A few months ago, Kristin Kobes Du Mez, a historian at Calvin College and author of Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation, pulled back the curtain on a topic that has long fascinated me: how prominent authors handle requests for book blurbs.
Like Beau, I'm a Disciples of Christ pastor. And I am more and more convinced that we are a denomination that sits astraddle the group described here as "Protestant Liberalism" (denominations fitting that mold are often referred to as the "Mainline" churches) and evangelicalism. It's why Disciples never seem at home in the mainline nor can we comfortably claim the "evangelical" title - even though we fit many of those broad criteria. We also have received many upon many "refugees" from those shrinking borders of those who claim to be the only evangelicals. I'm not sure denominations are dying - but they are changing. And there seems to me to be very fruitful possibilities for our denomination in claiming this space as part of our identity. That aligns with the struggle I've had for all my life as a Christian about whether to claim the term "evangelical." It fits me to some degree - but only as one of those "other evangelicals" Sharpe describes. I never fit the mold as defined by those who've appointed themselves guardians of the shrinking borders that are destroying what was once the most vibrant part of American Christianity. Thanks for letting me reflect in this space! I know my own wrestling about a word is of little to no interest of anyone else and that's fine. But I'm always happy to discuss if anyone else finds themselves wrestling, too.
I can hardly wait to read this book. I know what my perceptions have been over the past 50 years and how my own understanding of evangelicalism was and is. Thanks so much for this review!
Like Beau, I'm a Disciples of Christ pastor. And I am more and more convinced that we are a denomination that sits astraddle the group described here as "Protestant Liberalism" (denominations fitting that mold are often referred to as the "Mainline" churches) and evangelicalism. It's why Disciples never seem at home in the mainline nor can we comfortably claim the "evangelical" title - even though we fit many of those broad criteria. We also have received many upon many "refugees" from those shrinking borders of those who claim to be the only evangelicals. I'm not sure denominations are dying - but they are changing. And there seems to me to be very fruitful possibilities for our denomination in claiming this space as part of our identity. That aligns with the struggle I've had for all my life as a Christian about whether to claim the term "evangelical." It fits me to some degree - but only as one of those "other evangelicals" Sharpe describes. I never fit the mold as defined by those who've appointed themselves guardians of the shrinking borders that are destroying what was once the most vibrant part of American Christianity. Thanks for letting me reflect in this space! I know my own wrestling about a word is of little to no interest of anyone else and that's fine. But I'm always happy to discuss if anyone else finds themselves wrestling, too.
I can hardly wait to read this book. I know what my perceptions have been over the past 50 years and how my own understanding of evangelicalism was and is. Thanks so much for this review!