This is part 2 of my 1997 paper on Dr. Tony Campolo and his teachings. In 2008, it is evident that these same tactics are being used, not only by Campolo, but by the much younger emerging church leaders and authors who are promoting what we now call New Spirituality. (The term New Age was far more common back when this was written.)
Selling New Age Theology: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back
By Ingrid Schlueter, copyright 1997, 2008
Tony Campolo engages in a writing style that appears schizophrenic. This duality is evident in all his books, but is very clearly seen in his 1992 book, How to Rescue the Earth Without Worshiping Nature. The "Without Worshiping Nature" portion of the title is designed to reassure readers that he is yet within evangelical boundaries. He continually engages in a "now you see it, now you don't" style of writing. When he makes a convincing statement that assures his evangelical readers that he is biblical, he frequently follows with a "but" or "however" and a statement that in many cases seems to contradict completely his first statement. This pattern appears repeatedly throughout his writings and speaking.
To understand this technique, bear in mind that for the first 172 pages of How to Rescue the Earth, he presents a political action program that is merely a baptized version of what Greenpeace and Worldwatch Institute have promoted for years. This program involves dramatic change in the economic infrastructure of the West and a total overhaul of our way of life, with government serving as the great enforcer of environmentally correct behavior. In addition, throughout the book, Dr. Campolo calls for a new spirituality that embraces the "sacramental" character of nature.1 He elaborates on this in How To Rescue the Earth. To make his case that evangelical theology needs help, Tony favorably cites the teachings of a man named Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. He writes that Teilhard represents more "modern Christian thinking,"2 and that we can gain inspiration from Teilhard.3 He refers to Teilhard's "genius" on page 83 and on the same page insists that even "those who have sought to refute his theories could not help but admire his genius."4
He does not warn readers that anything is amiss in the teachings of Teilhard.
Who is this man that Dr. Campolo chooses to favorably cite over several pages? (Campolo also cites Teilhard favorably at length in his book, A Reasonable Faith: Responding to Secularism, pgs. 62- 65.) Read the rest of this entry »
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