Tony Campolo<\/a>\u2018s reactions to it.<\/p>\nI am thankful that Tripp included me in the list of responders to the re-release of Walter Rauschenbusch\u2019s Christianity and the Social Crisis<\/em>.\u00a0 I admit with some embarrassment that I might not have read it otherwise.\u00a0 As I read through the table of contents, I immediately knew which chapter on which I would focus.\u00a0 I chose Rauschenbusch\u2019s section on \u201cThe Social Aims of Jesus\u201d because I am interested in how we retain Jesus\u2019 teachings in an ever-changing cultural, social, technological climate.<\/p>\nRauschenbusch\u2019s view of Jesus\u2019 life and ministry, and our appropriate response to it, can be summarized in a line from Kevin Smith\u2019s (ir)reverent comedy, Dogma<\/em>.\u00a0 Chris Rock\u2019s character, Rufus, comments, \u201cJesus had a good thing going until man built a belief system around it.\u201d\u00a0 Rauschenbusch\u2019s view of the Hebrew prophets carries something of this quip\u2019s truth.\u00a0 Jesus\u2019 ministry continued the early emphasis of the Hebrew prophets\u2019 care for the poor and oppressed and the necessity of creating just and equitable societies on earth.\u00a0 Rauschenbusch argues that we cannot fully understand the life and work of Jesus apart from this rich religious history.<\/p>\nThroughout this chapter, Rauschenbusch focuses on Jesus not being a social reformer, his relation to contemporary movements, his purpose as an active proponent of the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom\u2019s impact on Jesus\u2019 ethics, Jesus\u2019 emphasis on conduct over ritual, his teachings on wealth, his social affinities, and his revolutionary consciousness.\u00a0 All of these elements are deeply imbued with a social consciousness.\u00a0 Despite Evangelical assertions to the contrary, I do not feel that Rauschenbusch avoids individual concerns but that they are rather implicit in his social emphasis.\u00a0 The individual matters insofar as (s)he contributes to a healthy society.<\/p>\n
Rauschenbusch realizes the tendency of subsequent groups and individuals to appropriate Jesus\u2019 teachings to their particular ends or movements.\u00a0 Rauschenbush rejects any efforts at this\u2026unless of course they align with efforts to fight injustice and oppression.\u00a0 Far from seeing Jesus as a violent revolutionary or the Kingdom of God arriving by some future cataclysmic event, Rauschenbusch places the responsibility squarely on contemporary Christians to bring about the Kingdom of God through gradual, peaceful, organic change.<\/p>\n
Perhaps I can flesh out more of my thoughts on this chapter by responding to Campolo\u2019s response.\u00a0 Campolo begins by praising Rauschenbusch\u2019s emphasis on bringing about God\u2019s Kingdom in the here and now rather than waiting for it by and by.\u00a0 He laments Evangelicals\u2019 slow arrival at this reality and its assertion to work for the poor and oppressed.\u00a0 Campolo, apparently speaking for the Evangelical community, finds four shortcomings in Rauschenbusch\u2019s text.\u00a0 First, Campolo writes, \u201cHe does not clearly affirm the traditional church belief that Jesus was fully God incarnate.\u00a0 There is no doubt that Rauschenbusch affirms divine qualities in Jesus, but it is not at all clear that he views Christ as the second member of the Trinity\u201d (77).\u00a0 Here, it seems as if Campolo fails to see the forest for the trees.\u00a0 Such a complaint runs contrary to the Hebrew prophets and Jesus\u2019 emphasis of conduct over belief (ritual).\u00a0 Does an Evangelical obsession with the necessity of believing in the Trinity trump modeling one\u2019s life after Jesus\u2019 advocacy for the Kingdom of God?<\/p>\n
Campolo argues second, \u201c[\u2026There] is a sense in which Rauschenbusch fails to grasp the radical sinfulness of the human race\u201d (77).\u00a0 To counter this sinfulness, Campolo cites the need for \u201cpersonal conversion in which an individual enters into a dialogical and transforming relationship with a living Christ\u201d (78).\u00a0 Ironically, I would argue that if one follows Rauschenbusch\u2019s argument to its conclusion, she would experience a radical transformation with a living Christ, not only personally, but in her surrounding community as well.\u00a0 Whether Campolo\u2019s wish is exemplary of the Evangelical death grip on personal\/individual faith or not, Rauschenbusch\u2019s words counter:\u00a0 \u201cTheologians have felt no hesitation in founding a system of speculative thought on the teachings of Jesus, and yet Jesus was never an inhabitant of the realm of speculative thought\u201d (72).\u00a0 \u201cSpeculative thought\u201d might be another way of describing an incessant emphasis on personal salvation.\u00a0 Moreover, we cannot doubt that Rauschenbush was keenly aware of the prevalence of sin, given his life-long involvement in the most \u201csinned against\u201d communities in this country.<\/p>\n
Third, Campolo claims, \u201cWe Evangelicals also have trouble with Rauschenbusch\u2019s view of Scripture.\u00a0 [\u2026We] cannot accept Rauschenbusch\u2019s belief that parts of the Bible need not be taken seriously since they are more reflections of the political pressures under which they were written than revelation from God\u201d (78).\u00a0 Once again, I fear that the Evangelicals are too easily offended here.\u00a0 I do not think that Rauschenbusch does not take certain parts of the Bible seriously.\u00a0 Rather, taking it more seriously than most Evangelicals, he chooses to major on the majors.\u00a0 Again, Campolo might be letting a belief system stand in the way of a Kingdom ethic.<\/p>\n
Finally, Campolo argues, \u201cI do not believe there is necessarily a contradiction between Rauschenbusch\u2019s idea that the kingdom of God emerges as individuals come together to form a movement through which God effects change and the traditional evangelical belief that God intervenes at the eschaton, bringing history to a dramatic and apocalyptic end\u201d (78).\u00a0 I see where Campolo is going here, although part of me believes this is the least significant complaint.\u00a0 Though the promise of the eschaton might be a pacifier to some, it should not deter us from working in the here and now, tirelessly.\u00a0 Moreover, this eschaton has been used to buffer so much suffering that I believe a temporary move away from it, a la Rauschenbusch, might be in order.<\/p>\n
In conclusion, what we have here might be irreconcilable differences fueled to a great extent by a (dis)belief in Scriptural inerrancy.\u00a0 Moreover, Rauschenbusch\u2019s arguments for the social implications of Christianity can turn on him, as the Evangelicals consistently do.\u00a0 Rather than focusing on the poor and oppressed, they champion anti-abortion, anti-gay, anti-welfare, etc. all the while claiming, like Rauschenbusch, \u201cWhoever uncouples the religious and the social life has not understood Jesus\u201d (42).<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Here is my response to the second chapter of Christianity and the Social Crisis, \u201cThe Social Aims of Jesus,\u201d and Tony Campolo\u2018s reactions to it. I am thankful that Tripp included me in the list of responders to the re-release of Walter Rauschenbusch\u2019s Christianity and the Social Crisis.\u00a0 I admit with some embarrassment that I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":288,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-print"],"yoast_head":"\n
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