Also reviewed in this section:
Resident Aliens: Life in the Christian Colony,by Stanley Hauerwas and William H. Willimon
Dancing on the Strait and Narrow,by Stanley Mooneyham
Box 66, Sumac Lane,by Edna Hong
Rebuilding Your Broken World,by Dennis F. Kinlaw
Back Toward the Future: Hints for Interpreting Biblical Prophecy,by Walter Kaiser, Jr.
The Agony of Affluence,by William Wells
Six Hours One Friday,by Max Lucado
Sold into Egypt,by Madeleine L’Engle
The Hound Of Bakkerville
Forgiven: The Rise and Fall of Jim Bakker and the PTL Ministry, by Charles E. Shepard (Atlantic Monthly Press, 635 pp.; $22.95, hardcover). Reviewed by Jeffrey K. Hadden, professor of sociology, University of Virginia.
While Jim Bakker was standing trial on 24 counts involving mail and wire fraud, Tammy Faye appeared on the “Phil Donahue Show” and told the world that she had forgiven everyone who had wronged her and her husband. She paused and then added, “except Jerry [Falwell].”
“Wait a minute!” I blurted out. But before I could continue, Donahue asked the question that was on the tip of my tongue. Yes, Tammy assured Phil, Charlie Shepard, the unrelenting investigative reporter of the Charlotte Observer, was on her list of forgiven. Pretty amazing, I thought. It was Shepard and the Observer, after all, who were responsible for Jim and Tammy’s magic kingdom tumbling into ruin.
Real-Life Soap Opera
One has to go back to the first quarter of this century with the Scopes Trial or Aimee Semple McPherson’s “abduction” to find parallels of media attention. For their efforts in reporting on the Bakkers and the PTL over the years, Charlie Shepard and the Charlotte Observer earned the coveted “gold medal” Pulitzer Prize for meritorious public service.
Shepard’s Forgiven is far more than a distillation of materials published before and after the scandal broke. Shepard’s prior research and stories are the mere foundation for what is clearly the definitive work on Jim Bakker and his fallen empire. Published in the midst of the high drama of Bakker’s trial, the book had the kind of publicity required to boost it onto the best-seller list. This now seems unlikely. The reason is understandable, and it has nothing to do with the quality of the book.
For most Americans the PTL story, and related televangelism scandals, were simply entertainment. They were never interested in understanding how Jim Bakker, a man with a high-school education and essentially no skills as a businessman or manager, succeeded in building his religious empire, or why it was destined to come crumbling down one day. As far as most Americans are concerned, Jim Bakker is a scoundrel and his followers are fools. What else is there to know or understand?
The whole ordeal was a comic-tragic, real-life soap opera. For 30 months the televangelism scandals, mostly starring Jim and Tammy, were an unfolding drama of shock and shame that served to reinforce the cultural stereotype that all television preachers fleece their flocks.
Shepard isn’t a social ethicist or theologian, and to his credit he doesn’t pretend to be. He is an extraordinarily talented reporter. Forgiven tracks the rise and fall of Jim Bakker and the PTL ministry in excruciating detail. The events that led to Jim Bakker’s downfall have been widely reported by both print and broadcast journalists. Here, Shepard reveals how the details of these stories, including the payment of hush money to Jessica Hahn, were gradually extracted from many sources.
The bulk of the book is not about the immediate, precipitating events that led to Bakker’s fall. Rather, we see how these events evolve naturally and seemingly inexorably from the personality of Jim Bakker and the organization he built.
There were points along the way where I felt I was learning more about Jim Bakker than I wanted to know. And at other times, I wished for just a little less detail about Shepard’s own role as investigative reporter.
In the end it becomes clear that the details of Bakker’s life are central to understanding how the publicly known misdeeds are merely symptomatic of the flawed character and wayward lifestyle. And the details of Shepard’s sleuthing serve to establish firmly the credibility of his reporting.
Standing At The Sidelines
The central focus of this book is on a man with an emerging vision who is unable to differentiate between his sense of God’s will on the one hand, and his own ambition and self-aggrandizement on the other. Shepard plays this theme masterfully.
