Left, Right, Left, Right…
BWC,
I wanted to write and point you to a couple of articles on Slate.com I enjoyed reading. The first discusses a speech by Barak Obama at a Call to Renewal Conference. I appreciated Senator Obama’s candor and honest faith.
The second article discusses the differences between Michael Lerner, the figurehead of The Network of Spiritual Progressives, and Jim Wallis. Both men are visible leaders of the rising Religious Left.
If I’m forced to choose between the two, I must say Lerner’s path is disturbingly open theologically. BWC posted a great article by Brent Bourgeois on The Network of Spiritual Progressives, but I wonder if your magazine should proceed with caution if you are considering aligning yourselves with this organization.
I also wanted to recommend a book to BWC readers entitled Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism by Michelle Goldberg. It’s quite frightening.
Keep up the great work!
Ellis Springer
Goleta, California
Mr. Springer,
Thank you very much for your comments and for the links.
I want to make it clear to readers that the articles on our site do not necessarily reflect those of Donald Miller or the Burnside Writer’s Collective editors.
The question of how we, as believers, should respond to politics would keep me up at night if I didn’t preoccupy my mind with more trivial pursuits (like winning at “Trivial Pursuit”). I fear that the Christian Left is just more of the same, and the Christian Right…I don’t know where to begin.
I think Brian McLaren explained the concept of world issues well in A New Kind of Christian when he pictures our debates (theological and political) as a straight line, and then describes God’s Kingdom as a point miles above that line. This is helpful imagery for me when my mind starts racing about concerns for the world we live in.
Through Adam Bybee, Donald Miller was turned on to an out-of-print book entitled The Presence of the Kingdom by Jacques Ellul. Ellul was a member of the French Resistance during World War II and later taught at the University of Bourdeaux. I found a site that recaps his books here. Ellul has some incredible ideas on the marriage of politics and Christ.
Recently, I was able to sit down with Brent Bourgeois at a coffee shop in Sacramento, and it was great to hear about where his travels and thought processes have taken him. He is also working on a book about the political forum and how his opinions have been formed. I’ve had a chance to read a few chapters, and what I saw was excellent. We’re hoping he finds a publishing deal soon.
Thanks again for your thoughts! Goleta is a great town…
Jordan Green
BWC
Posted on July 15, 2006 12:00 AM
Comments
Ellis,
I just read the Slate article that you referred to. I felt like it was unfair to Rabbi Lerner. As someone who knows both Reverend Wallis and Rabbi Lerner, I believe they would both tell you that they are in this fight together, that they are both struggling towards the same goals, and they both have a tremendous amount of respect for each other. Lerner's book 'The Left Hand of God' and Wallis's 'God's Politics' are not contradictory at all, but in fact, complimentary pieces.
I would agree that they have somewhat different ways of getting there, but that is a feature, not a fault. Wallis has always been more concerned about and focused on domestic issues in general and poverty in particular, while Lerner views the world more holistically. Wallis plays to an almost exclusive Christian crowd, while Lerner is reaching out to a much larger constituency.
It is this larger constituency that seems to be causing some people to question Rabbi Lerner's tactics. But the important fact to remember is that Lerner is creating a political organization; Wallis is not. That is not to say that Wallis isn't interested in the political process, or in influencing legislation, it's just that the two organizations are by their nature different.
Wallis is basically trying to wake up an indifferent and inactive Christian middle; therefore his worldview is necessarily Christian and only 'strays' into the liberal end of the Christian pool.
Lerner is fishing in much deeper waters. His call to seriously challenge the well-funded and well-entrenched Religious Right must embrace a diverse group of people if it has any hope of succeeding. Therefore, it doesn't espouse a particular theology, but embraces more universal moral principles, which are quite clearly laid out in Lerner's book, and particularly in his Spiritual Covenant for America.
In any larger umbrella organization there are going to be positions that not everyone is going to agree with. I happen to disagree with their stance on abortion. But if I had to find a political organization in which I agreed on everything they stood for, I would end up only joining the Party of Brent.
In conclusion, I think both Jim Wallis and Michael Lerner are doing good work in the Kingdom. I'm certain that some would question my definition of 'Kingdom', but that is just what wonderful places like the BWC are providing: a place to share our faith with passion and air our differences with civility.
Blessings,
Brent Bourgeois
Posted by: Brent Bourgeois | July 15, 2006 6:47 PM