Partly Right

Book Review.
Campolo, Anthony. Partly Right. We have met the enemy, and they are (Partly Right). Word Publishing. 1985.
Comment. Henry.
This is Tony’s ‘exercise in apologetics’ written twenty five years ago. He has a concern that we don’t miss what can be learned from the critics of what he defines as ‘bourgeois Christianity’. In fact he goes so far as to say that more can be learned from critics than from friends. The changes that have taken place in the last twenty five years makes some of what is presented irrelevant. The historical content is interesting and relevant.
The “religion of main street” (13) (evangelical Christianity) has had a major influence on American society and its global status.
Salvation, which for many years was the domain of the church and its leadership, has become a very individualistic issue that is reflected in Western religion.
“Middle class religion” (32) has been impacted by influential Europeans. Hegel and his philosophy impacted not only Germany but the rest of the western world. Its evidence in America is called “Jingoism”. (59)
Nietzche’s heroism was an attack on Christianity because it focused on the glory of man rather than the glory of God. Kierkegaard, whose writings didn’t become famous until the middle of the twentieth century, mocked Hegel. Knowledge and faith were not enough for man’s salvation. “Only a personal encounter in the depths of one’s being; only an intimate relationship with God in the uttermost subjectivity of the self; only the voice from within can utter saving grace.” (99)
Freud and his followers have rightly challenged the hypocrisy of those who would talk about righteous living while being in a state of denial regarding basic sexual drives and inhibitions. The Neo-Freudian positions on Christianity are presented.
Much ink is given to Karl Marx and his “attack upon cultural middle-class religion”. (145) He rejected Hegel’s philosophy and developed his “doctrine of alienation”. (177) A Christian response to this doctrine is presented. Dostoyevsky, who predates Marx, refuted Marx’s philosophy and produced a “most brilliant exposition of Christian philosophy”. (194)
By way of conclusion, Campolo is encouraged by the activities of the Moral Majority and its leader Jerry Falwell. He talks about an “evangelical left” (215) movement that is (was?) making a significant impact on American society. Campolo declares, “I believe that middle-class Christianity is on the verge of its greatest days and is capable of making a historical contribution to Christianity”. (222)