Jesus and Billy Graham -- Coolhombres

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Subject: Jesus and Billy Graham

Author:
ak

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Date Posted: 08:23:26 06/25/02 Tue

What is evangelicalism? Who was Jesus? At what point are these two compatible? How are they different? Chad, your commentary is something that is near and dear to where I am at right now. In general, I too find myself looking for alternative forms of how the gospel can be proclaimed. I feel like my experience in the evangelical model has been exhausted.

Evangelicalism is a very recent and localized phenomenon. I think it is an American movement that really did not come into its own until the last, say, century. With the advent of fundamentalism (earlier) and its lack of ability to form a spirituality, the evangelical model served as a supplement. In short, it was the answer to the question, what does it mean to be spiritual? The answer: go witness to people. I think this project was not really perfected and didn't even really come into its own until Billy Graham. He had such success that this form of piety caught on like a wildfire all throughout the Americas.

So back to my earlier questions posed in a different way, what does Jesus have in common with Billy Graham? At the very least the Billy Graham style has understood the vitality and urgency of the gospel. This is something that we all need to learn from.

To point out one difference between the two that I think matches up with Chad's points. It seems like Jesus drew people to himself. The sense is that he was this enigmatic character that intrigued people. This drew a crowd. He also didn't seem like as much of deal closer. Sometimes, he tried to confuse the issue, i.e. parables.

The tendency is to interpret Jesus through our own historical consciousness, through the evangelical model. I think when we look at the broader historical tradition of the church we see other interpretations that can provide a broader, fuller description of this "interesting" person, to say the least.

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