The Legacy of Billy Graham: Critical Reflections on America's Greatest Evangelist

by Michael G. Long (Editor)

Overview

Perhaps no individual has had more of an effect on twentieth-century American Christianity than the renowned evangelist Billy Graham, whose work has been widely influential in arenas from the rising evangelical movement to the White House. Although Graham's influence on evangelicalism has long been recognized, Michael G. Long's The Legacy of Billy Graham is the first book to examine his impact on mainline Christianity and on American civil religion. With noted contributors including John B. Cobb Jr., Harvey Cox, Gary Dorrien, Karen Lebacqz, Thomas G. Long, Mark Lewis Taylor, and J. Philip Wogaman, this critical but generally appreciative volume assesses Graham's career from the perspectives of preaching and theology, social issues, and his engagement with his contemporaries and then concludes with two retrospectives on his legacy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780664231385
Publisher:	Westminster John Knox Press
Publication date:	01/21/2008
Pages:	248
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Michael G. Long has written books for all ages on civil rights and peacemaking in mid-century America, including the stories of Martin Luther King Jr., Bayard Rustin, Jackie Robinson, and Mister Rogers. He lives in Pennsylvania.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments     vii
List of Contributors     ix
Introduction: Taking Billy Graham Seriously   Michael G. Long     xi
Preaching and Theology
Preaching the Good News   Thomas G. Long     3
The Tangible Evangelism of Billy Graham   Heather Murray Elkins     17
Law and Faith   John B. Cobb Jr.     33
Social Issues
"Keep Yourself Pure": Social Justice and Sexual Ethics   Karen Lebacqz     49
You Shall Have No Poor among You   Douglas Sturm     63
A Matter of Pride: A Feminist Response   Ellen Ott Marshall     79
Truth and Power: Reflections on the Graham Enigma   J. Philip Wogaman     93
Religious Sanctity and Political Power   Leslie C. Griffin     107
Contemporaries in Conflict?
Billy Graham in a Secular Society: The Greater London Crusade of 1954   Mark D. Chapman     125
Niebuhr and Graham: Modernity, Complexity, White Supremacism, Justice, Ambiguity   Gary Dorrien     141
Graham, King, and the Beloved Community   Rufus Burrow Jr.     161
Above Politics? Graham after Watergate   Steven P. Miller     179
A Question of Legacy
U.S. Evangelicals: Recovering a Post-9/11Prophetic Spirit   Mark Lewis Taylor     197
The Lasting Imprint of Billy Graham: Recollections and Prognostications   Harvey Cox     219