Russell Moore gets it mostly right

Last updated on: November 12, 2016 at 8:25 am by Dave Griffey

Russell Moore gets it mostly right 2016-11-11T20:31:21-04:00 Dave Griffey

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Finally. I went to school with Russ. I’d lie if I said I knew him well since he ran in different circles than I did. He always seemed a decent enough fellow. Our big crossing came during a colloquium. I wrote a paper suggesting that the tendency of jockeying Scripture around to support this or that political or cultural movement is, in fact, par for the course when it comes to Protestant biblical exegesis in general. Needless to say, Russ disagreed. He responded with a resounding Nein!, echoing Barth’s famous rebuke of Brunner’s theology. Heh. I guess I didn’t listen since I eventually became Catholic.

Other than that, I only knew him as part of the Mohler revolution that was all about returning Baptists to their Calvinist roots and rolling back some of the ecumenism that Baptists had been forging with other traditions, like Catholics. Moore had recently changed to Calvinism and was emerging as Dr. Mohler’s right hand man among the student body. When I went into actual ministry, I remember Russ writing about gathering together a coalition in light of the new millennium, in which conservatives of different traditions could agree to disagree for the greater purpose of fighting those culture wars.

I lost track of him after I became Catholic, but did hear a few years ago that he was beginning to pull away from the whole religious right movement, and was starting to criticize some of the more extreme and, quite frankly, goofy concerns and theories that were being floated. He also was bemoaning the growing tendency of the religious right to follow, rather than inform, the rest of the conservative movement.

This year, when he publicly denounced the term Evangelical, I could only say it was about time. Back in the day, during the joyful years of the Clinton administration, the term Evangelical had become a non-negotiable. Claim Jesus all you want, call yourself a Christian if you insist, but if you didn’t claim Evangelical, and by that we mean conservative Evangelical, then there was the door. Trust me, my posterior was hit by that door more than once. Having been schooled by Dr. Bob Long and Dr. David Gushee, however, I developed a quick skepticism about a faith movement too closely aligned with a political party.

Exactly where Russ stood on such issues back then I don’t know. I just know he’s finally becoming known for echoing what so many of us saw back in the 90s, that the conservative Christian movement was becoming far too political, and it was ignoring entire swaths of Christian morality and Christian witness for political expediency. He is reflecting the fear we had that religious faith would be reduced to a political party, as politics swiftly poured in to become the religion faith of our secularized society. Hopefully Russ won’t go the way of so many who have seen the problems with the religious right, and begin throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Based on this piece, it doesn’t look like it. We’ll see.

Christianity in the Post-Modern World

Interesting Insights

Previous Post

November 11, 2016

To my favorite veteran

Next Post

November 12, 2016 In honor of Monday's Supermoon

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Abortion Atheism Awesome things Bigotry for the hip American Blogging Books Catholic Catholic Teaching Catholics on the Internet Christian Persecution Christian Unity Christianity and America Christianity in the Post-Modern World Christianity in the world Culture of Death Culture of Life Current Events Decline and Fall of the Christian West Defending Liberty Fun Stuff Global Warming Good Causes Good News Gun Control Health Care History Holidays Homeschool Humor Important things Inspiring Stories Interesting Insights Interesting Stories Islam and the West Liberal "Tolerance" Liberal observations Life in a post-Christian world Memorial Movies Musings News Other Blogs Our Big Politically Correct Bother Politics Popular Culture Post Modern Values Prayers Pro Life Promoting LGBT Protecting Liberty Racism in the world today Scientism Social Observations Sports Strange Stories The Boys The Catholic Church and the Left The Decline and Fall of the American Dream The end of liberty The Faith and the Left The Faith and the Right The Family The Greatness of God The Internet The Leftist Juggernaut The LGBT Question The Media The Pope The post-liberal Left The Power of Propaganda Tributes Twilight of the American Experiment Uncategorized Uneducating Postmoderns When the Church is wrong Why learn from history when we can repeat it instead Wisdom in the Post Modern Age World Events

Select a Month August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

I wrote of a new covenant where God's law would be written not on stone but where?

Select your answer to see how you score.

On scrolls On their hearts In the temple In a book