Tony Campolo has written a new book, Letters to a Young Evangelical. I learned of it by reading Jordan Hylden's review in the February, 2007 issue of First Things. Hylden titles his review "A Letter to Tony Campolo." For those not familiar with Campolo, he is a prolific author, professor of Sociology, popular speaker, and self-attested Evangelical, but also a political liberal who reads the Bible with left-wing spectacles, along with others whom he terms "Red Letter Christians" (as in Bibles that print the words of Jesus in red). Mark Tooley, whose analysis I have cited in a previous post in connection with Tony Campolo and the Evangelical Left, refers to "Red Letter Christians" as "Red Letter Leftists." Clearly, this is no exaggeration, nor does it bear false witness. Campolo is a man of the political left who reads the Bible accordingly.
Jordan Hylden writes in his letter (review) to Campolo:
. . . I'm so disappointed. You start off by accusing conservative Christians of uncritically baptizing the Republican agenda, and you claim to offer a biblical
outlook that "transcends party politics." But then you turn around and support nearly every plank in the Democratic party's platform. I tried to keep track: You make an argument (liberally peppered with Bible verses) for the Democratic position on abortion, gay marriage, tax cuts, trade policy, Iraq, nuclear disarmament, school vouchers, racial profiling, the closing of Guantanamo Bay, capital punishment, and global warming." . . .
Too often you simply dismiss the conservative position as "chauvinist," "homophobic," "militaristic," "appaling," "sexist," and "hypernationalist." You know well that most young evangelicals are politically conservative. Do you think that means we aren't worth engaging in discussion?
Hylden goes on to take specific issue with Campolo over his economic views as well as other positions. Hylden writes,
You say you are "firmly pro-life," but if that is true, I have a hard time understanding why you spend most of a chapter parroting Planned Parenthood's arguments in favor of legalized abortion. . .
As for gay marriage, you write that you are a conservative on this issue as well. But then you make an extended argument for the opposite position, ending with this clincher: 'If you are going to be Red-Letter Christians, it is important for you to recognize that there is no record in the New Testament of Jesus saying anything about homosexuality." And, you add, "Evangelicals spend far too much time worrying about gay marriage."
For myself, I am
quite amazed that Campolo would advance an argument for homosexual
relationships on the grounds that Jesus didn't say anything negative
about homosexuality. I have always found that to be one of the weakest
theological arguments imaginable. Jesus didn't say anything about
incest and bestiality either. Neither were significant issues in
ancient Israel at the time of Christ. Indeed, Leviticus was quite
clear on the matter. Divorce, however, was an issue, and to
that Jesus spoke forcefully. It takes special pleading, indeed, to
suppose that Jesus would have countenanced homosexual relations. On
all this, see Robert A. J. Gagnon, The Bible and Homosexual Practice: Texts and Hermeneutics.
Hylden wonders why Campolo didn't spend more time introducing young evangelicals to the riches of the Christian faith.
George Weigle took great care to introduce his readers to the fullness of Catholic Christianity in his Letters to a Young Catholic, part of the same series to which your book belongs. You spend a whole chapter talking about global warming and nuclear disarmament, but you never try to help young people understand the Trinity or the Atonement. Why is that?
Hylden concludes his letter to Campolo saying,
By the end of the book, I think your average reader will be brimming with anger toward the religious right and fired up mostly about progresive politics. The danger, I think, is that they will wind up progressing right out of the Church. I can't believe that you actually want that to happen. But if you don't, I really don't understand why you wrote this book.