“Divided by Faith”

by John on Feb.11, 2010, under Books & Movies

Reconciliation

I recently read Michael Emerson’s and Christian Smith’s book; Divided by Faith – Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America. I resonated with Emerson’s conclusion that evangelicals tend to live and thrive in the land of the urgent. Evangelicals revel in the activism of the imperative, crusade, rescue and therefore have little time to reflect inward and think through processes and systems that contribute to systemic societal ills – like racism. As I’ve gotten older I’ve learned to appreciate the slower and more contemplative approach – before taking action. Emerson quotes Mark Noll in, The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind, effectively stating; “The evangelical ethos is activist, populist, pragmatic and utilitarian. It allows little space for broader or deeper intellectual effort because it is dominated by the urgency of the moment.” (171). Emerson also quotes N.K.Clifford’s poignant take on the evangelical mind; “The Evangelical Protestant mind has never relished complexity. Indeed its crusading genius, whether in religion or politics, has always tended toward an oversimplification of issues and the substitution of critical analysis and serious reflection for inspiration and zeal.” (171)

:Books and Movies, communication, contemplate, Faith, mind, Race, Racism, Theology

4 Comments for this entry

Steve
March 2nd, 2010 on 7:30 PM
I haven’t had a chance to read the book, but I agree with the post. The evangelical tendency is to oversimply the Truth. This generally leads 2 an avoidance of some of the paradoxes of christianity. For example, we are to be spiritually minded, but not so much that we are ignorant of the fleshly world we live in. We are to revere the anchors of our faith, such as scripture, but not to the point of worshipping those things.
JC Baez
February 16th, 2010 on 9:23 PM
I admire your honesty in issues such as these and the way you advocate a better way for us to act as Evangelicals. It is easy to say that I’m a follower of Jesus but it is so much more difficult to say that I’m an Evangelical Christian because of that same oversimplification of issues, and the hatred and bigotry of some believers. Everything is a holy sound-byte and things are rarely questioned. Very sad, really and very difficult to connect to the larger body of Christ when even some people in our congregations speak hateful words during their daily walk.
John
February 12th, 2010 on 11:59 AM
Hey Joshua,

Good to have your comment and even better to see that you are familar with the book. I didn’t know about United by Faith – but I bet it is a worthy read. Thanks again for taking time to read the blog. Peace, -JP
Joshua Holec
February 12th, 2010 on 9:00 AM
This is a great book. It sheds some crucial light on our situation. He has a follow up called United by Faith. Have you seen it?

May we be part of Jesus’ answer to this desperate issue in our time.

ab