I credit Tony Campolo for sensitizing me to many of the social and political implications of the gospel. I was indeed very open to his message, having been exposed to Clarence Jordan previously, and having started Seminary at what was at that time a very prestigious school for presenting a sound and balanced and even diverse theological education (Southern Baptist Theological Seminary— indeed, Clarence Jordan got his Doctorate there, and Gordon Cosby, the founder and what one might call the senior pastor– even though they don’t have such a title— to them, he’s just “Gordon” —- of the Church of the Saviour in Washihngton DC (who were also instrumental in shaping me and my sense of the social implications of the gospel with their ministry in D.C. and to the Church at large in the US with their model of ministry and community. So I was well prepared to be “a part of the choir” in hearing Campolo for the first time in the summer of 1980, at a Youth Gathering in Lancaster County Pennsylvania , an event called “Creation 80”. After that, I’ve been a “Campolo-ite”.

He has been a voice driving many a Church into facing how many ways the Church has been missing out on being the truly copunter-cultural and revolutionary force o for society; one who has helped us to recognize and call into question the basic assumptions of what Church is all about; and what it means to be a disciple of Christ. As a Sociologist, Campolo speaks right up my allie. And he is one that I rush to pick up and read or sit and listen to whenever I see a tape or an audio link to something he has said or written.

Anyway, the book is “Speaking My Mind“, and promises to be (or seems at the outset to be) an exploration of the “Evangelical Faith” coming from “the inside” (as he claims to be himself, an evangelical). Twenty years ago, and Campolo makes this obeservation himslef in the book intro) there was a distinct difference in “Evangelical” and “Fundamantalist”…..that distinction is gone in public lingo. I hold fast to making this distinction as often as I can, and so I usually rarely use the term “evangelical” anymore. It is one I reserve for more sacred references — like the denomination I grew up in, The Southern Baptists, used to be a very “Evangelical” denomination.