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The SBJT Fo r u m : Heroes of the Faith Editor’s note: In this forum each contributor was asked to write on an individual who influenced their spiritual and theological development. C. Ben Mitchell: One of the values of Almighty has set before me two great biography is encouragement. Seeing objects: the suppression of the slave trade God’s providence worked out in the life and the reformation of manners.” The of another human being can often encour- founder of Methodism, John Wesley, age us to repent, beware, or persevere. warned Wilberforce in a letter: “Unless Perseverance is the lesson I learn from the God has raised you up for this very thing, biography of one of my own Christian you will be worn out by opposition from heroes, William Wilberforce. men and devils. But if God be for you, Elected to British Parliament at the age who can be against you?” of twenty-one, Wilberforce felt no particu- Although he was personally wealthy, lar attraction to any cause until after his Wilberforce often gave more than a quar- conversion five years later under the ter of his income to charities and paid for influence of Isaac Milner, his former tutor. the education of some of his relatives. Coming to faith in Christ meant a radical Wilberforce’s son observed that “he gave transformation in Wilberforce’s world and more than merely money; he made his life views. From his conversion forward house the home of one or two youths, the he approached his vocation as a calling expense of whose education he defrayed; from God. His friend, John Newton, all their holidays were spent with him; former slave trader and author of many and hours of his own time were profusely hymns, including Amazing Grace, con- given to training and furnishing their vinced the young convert to remain in minds. Nor were the poor forgotten; they Parliament despite counsel to the contrary were invited to join his family worship on he had received from others. Sunday evening, and sought out often in When he was twenty-seven, Wilber- their cottages for instruction and relief.” force founded the Society for the Refor- While he might have availed himself of mation of Manners. The goal of the Society many of the amenities consistent with his was to make “goodness” respectable social stature, he was quite modest in among the leadership class of his culture. every way. In his recent profile, Hero for Even though few were aware of it, King Humanity: A Biography of William Wilber- C. Ben Mitchell is associate profes- George III’s “Proclamation for the Encour- force, Kevin Belmonte points out that “In sor of bioethics and contemporary agement of Piety and Virtue” was due to an intensely class-conscious age, Wilber- culture at Trinity Evangelical Divinity Wilberforce’s influence. That same year, force forsook the amenities of traveling in School in Deerfield, Illinois and consult- Wilberforce became one of the prime mov- his own comfortable and expensive car- ant on biomedical and life issues for the ers in the effort to abolish the slave trade riage. Instead, he began to travel by coach, Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission in England. He entered the following in the equivalent today of taking a taxi of The Southern Baptist Convention. his journal on October 27, 1787: “God instead of a limousine.” 98 Most striking, however, was Wilber- societies. At their core was a pro- found sense of the presence and force’s persevering confidence in God’s power of God giving them vision, power and purpose to end slavery courage and the necessary perspec- through his efforts. In 1789, he gave a tive to choose their issues and stand against the powerful interests notable address before Parliament calling aligned against them. Wilberforce, on his peers to pass his Abolition Bill. along with his friends, viewed him- Newspaper accounts lauded it as one of self as a pilgrim on a mission of mercy, never defining his identity of the most eloquent speeches ever heard in purposes by the flawed values of his the House. Nevertheless, the time was not age. This transcendent perspective made him the freest of men and yet right for abolition in England. therefore the most threatening force While continuing to lobby against the against the status quo. Second, slave trade, Wilberforce founded The Wilberforce had a deep sense of calling that grew into the conviction Bible Society, The Society for Bettering the that he was to exercise his spiritual Condition of the Poor, and published an purpose in the realm of his secular apologetic theology, A Practical View of the responsibility. Too often people of faith draw a dichotomy between Prevailing Religious System of Professed the spiritual and the secular. Reli- Christians in the Higher and Middle Classes gious activities are considered a lofty in this Country