Tony Campolo, sociologist and famed Red Letter Christian, has died
“Known as a powerful evangelist and social justice preacher, Campolo had long advocated that Christian faith can transform the world — and people’s everyday lives.” - RNS
Related: Tony Campolo (1935-2024): The red letter Christian who provoked the Church to action - Premier Christianity
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When I was in college, Dr. Campolo was the first evangelical speaker/author to challenge my thinking about what the Bible has to say about the poor and oppressed. Up until that time, I didn't realize that there were 2,000 verses throughout the Bible about the poor, the orphan/fatherless, the needy, and the oppressed and God's people's response to them. In all my years growing up in GARBC churches as an associate pastor's kid at several different churches, I never once heard a message or a Bible study that talked about the poor. In the late 1980s and early 1990's I bought every book Campolo was writing. I eventually realized I didn't agree with some aspects of his theology (i.e. Sacrament of the Poor in Matthew 25, Red-letter hermeneutic) and the best ways to help the poor and oppressed but what he did write challenged me to be a better critical thinker when it came to the Bible and Social Justice, which I will forever grateful. If you haven't done so, listen to some of his messages/presentations (Its Friday, But Sunday's Comin', the Kingdom of God is a Party, If I had to live it over again).
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