Which Christians Do You Admire?

An awesome Christian that I admire is Joseph Prince. His website is http://www.josephprince.org.

John Shelby Spong
Barry Lynn

Kenneth Miller and Francis Collins. Christians who are actually good scientists. Huzzah!

Gene Robinson, Rowan Williams, Wolfhart Pannenberg, John Polkinghorne, Ellen Charry, Wentzyl van Huysteen, Diogenes Allen, Marcus Borg, Luke Timothy Johnson, Walter Brueggeman, Bruce McCormack, William Stacy Johnson. Many of them were professors of mine at some point so the impact and exposure to them is palpable.

The top of my list of who are no longer with us, but more or less somewhat current in the scheme of things are James Loder, Simone Weil, T.F. Torrance, H. Richard Niebuhr.

Jimmy Carter.

Does Gandhi count? He’s the only one I’ve seen who actually lived the sermon on the mount.

I also admired Philip Yancey’s books when I was in the church, especially The Jesus I Never Knew which wasn’t afraid to take on some of the fundamentalist tendencies in the church.

I have no idea who’s a good Christian, but I admire David Kuo for telling the truth about the Right Wing of the Christopoliticos.

A local minister from the United Church, David Chisling. He spoke at a funeral I was at on the weekend, and gave such a warm, caring tribute. I forget how he worded it, but when it was time to pray, he asked that we reflect and say a few words to whatever deity or spirit or power we chose, it was inclusive and reflected the real ideal of love. Very impressive.

Come to think of it, other United Church ministers I’ve met are similar, the kind of person that we should all aim to be.

Um, I’m never too sure which paleontologists are Christians, but Peter Dodson is, and he friggin rocks. He once did this great talk, at a vert paleo conference, about what the universe pictured in Genesis 1 would look like. Totally blew my mind.

I admire my mom. Even though she forced religion down my throat as a kid, she never once suggested that I should stop thinking for myself. Now she’s about to become an ordained minister, and I’m proud of her. She’s put in a lifetime with atheists, and proves everyday that we can actually all get along.

as a don’t-know-doesn’t-matter-atheist Buddhist,
I admire and can definitely listen to Jimmy Carter. I don’t know what he’s specifically said, but I greatly admire Desmond Tutu.

Here in Portland, Dr. Paul Metzger with the Multnomah Biblical Seminary. He and my Zen teacher have cultivated a friendship for several years now.

You may be interested in this Hemant. He and some of his seminary students have been meeting with some of my Zen Buddhist congregation. (not me, I’m not sure if they’re still doing this.) There was an article in Tricycle Buddhist Journal a while ago by Sallie Tisdale:
http://www.tricycle.com/issues/tricycle/pdfs/tisdale161.pdf

You can see an older newsletter article about the dialogues here, scroll down to “Building Bridges”
http://www.dharma-rain.org/StillPoint/SPjul_aug05.shtml

Greg Boyd, former atheist who surrendered his life to Christ in 1974. graduate of Yale Divinity School and Princeton Theological Seminary. professor of theology for 16 years at Bethel University. founder and senior pastor of Woodland Hills Church.

http://gregboyd.blogspot.com/

I respect Christians that do not take themselves too seriously or take the bible literally. I respect Christians that are trying to build a lot of different people up, and not just tearing people down. I respect Christians that are following Christ. I respect Christians that realize that atheist is not another word for satan.

I’d add Jim Henderson to the names that others have brought up.

The world is filled with Christians which are pleasant to talk to about anything other than religion. When they get talking about religion, even otherwise smart people like Ken Miller or Francis Collins sound like mushy-headed nitwits. It’s saddening, but at least their thinking is compartmentalized well.

But if I’m going to religious talk, I’d rather have it go whole hog – Ray Comfort, Kent Hovind, any fire & brimstone preacher, that gang. I’m not going to like any religious talk, so you might as well enjoy the unintentional humour!

One that I definitely admire is a former boss of mine. While serious in her religious beliefs it was almost never brought up in the workplace. (And not in a way that was preaching or the like.) She was patient, understanding and provided guidance professionally.She eventually became an ordained minister from what I understand.

In Britain, 71% of people claim to be Christians according to the last census.

So there must be lots of people I admire who are , unknowingly to me, Christians.

What though is admiration? Some people have done admirable things, and credit to them for that.

