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NICHOLAS KRISTOF: Pastor, can white evangelicalism be saved? :: WRAL.com wral.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from wral.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Nicholas Kristof column: Pastor, can white evangelicalism be saved? chicagotribune.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from chicagotribune.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
“The Adoration of the Shepherds” by Ortolano, 1527.Credit...Ortolano, via the Metropolitan Museum of Art Welcome to the latest in myoccasionalseries of conversations about Christianity. Here’s my interview with the Rev. Jim Wallis, an evangelical Christian pastor, author and justice activist. KRISTOF: Merry Christmas, Jim! You’re an evangelical Christian, but a progressive one. So how, literally, do you take Christmas? Do you believe that Jesus was born to a virgin in Bethlehem? WALLIS: How I “take Christmas” is defined in the famous prayer by the mother of Jesus — Mary’s Magnificat: “He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.” Meaning: The coming of Jesus is intended to turn things upside down. The power of the Bethlehem narrative includes the inn having no room for Mary and Joseph, and the lowly shepherds being the first witnesses of the new baby as hope for the world born in a manger with his homeless parents. This is not the conquering messiah many were hoping for, but one from the bottom of society in a time of political unrest and massive inequality — sort of like now.