Equally important, Shepard wrestles with the problem of how people of intelligence and good will could get so caught up in the vision of Heritage USA and be blind to what was going on around them. He finds no easy answer. Some were corrupted by the process. Others were clearly filled with ambition before they met Bakker.
As Shepard chronicles this sad saga, one searches for heroes, or even heroic acts. But courage and heroism seemed to have been in short supply. There were numerous individuals who could see that Bakker’s personal extravagances and policy of creating new projects to pay for old ones was a quagmire that eventually had to collapse. And Bakker was warned repeatedly about overselling Lifetime Partnerships with the promise of a three-night stay at Heritage every year for life. Some left quietly after disillusionment set in; others put up a fight. But when push came to shove, people did things Bakker’s way or they were out.
There are many important lessons to be learned from studying what was wrong at PTL. Unfortunately, there are many who are satisfied to write off this tragedy as the doings of one man and thereby shut the door on exploring the deeper meanings and implications of this sad chapter in religious history. The lessons may appear to be most profound and urgent for religious broadcasters and secondarily for parachurch organizations. But the lessons go deeply to the heart of the meaning of accountability, leadership, and oversight of religious organizations.
Charlie Shepard helps us understand that there is a little bit of Jim Bakker in us all. And simultaneously, one gains enormously valuable insights about how we all are capable of standing on the sidelines while the Jim Bakkers among us play and corrupt our heritage.
Scrappy Strangers In A Strange Land
Resident Aliens: Life in the Christian Colony, by Stanley Hauerwas and William H. Willimon (Abingdon Press, 175 pp.; $9.95, paper). Reviewed by Rodney Clapp, coauthor with Robert Webber of People of the Truth.
Over the past few years, Stanley Hauerwas and William Willimon, two Duke University theologians, have been provoking their liberal colleagues with their spirited insistence that the church has more important things to do than try to run the country or convince secular intellectuals that the Christian faith is reasonable.
Instead, as the pair write in their first book together, the church is properly considered a colony, a “beachhead, an outpost,” embodying a “social alternative that the world cannot know on its own terms.” They reject the two-centuries-old liberal quest to make Christianity respectable to its cultured despisers; “The theologian’s job is not to make the gospel credible to the modern world, but to make the modern world credible to the gospel.”
Scrappy Methodists
These scrappy Methodists have the odd idea that promiscuous tolerance and free-floating warmth are not the definitive traits of the faith. In fact, they sound positively atavistic with their repeated noises that Christianity is about truth, as in, “The church is the only community formed around the truth, which is Jesus Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life,” and “Truth makes it own enemies.” Truth tellers or not, Hauerwas and Willimon have made enemies. They have been scorned as sectarians and civilization bashers, even damned as “tobacco-country luminaries.”
But they are not easily dismissed. Both possess the philosophical sophistication to match their theological nerve. Hauerwas has been recognized (by the journal Theology Today) as one of the two leading Christian ethicists alive in America. And pastoral theologian Willimon, a prolific writer and preacher, has fast become one of the most sought-after (and perhaps disagreed-with) speakers in mainline circles.
Their book quickly conveys a sense of the provocativeness of their message. In recent decades, Hauerwas and Willimon contend, the American church has seen the vestiges of its informal Constantinian pact with the culture crumble away. Far from being a disaster, this historical turn of events serves to remind Christians that the church is supposed to be different, that it is not simply to prop up (or be propped up by) its host cultures, but is to provide an alternative way to live and die.
In this sense Hauerwas and Willimon consider the church profoundly and rightly “political”: It should be a polis or community structured on the truth of God as he is known in Christ. Thus the premier challenge of our day, and of all days, “is not the intellectual one but the political one—the creation of a new people who have aligned themselves with the seismic shift that has occurred in the world since Christ.”
There is much evangelicals can appreciate in this stimulating book. First, like the evangelical tradition historically, Hauerwas and Willimon are unabashedly Christ centered. They believe that no more radical critique of Christians enamored with the political Left and the political Right can be made than that “both sides tend toward solutions that act as if the world has not ended and begun in Jesus.”
