Much of religious scholarship today has been pushed to the backstage of the speaking arena. Even by their own admittance, most scholars (with the exception of philosophers, who tend to be skilled debaters) are poor speakers and preachers, let alone evangelists for their own causes.
Vice versa, much of contemporary TV religion is helmed by dynamic speakers, men and women who can skilfully manipulate a crowd with their charisma and magnetism. Sadly, a lot of them lack the intellectual rigour of accurate scholarship. Some are even fraudulent con artists.
In contemporary Christendom, we know of New Testament scholars such as Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan, as well as ecclesiastical leaders such as Archbishop Rowan Williams and Bishop N.T Wright. All of them have vast experience in biblical scholarship as well as public speaking experience. But they lack the populist savvy to hold crowds, win popularity polls and have fan clubs.
Similarly, renowned muslim thinkers like Abdal Hakim Murad (alias Timothy Winter) and Hossein Nasr have been championing their moderate brand of Islam, but with the cool-headedness of scholars that appeal only to the cerebral.
On the contrary, powerful preachers in the Christian world like Creflo Dollar, Fred Price and Rod Parsley are known to own huge mega-church empires, also due to their teachings on health and wealth. Local preacher Joseph Prince is also another dynamic speaker who rakes in loads of money into the bank with his take on prosperity. He has no formal education in Christian theology at the clerical level.
Muslim preachers like Yusuf Estes, Abdur Raheem Green and Khalid Yasin are known to speak to huge crowds and have huge followings as well, though they may not be as wealthy as their Christian counterparts. But similar to the Christian fraudsters, Khalid Yasin was exposed by the Australian media to have been dishonest in some of his dealings.
It is sad to know that those who don’t deserve to be heard have huge and wild followings, whereas those who deserve to be heard have the exact opposite. Maybe we just can’t have both worlds, can we?
both worlds?
12/09/2009
Much of religious scholarship today has been pushed to the backstage of the speaking arena. Even by their own admittance, most scholars (with the exception of philosophers, who tend to be skilled debaters) are poor speakers and preachers, let alone evangelists for their own causes.
Vice versa, much of contemporary TV religion is helmed by dynamic speakers, men and women who can skilfully manipulate a crowd with their charisma and magnetism. Sadly, a lot of them lack the intellectual rigour of accurate scholarship. Some are even fraudulent con artists.
In contemporary Christendom, we know of New Testament scholars such as Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan, as well as ecclesiastical leaders such as Archbishop Rowan Williams and Bishop N.T Wright. All of them have vast experience in biblical scholarship as well as public speaking experience. But they lack the populist savvy to hold crowds, win popularity polls and have fan clubs.
Similarly, renowned muslim thinkers like Abdal Hakim Murad (alias Timothy Winter) and Hossein Nasr have been championing their moderate brand of Islam, but with the cool-headedness of scholars that appeal only to the cerebral.
On the contrary, powerful preachers in the Christian world like Creflo Dollar, Fred Price and Rod Parsley are known to own huge mega-church empires, also due to their teachings on health and wealth. Local preacher Joseph Prince is also another dynamic speaker who rakes in loads of money into the bank with his take on prosperity. He has no formal education in Christian theology at the clerical level.
Muslim preachers like Yusuf Estes, Abdur Raheem Green and Khalid Yasin are known to speak to huge crowds and have huge followings as well, though they may not be as wealthy as their Christian counterparts. But similar to the Christian fraudsters, Khalid Yasin was exposed by the Australian media to have been dishonest in some of his dealings.
It is sad to know that those who don’t deserve to be heard have huge and wild followings, whereas those who deserve to be heard have the exact opposite. Maybe we just can’t have both worlds, can we?
Filed in Musings of a Church-going Agnostic
Tags: Abdal Hakim Murad, Abdur Raheem Green, Benjamin Chew, Christianity, Creflo Dollar, Fred Price, Hossein Nasr, Islam, John Dominic Crossan, Joseph Prince, Khalid Yasin, Marcus Borg, N.T Wright, personal commentary, religion, religious scholarship, Rod Parsley, Rowan Williams, Singapore, walking on water, Yusuf Estes