Rick Warren's Job, and Other Highlights from the Beliefnet Interview

"Well," Warren responds, "that's my whole job." 

Watch his whole response. Warren sees himself as working in the tradition of the 19th-century evangelicals who fought to abolish slavery, advocated for women's suffrage, argued for strict child labor laws, and cared for the poor. He mourns the historical split between mainline Protestants and evangelicals, and presents a vision for reunification. This, he explains, is his life's work.

Warren gets into some dicey historical territory, he generalizes about the meanings of terms like "evangelical" and "fundamentalist," and he says that mainline Protestantism is no more ("There are more Muslims in America than there are Episcopalians."). I imagine people who watch this closely will quibble over those issues, and not without reason. But I just wish he'd explained more precisely what he meant by "that's my whole job." A lot of folks believe that an awakening of social consciousness is underway within American evangelicalism, and I'd like to know how Warren understands his role in that movement. 

Other moments I'd like to hear him unpack more:

Waldman pressing Warren on why, if he confronted Barack Obama on abortion, he did not confront George W. Bush on torture. 

Warren on why the idea of abortion reduction is a political charade. (Warren strikes a Ross Douthat-ian note here, saying that fighting abortion is something he wants to deal with on an individual basis, rationally and civilly; he says you don't "protest out on the street.")

See and/or read the interview in its entirety at Steve Waldman's blog.