Modern Evangelicalism Baptized Cowardice and Called It a Virtue | Michael Clary

Bryan Dawson previewed this book last week. This week he has the author.

Michael Clary is the founding pastor of Christ the King Church in Fort Thomas, Kentucky, and the author of "Loser Theology: Why the Weak Will Not Inherit the Earth." His argument is that a generation of conservative Christians was trained to hold the right convictions and never assert them, based on the theory that asserting anything is a grab for power and the godliest use of power is to lay it down.

He names the three load-bearing pieces of it. Spectator spirituality, which shrinks the whole Christian life into the interior of the heart. The doormat doctrine, which treats suffering as the measure of faithfulness. And white flag Christianity, which "demands nothing, risks nothing, builds nothing, and protects nothing, convincing us this is the way God would have it."

Clary tells his own story first. He was trained to be careful, learned that careful was really just afraid, and found that the bolder he got the more his church grew.

Then the two of them work through what Christians are actually for: whether the outworking of the gospel is a ticket to heaven or the building of a civilization, why cowards are first on the list in Revelation 21, and why a man who refuses to use the authority God gave him has not avoided misusing it.

TOPICS TACKLED:

What "loser theology" is, and why it works on people who hold conservative convictions
The three tent pegs: spectator spirituality, the doormat doctrine, white flag Christianity
Clary's own turn, and why boldness grew his church instead of emptying it
Nefarious money or honest misreading? Why the answer is both
"If you're talking about conservative politics you're threatening the gospel. If you're talking about liberal politics you're expressing the gospel."
The endorsement he lost because the book criticized a man the endorser owed
Why abdicated authority is still authority misused, from the home to the statehouse
Twelve disciplines of high agency Christianity, and where an ordinary person starts
Whether eschatology is the real driver, and Clary's answer

Contacts

CONNECT WITH MICHAEL CLARY:

Who

Where

Michael Clary

@dmichaelclary · dmichaelclary.com

Loser Theology

losertheology.com · Canon Press

His other writing       

American Reformer · Center for Baptist Leadership

Church

Christ the King Church, Fort Thomas, Kentucky

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