Second, and correlatively, they unashamedly see the Bible as the benchmark for understanding the world in Christ. So they see the Bible’s “own, self-proclaimed political function” as aiming “to produce people who are capable of recognizing the Bible as scripture” and consequently living by it.
Third, Hauerwas and Willimon resonate with the long-standing evangelical mood that, important as scholarly endeavors certainly are, ordinary church-folk are as indispensable to God’s work as erudite theologians. Thus their examples of important Christians are housewives, businessmen, and small-town preachers brave enough to try to live in fidelity to the faith they profess. And though they are themselves Yale-educated seminary professors, they flatly declare that theology either “serves the formation of the church or it is trivial and inconsequential.”
From Conversionist To Confessing
All this is genuinely heartening, but those evangelicals who think evangelicalism is the perfect and only authentic expression of Christianity should know that Hauerwas and Willimon find flaws even within our camp. They condemn the “conversionist” model of the church so pervasive within evangelicalism. This atomistic model, they contend, makes Christianity mainly a private affair by exclusively insisting that the kingdom is served through and by converting individuals. But “because this church works only for inward change, it has no alternative social ethic or social structure of its own to offer the world” and usually degenerates into “a religiously glorified conservatism.”
The more adequate model, Hauerwas and Willimon write, is that of the “confessing church,” in which the main task lies “not in the personal transformation of individual hearts or the modification of society (as the liberal ‘activist’ church model would have it), but rather in the congregation’s determination to worship Christ in all things.”
Inasmuch as “religiously glorified conservatism” promotes military power and regards America as uniquely holy, it will find no friends in Hauerwas and Willimon. None of this is to say that the two are obligated to consider the United States on exactly the same moral plane as, say, the USSR, Libya, or Iran. It is to say that they consider the call to life in Christ a call to nonviolence, and believe that even America and liberal democracy are liable to the criticism of the gospel.
Resident Aliens is an extraordinarily important book, one evangelicals can read and engage with immense profit. More than that, it is timely, in that we are currently realizing that evangelical “success” has proven more detrimental than evangelical failure. Evangelicals are now counseling Presidents; our media and publishing industries are bigger than ever; our educational institutions have achieved full accreditation.
But we are all too aware of the gross power of materialism among us; we are humiliated by the sexual catastrophes of highly visible leaders; the gap between white and black evangelicals has grown alarmingly in the last decade; and the statistics show that our homes are no more free of divorce or domestic violence than those of the rest of the population.
It is a hopeful sign that even popular books (such as John MacArthur, Jr.’s The Gospel According to Jesus) are now reconsidering the evangelical cheapening of grace, and once again debating the proper relation between justification and sanctification, as well as the indispensable role of discipleship in the mission of the church. Although Hauerwas and Willimon do not use those explicit terms, their book is exactly about the true meaning of sanctification and discipleship.
Certainly they challenge evangelical individualism and typical evangelical views of the church. They force us to consider the possibility that the demise of “Christian America” might actually mean the beginning of a more Christian church.
Book Briefs
Dancing Letters
Stan Mooneyham thinks most Christians are really practicing Pharisees. But when Jesus asked us to take the narrow, less-traveled path, he didn’t want us to drag our feet and shuffle along; rather, he wanted us to dance. In Dancing on the Strait and Narrow (Harper & Row, $13.95), Mooneyham argues that we have “turned the Sermon on the Mount into a new set of rules—tougher than the Ten Commandments, lots tougher.” In a series of free-flowing meditations on Jesus’ famous discourse, he tries to save us from our legalism: “[Jesus] tried to tell us that our experience with the Father was a relationship, not a transaction, that love affairs don’t require rules to flourish, that passion thrives in freedom, and that strictures are like killing frost.”
Edna Hong lets her letters do the dancing. In Box 66, Sumac Lane (Harper & Row, $13.95), we meet the irrepressible Molly Mortensen, who is having trouble getting her manuscript on holiness, Called to Be Saints Alive, published. It seems the liberal-leaning editor of Emmaus Press, Tate Kuhlman, doesn’t think it will sell. His secretary, the ever-faithful Martha Hoffman, thinks her boss has made a mistake. The ensuing letters document blossoming friendships, as well as provide intriguing snippets on holiness and sanctification, and nuggets of wisdom from Kierkegaard, Luther, Charles Williams, and a whole lot more. There is even a little romance thrown in. Hong has created an imaginative and painless book on what it means to be a disciple of our Lord.
