The Fierce Urgency of Prophetic Hope
by Wendell L. Griffen
176 pp. Judson Press. $19.99 ISBN: 9780817017866
Reviewed by Aidsand F. Wright-Riggins III
Fifty years ago, Martin Luther King, Jr., called for a radical revolution of values in America. From the pulpit of Riverside Church in New York City, King prophetically declared, “When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.”
Now, a half century after King’s call to redeem the soul of this nation, Little Rock, Arkansas, pastor, judge and law professor Wendell L. Griffen sounds the trumpet again. Griffen calls prophets to action and America to repentance as new and equally sinister siblings (sexism, classism, techno-centrism and xenophobia) have raised their ugly heads. They have joined their toxic triplets in making the United States of America an even more dysfunctional and divided country than it was in 1967.
Through powerful sermons and insightful lectures, Griffen preaches and presents the case that repentance is necessary because America’s largest religious sect, white evangelicalism, has become a “rebellious house” similar to impudent and stubborn Israel of old. White evangelicals in this country have not only forgotten how to love God with all of their hearts, souls and minds, but they have neglected to love their black and brown neighbors, their religiously different neighbors, their lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender neighbors, their poor, immigrant, women, or otherwise vulnerable, neighbors and their environmentally-exploited neighbors as themselves.
Rev. Griffen maintains that, in addition to being vacuously self-centered, coveting access to power and popularity over liberty and equality, 81 percent of white conservative evangelical Christians endorsed and voted for Donald J. Trump, a misogynist and xenophobic populist who is the scariest racial demagogue in a generation and who does not embody the Christian values they claim they and their churches stand for. These white conservative evangelical Christians are, in Griffen’s assessment, an unjust people, guilty of two crimes: They don’t love God and they don’t love people. Having been blind to or having rejected the love ethic of Jesus, they embraced and then enthroned President Donald J. Trump as the head of this “rebellious house”.
In the aftermath of the 2016 elections, these are especially dreadful, dangerous and distressing days for many people. People wonder about whether or not they will be able to hold on to or afford health insurance under a Trump administration. People live in fear of imminent deportation as their immigration status is debated or denied. Workers wonder if their strides towards finally possibly making a minimum wage will be canceled out, sending them back to square one. Women fear that America will throw them back to days of old where their bodies were routinely objectified and commodified. Same-sex couples who had previously united in covenants of civil and holy matrimony, fear that people who know nothing about who they are nor are aware of the depth of love they have for their each other will be dismissed and maligned.
It is in this setting of domestic dismay and despair that Griffen calls forth men and women who answer to the name of Jesus to prophesy deliverance. Believing that a majority of white evangelical clergy in this country have been co-opted and serve as counselors and cheerleaders for the principalities and powers, Griffen summons clergy and lay people to become prophets of God’s love, justice and truth. Because America’s house is on fire, this summons is urgent. Since white evangelicals practice Christian quietism by not naming damnable situations for what they are and exercise political pietism by siding up with the rich and powerful and never demanding justice for the oppressed, a follower of Jesus must respond with prophetic hope.
Griffen not only encourages his readers to nurture prophetic consciousness, he also demonstrates it through the artful presentation of several powerful and poignant sermons and addresses. In one of these, Griffen quotes Augustine of Hippo saying, “Hope has two beautiful daughters; their names are Anger and Courage. Anger at the way things are, and Courage to see that they do not remain as they are.” It is in this sense that Griffen’s messages are fiercely and prophetically hopeful.
As a preacher, Griffen is an astute exegete who delves into biblical texts showing clearly their intersection with our current social challenges. He moves gracefully between biblical perspective and social analysis. He moves the reader beyond piety and privatization of faith and calls followers of Jesus to deeper and more transformative perceptions of redemption and restoration. As a judge, Wendell Griffen speaks hard truths about how the Constitution is so often sliced and diced and repackaged into poisonous polices that undercut life, liberty and justice.
Having propelled Donald Trump into office, the religious right will almost certainly demand of him a reassessment and reinterpretation of religious freedom at both the national and state levels, reinterpretations that favor and privilege Christians at the expense and detriment of all other faiths or non-faiths. Religious freedom has also been important for religious and spiritual progressives. While situating himself as being more aligned with this segment of the religious spectrum, Judge Griffen appears to be wary of those Christians on the right or on the left who do not correlate religious freedom to matters of justice and equality or who fail to situate their religious liberty viewpoint in the love ethic of Jesus. Griffen’s chapter “Religious Equality, and the Gospel of Jesus: Circle, Collision, or Coexistence” is both an excellent primer for those who are new to this discussion and ann important resource for this debate in the days ahead.
Rev. Griffen is one of only a paucity of black Baptist preacher/ pastors who has actively led his congregation to intentionally confront phobias and prejudices about human sexuality. Through prayer and study, his church decided to become “inclusive, welcoming and progressive followers of Jesus Christ” and thereby open its hearts and arms to all persons regardless of their sexual orientation and gender identity. Griffen has personally demonstrated audacious hope, shameless hope and resurrection hope. Griffen’s chapter titled, “Finding Love Songs in Our Faith Book” describes the congregation’s journey and includes a compelling sermon that should propel readers on their own paths that towards inclusive justice.
Each chapter of The Fierce Urgency of Prophetic Hope is followed by a series of two to four discussion and reflection questions helping the reader or study group to go deeper into their own journeys toward liberation and justice. This book is timely. Its message is urgent. It will inspire you toward hope and to being an agent of hope in hard times. It belongs on the bookshelves of prophets, prophets in training, pastors, congregational leaders, religious educators, activists, advocates and other faithful persons.
The book includes an insightful foreword by Allan Boesak and an afterword by Emile Townes. I conclude with just a snippet from each of them:
“Reading this book, I had the constant feeling of gratitude wash over me: The prophets have not all gone. Some of us may have gotten lost; we may have been cowed by the power of empire or lured by the temptations of empire. Some of us may not have been able, unlike the midwives of Exodus 1, to overcome our fear of the empire with our love for the Lord, our trust of the Lord, and our commitment to following Jesus. But not all of us have gone. Read this book and be convinced, convicted, and inspired.” – Allan Aubrey Boesak
“As Rev. Griffen reminds us, we must stop being too meek and mild with our love, for love is not about being nice; love is not about being tolerant; love is not about our hormones running amok; love is not all emotion. Love is forged out of the biblical call to dig deep into our innards and find the spaces of compassion sequestered there, to pull them out into our social and political lives, and to create a society that values the great diversity of people that shapes us into a nation and helps us to be good global citizens.” – Emilie M. Townes
Rev. Aidsand F. Wright-Riggins III, D.Min. is Executive Director Emeritus, American Baptist Home Mission Societies