But admiration is not adoration.

Often I admire the human race, for producing people who can do the things that I admire, rather than admire the people who do them.

Humanity is, by and large, an admirable species. I find that most people try their best to do what they think is right.

Francis Chan-pastor in Southern Cal.
Donald Miller-author “Blue Like Jazz”
Mother Theresa-nun/helper of poor

I’ll third the Jimmy Carter (a better ex-president than most presidents were presidents).

I’ll also mention the Quakers who went to the funeral for the man who murdered their children. They could teach us all about forgiveness.
Steven Carr:

So there must be lots of people I admire who are , unknowingly to me, Christians.

Perhaps he means those who are vocal/devout Christians?

Does anyone else wonder if a reciprocal question could be posed on a Christian blog?

Mother Teresa had the honesty to admit that she would not choose the hospital care she provided for others, and chose other hospitals instead.

Such honesty is admirable, and she backed up her reputation for honesty in the letters she wrote about her faith.

I’ll also mention the Quakers who went to the funeral for the man who murdered their children. They could teach us all about forgiveness.

I agree, but I think those were the Amish

I have a handful of Christian teachers that I admire a great deal.

Alive: Wendell Berry, Bill McKibben, Francis Collins, Kenneth Miller, Anne Lamott
Dead: GK Chesterton, CS Lewis, Dostoevsky

As an atheist, these are Christian authors I like:

Randall Balmer – http://www.barnard.edu/religion/balmer.htm

Chris Hedges – http://www.truthdig.com/about/staff/70

And, to repeat a few others:

John Shelby Spong

Anne Lamott

Jimmy Carter (haven’t read any of his books, but I truly admire him)

Living:
John Piper = pastor
J.I. Packer = theologian
Tim Keller = pastor
Ravi Zacharias = apologist

Dead:
Francis Schaeffer = apologist
Charles Spurgeon = pastor
William Wilberforce = social activist, politician
John G. Paton = missionary
Martin Luther = theologian
John Bunyan = pastor, author
Jim Elliot = missionary

I could go with my parents who I admire quite a bit, but I’ll stick to someone who makes Christianity their profession. Fr. Jim, the very nice Irish Catholic priest at the parish I attended back when I was a kid. He seemed to embody the sermon on the mount version of Christianity very well. He was also quite important in the development of my public speaking skills. During his homily he asked rhetorically if anyone knew a particular Bible story, and being 9 years old, I didn’t understand that he wasn’t acctually looking for a response. So I raised my hand and he called me up to the pulpit in front of two or three hundred people and asked me to tell the story, so I did. He filled in the gaps and carried on with his message after I was done. So there you go, Fr. Jim, Christian to be admired.

I believe that there are Christians who are worthy of some admiration however everyone does wrong and does things that are not admirable. I choose to only admire Christ and the examples of Christ I see in people. Not the people themselves.

Dave Burchett, the author of When Bad Christians Happen to Good People. When a devout Christian friend blew apart our friendship in ways that I won’t describe, I read Dave’s book and then wrote him an email. We’ve had some great exchanges. He really does understand the ways in which Christians practice deep cruelty, but he somehow maintains his faith.

Two others aren’t famous. They are the Rev. Lesley Carmichael and Rev. Beth Patillo, both of Nashville, TN. They are truly gracious women who embody the principles which are supposed to be the basis of their faith.

living & [somewhat at least] famous:
john piper
ji packer
cj mahaney
mark driscoll
mark dever
tim keller
ligon duncan
derek webb
jim caviezel
sylvester stallone
billy graham
rc sproul
john macarthur
john frame
bono
lauren winner
dawn eden

living & not famous outside very specific (mostly theological) circles, but google-able:
mike kruger
douglas kelly
john currid
sinclair ferguson
sandra mccracken
john stone
brian habig
joe novenson
paige (benton) brown

this is not a conclusive list, and i don’t endorse everything these people say or think. what i love about most of these people is their boldness and their orthodoxy.

