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Named and Famed
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SHAME
About the Hall of Fame
Not all
fundies deserve to be lumped in with the hardcore spiritual-abusers,
the high-profile manipulators and the charlatans. Sometimes someone
stands out, and we at LeavingFundamentalism.org want to wrap our arms
around them and say, "Thank you for being an evangelical we can all
can look up to!" The Hall of Fame is for the fundies who deserve to be
singled out for a bit of praise.
Named and Famed
Craig L Blomberg
Denver
Seminary Professor Craig Blomberg is an evangelical biblical scholar to
be reckoned with. Sure, you might not agree with his generally
conservative conclusions, but to the extent that any biblical scholar
has ever shown himself to be fair and evenhanded, Blomberg has. When
evangelicals joined the Pope in denouncing Liberation Theology (a
South-American Catholic response to the problems of poverty and
injustice) as heresy, Blomberg boldly urged evangelicals to listen and
learn instead. He engaged in dialogue with Mormons and tried relating to
them as human beings, to the noise of much sensation and criticism from
his fellow evangelicals. And he's consistently decried the
narrow-mindedness and anti-intellectualism of fundamentalist scholarship
in his native USA.
Tony &
Peggy Campolo
Well known for
championing justice and social action, and railing against
fundamentalist bigotry, Tony has been a thorn in the side of his fellow
evangelicals for the past two decades. Conservative Christianity's most
beloved heretic, Tony likes to rock the boat. He's famed for telling his
straightlaced evangelical audiences: "Some of you don't give a shit
about poverty in the world. And some of you are more offended that I
just said 'shit' than by the fact there are children dying of starvation
in Africa." Tony = da man. Wife Peggy is not so well-known (I
couldn't even get hold of a picture of her, so you'll have to make do
with this photo of Tony lying talking about a salmon he
once caught), but her incredible ministry to the rejected and
marginalized makes her a hero, if unsung.
Stanley J Grenz
The
late, great Stanley J Grenz
was one of a kind. As an evangelical scholar, theologian and leader, he
spent the years before his tragic death in 2005 at the age of 55 urging
evangelical Christians to be a more welcoming and inclusive community.
Taking his cue from the doctrine of the Trinity -- that God himself is a
loving community of persons -- Stan had a reputation as a man of
character and warmth, and a bridgebuilder between Christians of every
tradition, whether conservative or liberal. His intellectual engagement
with postmodernism also ensured he became something of a leader for the
so-called Emerging movement, a generally progressive wing of
evangelicalism of the last few years. Few people outside fundamentalism
have a bad word to say about Grenz, as anyone who sat tearfully through
his memorial service
will know. Cheers, Stan.
Suggest a Name
Guidelines:
Submissions to the Hall of Fame must be people who can be clearly
identified as figures in the evangelical world, but who for some reason
have done or said something worth praising, something that sets them
apart from the worst of fundamentalism.
Submit a name: Send Dave an
email including
brief details of your nomination, and reasons why s/he should become an
entrant in the Hall of Fame. A referral to a relevant website would be
helpful. Don't forget to include the name by which you'd like to be
identified, and please indicate whether your email address should be
made publicly available.
Alternatively,
if there's a name up there you think should not be in our Hall of
Fame,
let me know.
©
David L Rattigan 2005
