Jeff rightly calls evangelicals on the carpet for hiding their quest for worldly power behind the mask of \u201cservant leadership.\u201d It\u2019s not Jerry\u2019s notion of servanthood, of course, that Jeff disagrees with. Helping the poor and hungry are certainly worthwhile. David asked what I think is \u201cthe most under-reported but promising parts of evangelicalism today (in terms of living up to Jesus’ Gospel).\u201d One thing I can point to is a number of corporate executives who are choosing to forgo the kind of opulent lifestyle we\u2019re used to seeing and are instead using their money to do good works, making a difference in people\u2019s lives. It\u2019s not a revolution, but it\u2019s not nothing.<\/p>\n
\nWhat Jeff really objects to is the way evangelical leaders have grasped power while pretending they don\u2019t have it. He\u2019ll get no argument from me. Evangelicals certainly aren\u2019t powerless. If they were, I\u2019d have no book. You can\u2019t wear the mantle of the oppressed while sitting in your office on Capitol Hill.
\nBut while evangelicals are certainly interested in political power, they\u2019re not only interested in political power. That\u2019s why they are heavily engaged in many other areas\u2014Hollywood, higher education, business, and the arts, to name a few. What unites evangelicals is that they believe something is wrong with American culture and that they can help set it aright. \u201cCultural redemption\u201d is a phrase I heard from a lot of the people I interviewed. Is this political? Sure. Is it entirely political? No way. Power and politics may be twin-born, but they are not identical.
\nThis wider cultural agenda is what makes evangelicalism a movement, not just an interest group. And it\u2019s what makes them potentially more powerful than a mere interest group could ever be.
\nWhat has made them a successful movement? For all their diversity\u2014and it is real\u2014they remain united around a core group of religious beliefs. Orthodoxy gives them their identity and allows them to define who\u2019s in and who\u2019s out. Good fences make good movements.
\nBut that\u2019s only half of it. Evangelical orthodoxy is not of the (to borrow from Jeff) \u201cmy-way-or-the-highway (to Hell)\u201d variety. Instead, it\u2019s what I call \u201celastic orthodoxy\u201d\u2014the ability to remain distinctive without putting purity ahead of pragmatism\u2014and it has been the key to evangelicals\u2019 rise to power.
\nIt\u2019s this, not just global warming (and, I would add, African poverty or the AIDS crisis), that separates Rick Warren from Jerry Falwell. Warren is the epitome of what I call a \u201ccosmopolitan evangelical.\u201d Cosmopolitan evangelicals look for allies among people Jerry Falwell would simply condemn.
\nWhile populists make the most noise, cosmopolitans have the most impact. Often, they get things done by drawing on friendships that grow out of shared faith. If there\u2019s one thing I learned from five years of interviewing powerful evangelicals, it\u2019s that personal relationships among leaders are the key to evangelicals\u2019 power. The bonds of faith are strong, and they last beyond Sunday morning.
\nSpeaking of church, we haven\u2019t really talked much about it. One of the most striking things about the powerful evangelicals I interviewed is that many of them were really disengaged from their local congregations, opting instead to find spiritual support in small fellowship groups, Bible studies, and in programs sponsored by parachurch groups. They\u2019d rather be on the board of a national organization like Young Life than the board of elders at their local Presbyterian church. Art Linkletter described himself to me as a \u201cfloating\u201d Christian, so it\u2019s not just young evangelicals.
\nThis is a growing phenomenon, one that could lead to even more significant divisions in the years ahead. What will that mean for evangelicals and their influence in wider society?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Jeff rightly calls evangelicals on the carpet for hiding their quest for worldly power behind the mask of \u201cservant leadership.\u201d It\u2019s not Jerry\u2019s notion of servanthood, of course, that Jeff disagrees with. Helping the poor and hungry are certainly worthwhile. David asked what I think is \u201cthe most under-reported but promising parts of evangelicalism today…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-evangelicals-in-power-a-beliefnet-roundtable"],"yoast_head":"\n