Last night I went to a lecture at Messiah College by Grant Wacker, Professor of Christian History at Duke Divinity School. Wacker’s lecture, “Billy Graham’s America,” was based on his current book project. It explores the ways in which Graham’s life is a window into American culture in the post-World War II era. Wacker discussed Graham as a southerner, a cultural healer, and a man who accommodated to American culture.
Probably the most interesting part of the lecture was the way Wacker explained Graham’s views on Vietnam, civil rights, and global justice. Graham supported the Vietnam War and was never critical of LBJ or Nixon. Graham did not make any dramatic gestures to end segregation, but he insisted that his crusades be integrated. Graham’s track record on poverty, the environment, and human rights was stellar.
This morning I joined a group of Messiah faculty in an informal chat with Wacker about this new project. We discussed Graham’s singularity as the great evangelist of the post-war era, reflected on his utter failure to address questions of gender, and had an interesting debate over whether Graham really believed that anyone who did not accept the Christian gospel was destined for eternal damnation.
On the latter point, Wacker believes that Graham was much more inclusive than the administrators of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association make him out to be. Wacker points to an interview he did in 1978 with McCall’s magazine in which Graham stated: I used to believe that pagans in far off countries were lost going to hell if they did not have the Gospel of Jesus Christ preached to them. I no longer believe that. I believe that there are other ways of recognizing God through nature for instance and plenty of other ways of saying ‘yes’ to God. Graham said something similar on Larry King Live in 2005.
This is going to be a great book written by a great and gracious American religious historian. And I also learned that Wacker reads this blog!
Thanks for the update. Sounds like a fascinating talk; I heard similar reports about his presentation at the recent American Society of Church History meeting (I believe).Any idea when the book will be out-or where interested readers can read Wacker’s thoughts?
Phil: As far as I know he has not published anything yet. If I hear anything I will let you know.