By Michael G. Maudlin.
Prophecy 101
In the spring of 1988, a civil servant-turned-Bible student distributed scores of booklets explaining why the Rapture of the church would occur in the fall of that year. Momentarily disillusioned when his prophecy failed to materialize, the man quickly regrouped his thoughts and made another prediction: the Rapture would occur in the fall of 1989. Although most Christians dismiss these prophecies as baseless, much of this dissent is offered for the wrong reasons.
While many believe that the Rapture could occur tomorrow, few believe that it actually will, or that it will occur next week or next year. In other words, they try to reconcile the occasion with the law of averages. Faced with obscure predictions and a host of marketable interpretations, the average Christian has generally neglected becoming knowledgeable in Bible prophecy. For this reason, Old Testament scholar Walter Kaiser, Jr., has written Back Toward the Future: Hints for Interpreting Biblical Prophecy (Baker, $8.95).
Aware that many beginning prophecy students become stuck in literary and exegetical quagmires, Kaiser has developed a seven-step procedure for safe, cohesive prophecy study. Kaiser’s method will enable prophecy initiates to turn most prophetic enigmas into intelligible answers couched in a proper historical and spiritual context.
Of course, Kaiser’s seven steps are not a panacea. Aside from the basic prophetic understanding gained from the method, additional questions arise that merit more extensive exegesis. The book also addresses many of these questions, including ways to distinguish between prophecy types (conditional or unconditional), prophecy addressees (Israel, the church, or other nations), and prophecy categories (messianic, figurative, and so on). And scattered amid these and other valuable hints is interesting background information on Old Testament prophets. Finally, Kaiser handily dispels several popular beliefs that reduce prophetic revelation to esoteric or unintelligible predictions subject to contemporary reinterpretation.
Understanding prophecy is not easy. But Kaiser has made it easier with this compendium of helpful suggestions, ideal for those who are curious yet cautious about prophecy.
By Jonathan Nixon.
Wisdom From The Ashes
The Lord will not leave himself without a witness. The fact that all is not sham as well as the fact that God can bring good even out of evil has been demonstrated again. Gordon MacDonald’s Rebuilding Your Broken World (Oliver-Nelson, $12.95) provides the proof. This sensitive and candid work has a refreshing realism that imparts encouragement.
Leading pastor and president of a national parachurch organization, Gordon MacDonald experienced firsthand what it meant to have his own personal and professional world shattered by moral failure. Out of that experience he has given us a fresh bit of “wisdom literature” that merits wide circulation.
Without sentimentality, MacDonald addresses three commonly held myths: (1) broken worlds are the exception; (2) it can’t happen to me; (3) if I make a wrong choice, I can handle the results. When we subscribe to these myths, we deny history, are deluded about ourselves, and are ignorant of God’s laws.
Broken worlds are infinitely more common than most of us suppose. Tragedy from wrong choices can happen to anyone. And none of us can control all the consequences of a choice if that choice is wrong. This is especially true when another person is involved.
MacDonald’s treatment is refreshingly unsentimental. It has a John-the-Baptist character about it. It won’t let you off the hook. It leaves no room for excuses. Its demand is for honest confession and repentance. Yet it breathes with gracious hope for the one who can be candid.
One could wish that a secular world that has seen too many public failings by Christian leaders could confront this book. They would stop their talk of Elmer Gantry. The secular world’s mirth might even turn to shame and remorse. This book has that potential. In that sense, the volume is more than wise. It is prophetic.
One reader said, “Every pastor should read this.” Another has said, “Every Christian should read it”; someone else, “every sinner.” Chicago-area pastor Bill Hybels said, “I read it twice!” I go with Hybels.
By Dennis F. Kinlaw.
Money Woes
Many evangelicals will applaud The Agony of Affluence (Zondervan, $7.95) as a straightforward primer on a touchy subject. Former Wheaton College professor William Wells deals with the tensions Christians face between poverty and plenty in our time.