George Washington (definately pretty moral- slave owner, but realized they were human and didn’t sell them. Also freed them with his wife’s death).
Erwin Rommel (fought for the wrong side. Still a brilliant man who was willing to kill himself to protect his family).
MLK
John Brown (nuts, fanatic and on the right side)
Ike
FDR

There are more, but it is off the top of my head

Lauren named most of mine i would also add –

rob bell

donald miller

nt (tom) wright

Hi Hemant,

I would like to add Jesus to the list

Thanks

Tom

Well, I don’t mind listening to Bishop John Shelby Spong, Anthony Freeman, Don Cupitt, or Tom Harpur. All them either retired or former clergy of the Anglican Communion. Why? Well, despite their religious views, they all four have a lot of humanistic values, which goes a long ways with me. They are more humanistic than they are religious even with all the God talk thrown into what they say. They go that extra mile to put dogmatism in its place, even have the audacity to say things like “Prayers need not be like adult letters to a Santa Claus like God.” “Theism is dead.” “If that’s Christianity, I want no part of it!” (Both by Spong) “Jesus never existed.” (Tom Harpur), not to mention the one that was taken out of context and said by Freeman, “There is no God.” In that case, he was referring to an anthropomorphic diety that resides in the sky. The one that exists to him is “within us” and he considers it love and compassion. Don Culpitt does call god “love” and disagrees with a Zeus like deity. The list goes on and on as to the non-theistic things they say, but at the same time, it makes more sense in context than out of context. In the end though, it is a very humanistic and non-theistic POV, which has gotten them all in a lot of trouble, but I think what they are doing will be worth it in the long run.

Jesus, Mike Clawson, Kenneth Miller, Bishop Harries, Bill Cecchini

I think anyone who doesn’t admire Desmond Tutu has something the matter with them, frankly: he ticks every box going when it comes to courage, liberalism, personality, vision and, let’s be honest, Christianity. Unlike most Christians with a high public profile, he seems to take Jesus Christ seriously (I’m one of the “atheists for Jesus”, I’m afraid).

I am, though, a little surprised at the number of mentions of Rowan Williams. That pseudo-liberal nincompoop is currently fighting a desperate rear-guard action to preserve the blasphemy law in England. That, in fact, was the whole point of his recent pro-Sharia speech: he wants to ride on the coat-tails of resurgent Islam to preserve privilege and status for all religion. He doesn’t really understand secularism at all: he thinks things should be left to the men in beards. Plus, he’s a complete disaster as a leader of Anglicanism.

But let’s stir the pot a little. As well as Tutu, I’m also a (grudging) admirer of The Pope. Yes indeed. Ratzinger rules. It’s his wonderful ability to piss people off I find especially endearing.

I will add another vote for Bishop Desmond Tutu. He came to my college to speak earlier this year and he is a man so full of love and courage you cannot help but be inspired by him.

To show his gratitude and excitement for receiving an honorary degree he did not simply say his thanks but danced on the stage. As I watched him I knew this was a man who never wastes a moment in life, even for a small celebratory dance.

I’d also vote for my former college priest Father John Grace and my neighborhood priest Father Jim Parke. Even when I left my Catholic faith I never stopped admiring them for their insightful homilies and their liberal beliefs.

The living one that leaps to mind is Cecil Williams, pastor of the Glide Memorial Church, which does a huge amount of poverty and social justice work here in San Francisco.

Also my friend Lea, who’s a minister with the MCC (the super gay/ gay friendly church).

Dead ones topping the list would be Martin Luther King and Dorothy Day.

I guess I’m just a sucker for those social justice types.

Martin Sheen. One rarely sees such dedicated activism, such commitment to transparent democracy and environmental conservation. He’s also lent his voice to works of science education and did outstanding work on a number of stage and screen works, among them The West Wing, which did an amount of good for public understanding of our political system (and of science and whatever else Aaron Sorkin wanted to cram into 42 minutes of heavily scripted television). And a really, really nice guy.

Will D. Campbell

Moby.

Read the liner notes to his albums. “Animal Rights,” “Play,” and “Everything is Wrong” all have great essays decrying the current state of Christian belief, regarding fundamentalism and the Christian right. And of course, be sure to do so while listening to the awesome music 😀

How can I admire anyone who believes in imaginary invisible beings and bases their lives, and the lives on their children on utter nonsense?

oh, I don’t know, maybe by judging someone by the content of their character, the way I would hope you’d want to be judged?

John MacArthur
R.C. Sproul
Charles Stanley
John Piper

Maya Angelou
Susan Aglukart (sp?)
Bruce Cockburn