1/ So it’s been probably a month since I finished @kkdumez’s Jesus and John Wayne.
I think we all should read it. She does a really good job of showing how much nationalism, racism, and sexism is in the cultural formula. There are some parts that made me so sad and others angry
2/ I don’t think evangelicals should be afraid of this book. Many seem to have written it off as just a progressive take down with a clever title.
It’s not that. While she is very critical of conservatives, by the end of the book it felt like I was reading a good faith critic.
3/ There are parts that I believe she overreaches with the narrative and there are fringe figures that she attempts to make more mainstream.
But she’s open and honest on how she wrestled with those decisions. And the research is excellent.
4/ That said, I think shows some very deeply troubling things that many of us knew in part, but the whole shows a deeper sickness and a necessity for some sober self reflection and repentance.
5/ If you have thoroughly read Marsden or Noll, most of this will not be new, she just does the extra step of connecting the dots to our current moment and that’s where it cuts a bit more deeply.
I think her narrative helps make sense of some of the crazy we are seeing.
6/ But also, her narrative shows how the crazy might be in some of the bread and water we’ve been consuming without fully (maybe?) being consciously aware.
7/ The book was very challenging in that it showed some very real shadows in my spiritual family line and so much of the culture of evangelicalism is far more secular than we’d like to admit.
8/ nevertheless I walked away from the book with a surprising level of gratitude because despite the very dark and sinful parts (and the parts are bigger than I’d like to admit) there’s also been deep parts of the spiritual tradition of evangelicalism that taught me
9/ how to repent of these things when I see him. I have a legacy of dark sin and a theological legacy that taught me how to identity and repent of these same sins.
10/ So I’m hopeful that as we wrestle with this narrative (and there seems to be a lot of these books coming out or on their way) we will recognize sin and repent and reconcile and be renewed into Christlikeness. That is in our DNA. We should lean into that.
11/ It’s deeply conservative and evangelical (truly) to repent of racism, nationalistic idolatry, and sexism. We aren’t in danger of becoming progressive when we do that. We are following Christ instead. The danger is in ignoring it.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
I live in a part of Manhattan, on the top of the Upper West Side, on an avenue called West End Ave.
It's a beautiful long drive all the way down to Midtown. I was looking at old photos (here's one below by @joelmeyerowitz, 1968)
2/ What's remarkable in looking at these old photos how much West End hasn't changed in all these years. So much of the city is different (especially in the Upper West Side). But West End Ave is a stretch of about 50 blocks that feels almost unchanged and untouched.
3/ I walk down this avenue daily (it's between Riverside Park and Broadway Ave) and it's remarkable how comforting, especially in this season, to experience a long stretch of NYC that feels the same.
1/ One big lesson I've learned in the past 10-15 years is that I'm most spiritually vibrant when I feel at home in my theological tradition and travel widely in my reading.
2/ I am within an orthodox, historical Protestant, Reformed tradition. I feel at home here. I share my theological convictions and beliefs here.
But I often times feel a commonality with the "sensibilities" of other writers from other traditions. For example:
3/ Henri Nouwen or Ronald Rolheiser, who are Catholic Vatican II types, have a kind of gentle, loving sensitivity to our relationship/identity with Christ that is concerned with consciously feeling comfortable in our skin, that I feel is often lacking in my tradition.
Quick reflection on Peter's reconciliation with Jesus in John 21, where Jesus asks Do you love me a 3rd time and Peter responds, "Lord you know everything; you know that I love you.”
He couldn't appeal to his own energy & passion: "When everyone leaves, I will die with you!" 1/
It's important to let Peter give witness to the spiritual bankruptcy of being carried by the power of your convictions, eagerness, and zeal.
At some point, after failure, humiliations, experiencing limitations, weariness, those things won't sustain you. 2/
I find it instructive that after failure/humiliation, he doesn't appeal to his own fervency. He doesn't double down. He appeals to Jesus. "Lord, you know."
Personally, that's an important lesson for a few reasons: 3/
Here's the honest truth: Good pastors put themselves in the way of potential criticism and regularly within the realm and reach of other people's pain.
It should not then surprise you, pastor, that you may experience depression even though you've never experienced it before.
Carrying the consistent emotional weight of the various pains, fears, criticisms, suffering, and transitions of a congregation (big or small) is a challenging vocation. What it can do to your inner life can/will surprise you.
But while it can surprise you, know that it's not abnormal. Apart from the pastoral weight, sadness is a normal Christian experience.
“The Road to sorrow has been well trodden, it is the regular sheep track to heaven, and all the flock of God have had to pass along it.” Spurgeon