite a bit as Dr. Campolo comes from the left. His focus on applying our faith instead of just speaking our faith was great. When I saw this book for $9.99 I had to buy it as it seemed like a good time for a strong challenge to my beliefs.
To the book.... Dr. Campolo wrote this book for various reasons. What I got as his reasons were that he wanted to redefine the public perception of Evangelicals to not mean "Christian-Republican". Another reason was to challenge the Christian Right in some of their beliefs that are just taken for granted. The last reason was to try and bring conservative Evangelicals a bit to the left. Some of the topics he covered were mainline denominations, the image of Evangelicals, sexism, gays, universalism, science, helping the poor, Islam, war, why people hate America, morality and the future of Evangelicanism.
His view on sexism focuses on why many Evangelicals don't support women pastors. His scripture references didn't convince me to change my perspective. I'm actually not one who's positive that women should be pastors but lean towards that the shouldn't be. My solution is that I will attend a church where the pastor is male but will not judge churches that allow women pastors. I know many women who have a much stronger view than myself. Dr. Campolo is trying to strike a balance between what he calls "male chauvinism that too often has expressed itself in evangelicalism" and radical feminism. I don't think it's male chauvinism when we are just trying to follow what we feel the Bible teaches.
In terms of the gay issue, this is a touchy one for sure. Campolo believes that many gays cannot change but also believes that for them to be in God's will that they must be celibate. He feels they should be open about their homosexuality but not act upon it. Campolo believes that gays should even be open in church and the church should accept them. He's against gay marriage but is a strong supporter of most gay rights. Many examples were given in the book that showed how homosexuals (like anyone else) have a longing for God but don't feel they have a place in the church. This is probably the most controversial and compelling chapter in the book as I do agree that the church just hasn't gotten this issue right. What happens if a gay couple were to enter my church? What would we do? What should we do? WWJD?
In many other issues related to politics Campolo basically spouts the liberal line, just in a nicer way. In terms of war he criticizes Bush for the war in Iraq but doesn't criticize Clinton for Yugoslavia. There's also some of the tired tax cuts for the rich rhetoric and it's during the political issues where the book kind of gets uninteresting. Campolo is strongest when he deals with issues of the heart and weak when he defends big government and the UN. In my opinion, Christian responsibility is at it's best when it's local. Let the person of faith write the check. The government can do some things but not everything.
I wish Campolo would address the issues of the left especially the abortion issue. Like many on the Christian Left, he minimizes the life issue. It's a huge issue that if the Christian left (think Hillary Clinton) keeps supporting abortion rights all the way through to the support of the partial birth abortion rights, they will not make progress with the Christian Right.
I applaud Dr. Campolo for this book, especially in some of the issues that he supports well with scripture. I would urge all Christians to give this book a look. Even though I still have many disagreements with Campolo this book is still fresh in my mind as I finished it almost two weeks ago.
Posted by Tim at December 6, 2004 10:31 PM
