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American Evangelical Appropriations of Saint Francis of Assisi, 1972-2013

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American Evangelical Appropriations of Saint Francis of Assisi, 1972-2013 View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by British Columbia's network of post-secondary digital repositories THE BORN-AGAIN FRIAR: AMERICAN EVANGELICAL APPROPRIATIONS OF SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI, 1972-2013 by PAUL R. FOTH B.A., Trinity Western University, 2009 Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF THEOLOGICAL STUDIES in the FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES TRINITY WESTERN UNIVERSITY April 2019 © Paul R. Foth, 2019 Abstract Beginning in the late twentieth century, some evangelical Protestants in America turned to historic Catholic saints as inspirational exemplars of Christian faith. A surprisingly diverse range of American evangelicals appealed to Saint Francis of Assisi because he was perceived as a quintessentially authentic Christian. Saint Francis provided historical justification for some of these evangelicals’ own ideals of Christian discipleship, and served as an example for inspiration and emulation as they navigated contemporary American culture and the evolving evangelical movement. This thesis examines a range of American evangelical appropriations of Saint Francis of Assisi from 1972 to 2013, focusing on several sub-groups or movements within American evangelicalism. This examination of the evangelical reception of Saint Francis of Assisi contributes to a deeper understanding of evangelical Protestant interactions with Catholic spirituality, while also illuminating changing evangelical conceptions of what constitutes true Christian faith. ii Copyright © 2019 by Paul R. Foth All rights reserved iii Contents Acknowledgements....................................................................................................vii–viii Introduction...................................................................................................................1–14 Research problem thesis statement ...........................................................2–5 Scope of the study.....................................................................................6–8 Definitions................................................................................................9-12 Saint Francis and twentieth-century America.......................................12–15 Thesis outline........................................................................................15–16 Chapter 1 Literature Review................................................................................17–33 Introduction.................................................................................................17 Review of American evangelical historiography..................................17–24 Review of scholarship on evangelical-Catholic relations.....................24–29 Review of scholarship on Saint Francis in modern culture...................29–32 Conclusion...................................................................................................33 Chapter 2 Saint Francis and Ancient-Future Evangelical Spirituality............34–46 Introduction...........................................................................................34–35 Late nineteenth and twentieth-century evangelical spirituality.............35–36 Ancient-future evangelicals...................................................................36–38 Richard Foster and Saint Francis...........................................................38–42 Dallas Willard and Saint Francis...........................................................42–44 Conclusion.............................................................................................44–46 Chapter 3 Saint Francis of Azusa (or Pasadena): Charismatic Evangelicals and Saint Francis........................................................................................47–60 iv Introduction...........................................................................................47–49 Charismatic evangelicals.......................................................................49–52 John Wimber and Kevin Springer’s Saint Francis................................52–53 Prosperity theology and C. Peter Wagner’s Saint Francis....................54–56 John Crowder’s new mysticism and Saint Francis................................56–59 Conclusion.............................................................................................59–60 Chapter 4 The Saint of New Causes: Progressive Evangelicals, Creation Care, and Saint Francis.................................................................................61–84 Introduction...........................................................................................61–62 The progressive evangelical movement................................................62–69 Sojourners and Saint Francis.................................................................69–72 Tony Campolo’s Saint Francis..............................................................72–78 Saint Francis and creation care..............................................................78–83 Conclusion.............................................................................................83–84 Chapter 5 Saint Francis Today: The Evangelical Establishment Interprets Francis................................................................................................85–105 Introduction...........................................................................................85–86 The new evangelicals............................................................................86–89 Fundamentalists and Francis.................................................................89–90 Christianity Today, Mark Galli and Saint Francis..............................90–101 Other establishment evangelical interpreters of Francis...................101–103 Conclusion.........................................................................................103–105 v Chapter 6 The New Franciscans? New Monastic Appropriations of Saint Francis..............................................................................................106–122 Introduction.......................................................................................106–107 Rich Mullins and the Kid Brothers of Saint Frank............................107–111 American new monasticism and Saint Francis..................................111–120 Conclusion.........................................................................................120–122 Chapter 7 The Postmodern Saint: Saint Francis in the Emerging Church..............................................................................................123–136 Introduction...............................................................................................123 Emergent evangelicals.......................................................................124–127 Brian McLaren’s Saint Francis..........................................................127–133 Ian Morgan Cron’s Chasing Francis.................................................133–135 Conclusion.........................................................................................135–136 Conclusion................................................................................................................137–142 Epilogue....................................................................................................................143–144 Bibliography.............................................................................................................145–163 vi Acknowledgements Many people deserve thanks and recognition for their help on the journey that led to this thesis. First, I am grateful to my wife Sunny for encouraging and supporting me through this lengthy process. You have patiently endured long discussions on obscure points of American evangelical history, allowed me the time and space to write, and paid most of our bills. I owe you a lot of long walks outside. Thank you for your love. Dr. Bruce Guenther provided extremely valuable insight and direction throughout the research and writing process. It has been a privilege to work with you. I am also grateful for the perceptive feedback of Dr. Robert Burkinshaw and Dr. Don Lewis. Sunny Foth, Kevin Foth, and Fr. Matthew Francis gave me invaluable advice on early drafts. This work would be much poorer without you. John Daniel Frlan helped me process my initial ideas for this thesis. John Barry’s feedback came at a crucial juncture in the writing process. Thank you both for your enduring friendship. I am grateful to the faculty at ACTS Seminaries and Trinity Western University whose instruction and input made me a much better writer and researcher, especially Dr. Brian Cooper, Dr. Brian Rapske, Dr. Rob Hiebert, Dr. Robynne Rogers Healey, Dr. Archie Spencer, Bill Badke, and Erika McAuley. There are numerous staff members at ACTS Seminaries and Trinity Western University whose unseen work makes the campus run. Thank you especially to staff in the ACTS office, the Trinity library, and the custodial department. vii I am grateful to my theological and historical dialogue partners at ACTS and elsewhere, including Chris Banke, Erika McAuley, Tiffany Yu, Nick Poetker, Dusty Sundman, Caleb Ng, Fernando Miranda and Landon Lucas. Joshua Randhawa first alerted me to John Wimber’s connection with Saint Francis. I am also indebted to the community at Holy Apostles Orthodox Church and my friends and colleagues at Tierra Nueva. Thank you Julio for your many invitations to teach “History
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