GODSTUFF

“LORD, SAVE US FROM YOUR FOLLOWERS”:
NEO-APOLOGETICS AND A RETURN TO CIVILITY

Chicago’s own Dwight L. Moody, the great American evangelist of the 19th century, once said that of 100 people, one would read the Bible, and the other 99 would “read the Christian.”

Let’s face it: Christianity has an image problem.

When you hear the word “Christian,” what comes to mind?

Is it love, compassion, service, humility and grace?

Or is it more along the lines of anger, self-righteousness, judgmentalism and hypocrisy?

As long as there have been Christians, there has been something called apologetics — a veritable cottage industry of writers, thinkers, theologians and other culture shapers who have rallied in defense of the faith.

Huge theological tomes have been written, churches have split, wars have been fought and whole peoples persecuted in “defense of the faith.”

Recently, a new crop of apologists has added its voice to the mix, producing books with titles such as Jesus Wants to Save Christians: A Manifesto for the Church in Exile, UnChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity … and Why It Matters, and They Like Jesus but Not the Church: Insights from Emerging Generations.

These mostly young American evangelical Christians are pleading not only for a return to Christianity’s true meaning, they’re calling for a revolutionary rethinking of the apologetics enterprise.

In a word, what they want to reintroduce into the public discourse about faith is civility.

Perhaps the best bit of this neo-apologetics I’ve seen is a documentary film called “Lord, Save Us from Your Followers.” Made by a fellow from Oregon named Dan Merchant, the film has slowly been building a buzz nationwide and a loyal following of fans that presses DVD copies of the movie into the hands of anyone who will take them.

With humor and humility, Merchant traveled the country (wearing a white jumpsuit covered with religious-themed bumper-stickers), trying to answer the question: “Why is the gospel of love dividing America?”