David Gushee has been through the gamut of the Christian culture wars. As pastor, professor, activist, writer, and high-profile spokesman for evangelicalism, he has seen the Christian right, the Christian left, and plenty of not-so-Christian Christians. In Still Christian: Following Jesus Out of American Evangelicalism he tells his own story as it intertwines with political and religious life in the United States.
I especially enjoyed Still Christian because I feel like a fellow traveler with Gushee. He attended Southern Seminary, then went to Union Seminary in New York for his Ph.D. Returning to Southern Seminary to teach, he was struck by the change in culture due to the conservative takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention. He stayed at Southern for several years, but left when his more liberal positions were less and less welcome. I am a few years younger than Gushee, but experienced the same sorts of changes. When I was at Baylor, the historic Baptist university began the process of becoming self-governing to protect itself from the hard-line conservatism. The semester I graduated from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, the conservative faction successfully drove the president away. Much of the theology faculty followed shortly after--as soon as they found positions elsewhere.
Like Gushee, my faith in Jesus was not shaken, but my faith practice was impacted deeply, and my faith in other Christians was diminished. He writes, "I haven't been able to stop being a Christian. Despite all the fighting, culture warring, and general craziness that I've seen, I am still doing my best to be a follower of Jesus." While my wanderings have been personal and unknown to the public, Gushee's struggles have been linked to his career, including his high-profile written work. He's had to face the choice between following his conscience and providing for his family. Thankfully, for him, things have worked out professionally, but not often without stress and difficulty.
Gushee is quite vulnerable and personal in his memoir. Part of his testimony is that he found himself too intellectual and thoughtful for typical Baptist life. Of course, he doesn't put it like that. But the tone of Still Christian is largely intellectually arrogance. He leaves the reader with the impression that if Christians were only more intellectual, well-read, educated, smarter, and more thoughtful, they would flee from the fundamentalist, narrow beliefs of their historic faith. I don't sense in Gushee's attitude, or in the attitudes of others on the evangelical left, an openness to the idea that Christians with traditionally conservative theological perspectives (or conservative political convictions, for that matter) came to their conclusions due to thoughtful consideration, deep study of the scripture, and prayerful conviction. I got the sense that Gushee holds people who share his theological and ethical stances in high esteem, while people to his left are worthy of his consideration, but people to his right are clearly lesser lights.
For instance, he writes that "the resurgence of a doctrinaire Calvinism in contemporary evangelicalism is among the most odious developments of the last generation. I abhor its version of God and most of its version of Christian ethics." He can't just disagree; it's a stain on the church. Similarly, one of the main points of division in Baptist life is the role of women, specifically the question of whether a woman can be a senior pastor. The conservatives at Southern Seminary made this question the line of demarcation; anyone who believed women could be pastors was shown the door. I get the sense that Gushee would be just as exclusive--anyone who does not believe women can be pastors would be shown the door. How about each individual church decides who can be their pastor?
The final and most contentious cause of Gushee's separation from evangelism was his outspoken advocacy for gay Christians. It amazes me that in a very few short years the belief that homosexual activity is sinful has come to be so controversial. I do not doubt that there are many gay Christians. I also do not doubt that gay sex is sinful, as is any other sex outside of the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman. The church's treatment of gays and the singling out of homosexual sex as especially sinful has been terrible, historically, and a corrective is welcome. But to swing all the way to saying gay sex is part of God's wonderful plan is to jettison scripture, church history, and sociological experience all at once.
I respect Gushee's work and his convictions on several points, even as I disagree with him sometimes. But his journey exemplifies the tendency of liberal Christianity. The drift to the left keeps on drifting and the farther it drifts, the harder it is to stop. While I was on the "anti-fundamentalist" side of the "Battle for the SBC," the controversy drove me away from Baptist life. I go to a non-denominational church now, but many of my college and seminary cohort are in Cooperative Baptist Fellowship churches, which, as Gushee points out, no longer means SBC-style churches who might allow women to serve in church leadership. The CBF has become "an uneasy coalition of moderates . . . and real-life liberals." If they are not already there, they are moving rapidly toward the universalism and moral relativism that mark many mainline churches.
Gushee is still a Christian. I have no qualms calling him a brother in Christ. I know I could learn much from his devotional and reflective life. But Still Christian left me wondering, how far can Gushee go? How far from historic theological and ethical principles can he wander and still consider himself a Christian? Unfortunately, the sense I get from Still Christian is this: Look to your right and to your left. People to your right are unenlightened; pray that they will grow. People on your left are further along in their journey; follow them. I think I would like David Gushee. But I won't be following him leftward.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!
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