![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/292\/2012\/10\/obama1.jpg\" "\\"obama\\"")
<\/a>Greetings and welcome to a new blog over here at the Patheos Evangelical Portal: ThoughtLife. \u00a0My name is Owen Strachan, and I\u2019ll be blogging here about theology, history, ethics, politics, literature and more. \u00a0My intent is to provide you with excellent Christocentric cultural engagement. \u00a0I\u2019m excited by how Patheos is fast becoming a cutting-edge spot for Christian public intellectuals, and I hope to live up to that descriptor here.<\/p>\n*******<\/p>\n
A recent CNN post by John Blake<\/a> wonders out loud whether president Barack Obama\u2013entering his final presidential debate with Mitt Romney<\/a> tonight\u2013might be the harbinger of a new day for liberal Protestantism. \u00a0Toward the end of his lengthy piece, Blake quotes Marcia Pally and then broadens the point:<\/p>\n The lines between younger conservative Christians and progressives are blurring, says Marcia Pally, author of \u201cThe New Evangelicals: Expanding the Vision of the Common Good.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Pally spent six years traveling across America to interview evangelicals. She says her research revealed that more than 60% of young evangelicals support more governmental programs to aid the needy, as well as more emphasis on economic justice and environmental protection issues.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s interesting is that these values, associated with Obama and the black Protestant tradition are now also the values of a growing number of white evangelicals,\u201d she says.<\/em><\/p>\n Her perspective suggests that Obama\u2019s faith may be treated by history in two ways:<\/em><\/p>\n He could be seen as the last embodiment of a progressive version of Christianity that went obsolete.<\/em><\/p>\n Or he could be seen as a leader who helped resurrect a dying brand of Christianity for a new generation.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Read the whole piece.<\/a> \u00a0This last line caught my attention. \u00a0I\u2019ve written on Obama\u2019s \u201cbrand\u201d of Christianity<\/a>\u00a0before for\u00a0Christianity Today<\/em>. \u00a0His liberal Protestantism, wrapped in a revivalist shell, deserves engagement on its own terms.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what caught my attention in this segment, though: can anyone reasonably expect to \u201cresurrect\u201d liberal Protestantism? \u00a0Forget the political issues involved here and the rather soft journalism at play in this piece. \u00a0This is one of the more interesting questions one encounters in the study of modern American Christianity. \u00a0Richard Wightman Fox, progressive Christian and author of a classic biography<\/a> on Reinhold Niebuhr, once mused out loud in a fascinating essay<\/a> that the dynamic of liberal Protestantism\u2013specifically, its shaping by the culture\u2013set it on a collision course with enlightened secular thought.<\/p>\n In other words, the liberal Protestants were so shaped by cultural mores that their project was essentially destined to merge with the culture. \u00a0This is a brilliant insight, and it tells a great deal of the story of liberal Protestantism in the last 100 years. \u00a0The moral arc of mainline Christianity is long, and it bends toward the culture.<\/p>\n This relates to Obama and his leftist faith. \u00a0Can he \u201craise the oceans\u201d of the mainline church? \u00a0I am skeptical. \u00a0I\u2019m not sure anyone or anything could restore the mainline to cultural prominence. \u00a0Why? \u00a0Because many in the mainline seem content to act as the religious advocacy wing of Democratic and progressive politics. \u00a0What does this mean for the broader cultural prospects of the mainline churches? \u00a0It means that many people today who aren\u2019t overly interested in religion will avoid them, because they can get the same ideas without the religious trappings, the cumbersome community life and odd spiritual practices that are out of step with the American materialist technopoly.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t get me wrong. \u00a0If anyone could restore the mainline, it would be a figure like Obama. \u00a0He is clearly gifted and inspiring to many. \u00a0But I don\u2019t think that many of your creative class, your meritocratic elites, are even aware of the mainline today. \u00a0Some who paid attention in American History class in college may be inspired by the advocates of the Social Gospel whom Blake mentions. \u00a0But others will practice the same politics as liberal Protestants and steer clear of the religious baggage.<\/p>\n Then there is a sizable swath of the American populace that will make a different choice, and buy in to high-cost conservative Christianity. \u00a0This is the story of Dave Shiflett\u2019s recent\u00a0Exodus<\/em><\/a>, which shows that when it comes to what people seek in religion, there seems to be a persistent desire for something that is alien and out of step with au courant<\/em> thinking. \u00a0This ineffable encounter\u2013Ross Douthat calls it \u201cnuminous\u201d in Bad Religion<\/em><\/a>\u2014 drives people not to a vaguely spiritual platform with sharp political overtones, but to a kingdom led by a Messiah who was not lauded. \u00a0Preaching his gospel of self-death and God-exaltation over all else, he was crucified for daring to be the savior of the lost.<\/p>\n It is only this Christ who could resurrect the mainline, whose slide we do not cheer. \u00a0We are those who dare to believe he could do it, for he has resurrected us.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Greetings and welcome to a new blog over here at the Patheos Evangelical Portal: ThoughtLife. \u00a0My name is Owen Strachan, and I\u2019ll be blogging here about theology, history, ethics, politics, literature and more. \u00a0My intent is to provide you with excellent Christocentric cultural engagement. \u00a0I\u2019m excited by how Patheos is fast becoming a cutting-edge spot […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1217,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[257],"tags":[13054,3150,3151,2063,3149],"class_list":["post-3990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-barack-obama","tag-liberal-protestantism","tag-mainline-christianity","tag-mitt-romney","tag-reinhold-niebuhr"],"yoast_head":"\n