Russell Moore's Unlikely Spiritual Muse | CT Books

[Also: The Tragic Downfall of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker] Also: The Tragic Downfall of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker | [View online]( [ChristianityToday.org]( [CT Books newsletter]( Tuesday, September 26, 2017 Russell Moore's Unlikely Spiritual Muse One of the pleasures of magazine editing comes when a slam-dunk article pitch falls into your lap, as if sent from the heavens. Or, as it were, from the good folks at the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, home to Russell Moore, who wanted to express his indebtedness to the author Frederick Buechner on the occasion of a rare release of unpublished material. That's the kind of offer you don't turn down. Especially when you consider that the 91-year-old Buechner, though cherished by Christians of varying doctrinal and denominational backgrounds, would seem like a curious figure for a Southern Baptist stalwart to revere. Moore must have known his readers would have a similar reaction. "So why," he asks "would I—a conservative evangelical of the Reformed stripe, a Southern Baptist of all things—keep coming back to the writings of this mainline Protestant from Vermont? One reason is that Buechner probably kept me from becoming a liberal Protestant." Find out why in this [powerful tribute]( which appears in our October issue. And after you're through, perhaps you'll want to take a peek at Buechner's latest books, [A Crazy Holy Grace: The Healing Power of Pain and Memory]( and [The Remarkable Ordinary: How to Stop, Look, and Listen to Life](. The Tragic Downfall of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker I arrived in the world a little too late to fully appreciate the televangelist scandals of the 1980s. For me, names like Jimmy Swaggart or Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker exist more as historical abstractions than as real people whose faces and voices I can summon to mind. Take the Bakkers, as a case in point. Until reading a draft of Heath Carter's [excellent review]( of [PTL: The Rise and Fall of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker's Evangelical Empire]( by the historian John Wigger, I had hardly grasped the magnitude of their offenses, from the serial affairs to the fleecing of donors. It's some pretty shocking stuff. For Carter, though, the right response to this sordid tale is engaging in "serious introspection" rather than mounting your moral high horse. "The facts about the Bakkers are often outlandish enough," he writes, "and throughout the book [Wigger] lets them speak for themselves. [His] commitment to laying off the cheap shot in no way diminishes the reader's sense of Jim and Tammy Faye's deep and abiding flaws. But it does mean that the Bakkers emerge from the book not as moral monsters but rather as flesh-and-blood human beings, complete with some real gifts and winsome traits. More than just a comedy of ethical errors, theirs is a story laced with tragedy." [Matt Reynolds](mailto:ctbooks@ChristianityToday.com), Associate Editor, Books Christianity Today To reply to this newsletter: ctbooks@christianitytoday.com Add newsletter@lists.christianitytoday.com to your address book. [Featured Articles]( [The Mainliner Who Made Me More Evangelical]( How Frederick Buechner changed the course of Russell Moore's life. Russell Moore [The Cautionary Tale of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker]( Their sins and scandals were extreme, but it's too easy to dismiss them as an aberration. Heath W. Carter More from Christianity Today [Kaepernick, Speech, and a Job: The Cleat May Soon be on the Other Foot]( Free speech is important, but is it always helpful, and how does it relate to employment? [The World's Best Small Churches]( What if every small church stopped worrying about getting bigger, and decided to be a great church starting right now? [Fake Apocalypse News Shouldn't Eclipse Real Tragedy News]( There are real issues that deserve full coverage, not another fake story about the end of the world. Follow Us [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [RSS]( [Subscribe to this newsletter]( IN THE MAGAZINE [Current Issue]( [No Child Left Behind Comes to Awana]( [An Innocent Black Man Forgave the Crooked White Cop Who Framed Him]( [Benny Hinn Is My Uncle, but Prosperity Preaching Isn't for Me]( [View Full Issue]( [Subscribe Now]( Related CT Newsletters [CT Entertainment]( Reviews and perspectives on movies, TV, and music. [Sign Up Now]( [CT Connection]( The official newsletter of the global media ministry. [Sign Up Now]( [CT Books]( Delivered via email to subscribers weekly. [Subscribe]( | [Email Preferences]( | [Unsubscribe]( | [Privacy Policy]( | [Advertise]( | [Subscribe to CT]( You are currently subscribed as: {EMAIL} Copyright ©2017 [ChristianityToday.org]( Christianity Today, 465 Gundersen Drive, Carol Stream, IL 60188. All rights reserved.