The book is divided into three parts. The short, first section surveys the biblical material, noting the abundance of God’s creation and how evil complicates proper stewardship of this abundance.
Part two shifts from biblical perspectives to economic interpretation, featuring a concise comparison of market and command economies with examples showing the superiority of the former. He argues that there is no third or Christian alternative to these two systems of production and distribution of goods and services.
Wells notes that some Christians ignore the importance of production in their impassioned concern for the distribution of society’s goods. Pioneer English economist Adam Smith and twentieth-century American economic thinker Michael Novak both appear in a splendid chapter refuting the misconception of total world wealth as a fixed amount in a zero-sum game. Wells carefully explains how wealth is created through technological advance, cultural facts, and economic structure, as illustrated by the contrast between Taiwan and mainland China and between the two Koreas.
Wells uses the book’s third portion to bring together in “ethical synthesis” his biblical perspective and economic interpretation presented in the earlier parts. He explores greed, covetousness, and oppression through scriptural passages that condemn these qualities, but makes the crucial distinction that wealth in itself is not evil, nor is personal poverty an essential characteristic of the committed Christian.
By John A. Baird, Jr.
Anchored
As a resident of Florida’s Gold Coast, Max Lucado learned how to guard his houseboat against hurricanes: “Anchor deep,” he was advised. “Place four anchors in four different locations … and pray for the best.” As pastor of the Oak Hills Church of Christ in San Antonio, Texas, Lucado realized that people need just as much strong support—and just as much prayer—if they are to withstand the violent winds of life. Such strength comes from anchoring our lives to the Cross.
In Six Hours One Friday (Multnomah, $13.95) Lucado helps Christians discover what it means to be anchored. He confronts what he feels are life’s greatest sources of turmoil. Futility, failure, and finality are “the three Fs on the human report card. The three burdens that are too big for any back.” If we feel tossed and blown about—overwhelmed by the burden of these “three Fs”—we need the stability that is ours for the asking through Jesus Christ.
Drawing insight from Jesus’ death on the cross, Lucado offers three affirming “anchor points” of strength: Life is not futile, failures are not fatal, and death is not final.
Stories, anecdotes, personal reflections, and dramatic and often poignant recastings of familiar Bible stories explore these anchor points in the book’s three major sections. All underscore the fact of God’s incredible love, a love that threads its way through every page of this book.
For the many Christians who are struggling, who feel beaten and tossed about by crises and bad circumstances, Lucado’s words offer real hope and assurance solidly founded on Scripture.
By Robert Bittner.
Egypt Bound
In Sold into Egypt (Harold Shaw, $12.95), the third book in her Genesis Trilogy, Madeleine L’Engle has “read, thought, and prayed” about the Bible as story, using it as a vehicle to narrate her own spiritual journey and to help us explore our own. In And It Was Good she explored the nature of creation, and in A Stone for a Pillow she meditated on the tale of Jacob. Here she tells the end of the story, focusing on Joseph, Jacob’s son, a spoiled and selfish young man who finally, through betrayal, anger, abandonment, unfairness, and pain, became a full and complex human being.
In his story L’Engle sees everyone’s experience of growth and change, which is what being human is all about. She also hails Joseph as a fellow artist who was flexible and observant, and so able to change.
L’Engle structures the book poetically, using for her framework the many voices of Jacob’s vast family as described in Genesis 49. Allowing each brother in order of birth (and the silent woman) to speak, she follows the biblical narrative to its conclusion in Egypt. Unlike more straightforward biblical exegetes, L’Engle takes many liberties, often startling her readers by roaming into contemporary concerns, such as women’s rights, the environment, modern justice, or medicine.
Like her earlier two books, Sold into Egypt beautifully conveys the special flavor and fascination of L’Engle’s meditations. Whether she is writing fiction, poetry, or this special mixture of biographical anecdote and personal musings, L’Engle’s work has become spiritual autobiography. By comparing herself to Joseph and his brothers and sisters, she not only records her own journey but tests her vocation as a writer who is a Christian.
By Alzina Stone Dale.
