The death of Billy Graham appears to be the final nail in the coffin of American conservative Christianity from the past. Conservative Christianity was the rage in America from time to time and preachers like Billy Graham ignited interest and brought in many new followers. But there seems to be no one who is taking his place and Thomas Kidd (click here for a bio), who is from The Gospel Coalition and Baylor University, recently wrote a reminiscing article that appeared on the First Things website asking if another Billy Graham is waiting in the wings (click here for the article).
Kidd's question is asked from a certain perspective. That perspective wasn't focused on Graham's personality, beliefs, or political connections. Kidd's question was asked regarding whether there will be another evangelistic preacher who will have the impact Billy Graham had. And Kidd's answer to his own question seems to be 'no.' And Kidd gives a surprising explanation why while praising Graham for his vision and his many skills.
Why did Kidd answer his own question with a 'no.' It is because today's audience is far different from the audiences on which Graham began to build his ministry. That was true even when Graham ran crusades in other countries. For then, Graham was riding on the coattails of his own success in America. And his audiences back then were, for the most part, evangelical or heavily influenced by evangelicalism. Thus Graham's crusades not only easily reached unbelievers, his crusades ministered to believers as well. But today's audiences are too secular for any evangelist to follow in Graham's footsteps by imitating his methods and message, according to Kidd.
Kidd believes that any "future Billy Graham" would have to accomplish the following. He would have to distinguish the evangelical message and movement from what evangelism has been all strongly associated with: a 'religious white' Republicanism. And any future Billy Graham would also have to exhibit Graham's combination of entrepreneurial skills with his adept use of the communications technology of the day.
There are several points to be addressed in Kidd's article. Again, he asked, will there be a new evangelist who will have the same impact that Billy Graham had? And I fully agree with his answer and he gives a substantially qualified explanation as to why. But his explanation could also be added to.
What else could explain why it is unlikely that we will see another Billy Graham? We should note that both Modernism and Post Modernism have made more of an impact now than during the beginning of his ministry and heyday. That means that the Christian metanarrative is more likely to be heavily challenged than it was when Graham was popular. Modernism's metanarrative still challenges Christianity's explanations for the physical world around us. In addition, Post Modernism is giving fits to what Kidd referred to as white Christian Republicanism because of how religiously conservative Christians have all too often aligned themselves with a self-exalting patriotism and conservative American political ideology. The challenges of both Modernism and Post Modernism have effectively, in the eyes of many people, dismantled the credibility of the Evangelicalism promoted by Billy Graham.
But one other point needs to be made here. That is when use Billy Graham's message and political entanglements as the basis of comparison, we already have another Billy Graham. His name is Franklin Graham. He pretty much adheres to the evangelicalism promoted by his father. And like his father, Franklin has his own questionable political associations. But those associations have hurt Franklin more than Billy Graham's associations hurt him. Why? The difference in in the audience. The audience back then was more accepting of a conservative authoritarianism than it is today. And that is why Kidd alluded to the need for any new Billy Graham to distance evangelicalism from its past political and racial associations. That is why this article has pointed to Post Modernism as contributing to a new audience that is less receptive to Billy Graham's messages and political associations than the audiences he preached to.
Is there a new Billy Graham visible on the horizon? I'm afraid not, though too much dependence on such a figure is not healthy. Why? Because too many conservative evangelical leaders have not distanced themselves enough from the Republican party and politically conservative ideology to at least answer the objections of Post Modernism.
No comments:
Post a Comment