Contrasted with Real Chris- calling, while secular involvements are viewed with disdain and tianity. believed to have little to do with true By 1804, it appeared that the tide was spirituality. changing in Parliament. Wilberforce helped found the Abolition Society and We tend to be short-sighted when it reintroduced his bill in 1804 and again in comes to cultural transformation. If we do 1805. The bill fell both times. Yet he per- not see promiscuous abortion outlawed severed. In the face of defeat, Wilberforce in one generation, we tend to give up. If published an influential tract against the we are not successful in turning around trade of human slaves. Over and over the militant homosexual agenda, we faint. again, Parliament resisted the inevitable. If our culture disintegrates around us, we Finally, on July 26, 1833—a full 46 years are tempted to acquiesce. If the church after it was first introduced—the Eman- loses her power, we often contribute to her cipation Bill passed. Wilberforce died impotence by forfeiting what is necessary three days later! to her potency, personal holiness. John Pollock, the great Christian biog- Wilberforce has left us a legacy of rapher of both Wilberforce and John New- fidelity to God, commitment to the wor- ton reminds us of the genius of Wilber- shipping community, effectiveness in pub- force’s life: lic theology, and perseverance in the face of systemic opposition. In addition, his life First Wilberforce’s whole life was under God reminds us that it may take animated by a deeply held personal generations to see cultural transformation. faith in Jesus Christ. Rather than ascribing to lifeless dogma or dull We might never see it ourselves. But, we conventional religious thinking, are to be faithful to do what God calls us Wilberforce and his colleagues were to do, all the while remembering that God motivated by a robust personal belief in the living God who is con- will accomplish his purpose in and cerned with individual human lives, through us. justice, and the transformation of 99 Reading List works such as Life Together and The Cost of Belmonte, Kevin. Hero for Humanity: A Discipleship. He followed the theology of Biography of William Wilberforce. Colo- Luther, and called the “alien righteous- rado Springs: NavPress, 2002. ness” of Christ appropriated by faith alone Piper, John. The Roots of Endurance: Invin- the sole criterion for unity in the church.3 cible Perseverance in the Lives of John Still others know of Bonhoeffer’s execu- Newton, Charles Simeon, and William tion stemming from an involvement in a Wilberforce. Wheaton: Crossway, 2002. conspiracy to assassinate Hitler. Far fewer Pollock, John. Wilberforce: A Biography. casual observers of church history, how- London: Constable, 1977. ever, know that the young pastor’s great sacrifice began with attempts to speak out Gregory Alan Thornbury: When Dick against the German church’s near whole- Keyes wrote his marvelous book True sale compromise with the Third Reich. Heroism in a World of Celebrity Counterfeits Dietrich Bonhoeffer was first and foremost a few years ago, he argued that heroes are a church reformer. marked by conviction and accomplish- Early in his career, Bonhoeffer and a ment, and that our admiration of them is cadre of like-minded pastors known as well-placed.1 This stands in sharp con- “the Young Reformers” protested the Ger- trast, Keyes averred, to the pure manu- man Reich Church’s capitulation to “The facture of modern celebrity, which by Aryan Clause”—the Third Reich’s state nature is ephemeral. Consequently, a jour- rule that barred Jews from public and vari- nal such as this one is right to highlight ous kinds of private service. Dietrich servants of the kingdom of God who, by urged pastors to speak out to repeal the both confession and action, prove them- government’s anti-Semitic program and selves to be true heroes of the faith. led the way by forming “The Pastors Although choosing among the vast Emergency League.” With others, he array of possibilities for this forum was drafted The Bethel Confession, which daunting, I settled on Dietrich Bonhoeffer unapologetically challenged the church’s (1906-1945). By doing so, I am not imply- accommodation to Nazi apostasy. He also ing that Bonhoeffer is my favorite theolo- publicly called Hitler an antichrist. Finally, gian or that he was entirely sound on he supported The Barmen Declaration in Gregory Alan Thornbury is Assis- every point of doctrine. He was, like 1934—a statement that gave birth to the tant Professor of Christian Studies and Luther, a man of his time. But, like the Confessing Church movement, which Director of the Carl F. H. Henry Center great Reformer, Bonhoeffer was also a called the church to a return to the gospel for Christian Leadership at Union Uni- man of action.

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