Julius Scruggs on Prosperity Theology

From Ethics Daily's interview with the Rev. Dr. Julius Scruggs, newly elected president of the National Baptist Convention.

"I think that the prosperity gospel is a threat to Christianity. Period," said Scruggs of the belief system that God shows favor to believers through wealth and material possessions.

Such teaching is "a subtle distortion of biblical truths," he said.

"I'm one who believes that God will take care of all of us … But I'm not one who believes that that means that the pastor ought to drive a Bentley car or live in a million dollar house or fly on a corporate jet," said Scruggs, who has been pastor of First Missionary Baptist Church in Huntsville for 32 years.

"That kind of prosperity is influencing the pulpit and the pew in American life today, and that's unfortunate because it takes us far and away from the Jesus who talked about foxes have holes and birds have nests but the son of man doesn't have anywhere to lay his head," said Scruggs. "There is always a tension between that aspect of Jesus and the Jesus who brought the abundant life to everybody."

Warning of the allure that money had for clergy, he said, "One has to be grounded in what Christianity is all about to not allow that temptation to get them."

Click here to read the rest of the interview.

Quote of the Week

"One is astonished in the study of history at the recurrence of the idea that evil must be forgotten, distorted, skimmed over. We must not remember that Daniel Webster got drunk but only that he was a splendid constitutional lawyer. We must forget that George Washington was a slave owner . . . and simply remember the things we regard as creditable and inspiring. The difficulty, of course, with this philosophy is that history loses its value as an incentive and example; it paints perfect man and noble nations, but it does not tell the truth."

W.E.B. Du Bois

Today in Church History

On 29 July 29 1794, in a converted blacksmith's shop in Philadelphia, former slave Richard Allen assembled a group of black Christians who had faced discrimination in the local Methodist Episcopal Church. They formed the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, the mother church of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, now known throughout the world.

Today in Church History

On June 30, 1881, Presbyterian preacher and African-American abolitionist Henry Highland Garnet is appointed minister to Liberia. The former slave shocked the abolitionist community in 1843 by calling for violent rebellion. "Rather die free-men than live to be slaves," he preached.

Quote of the Week

"The master's tools will never dismantle the master's house."

Audre Lorde (1934-1992)
Author of Sister Outsider

Honoring Gardner C. Taylor on His 90th Birthday

Tomorrow is the Rev. Dr. Gardner C. Taylor's 90th birthday. On this occasion, he will be remembered by many who have been influenced and shaped by his legacy. Below is a profile on Taylor's life and ministry that was recently published by American Baptist National Ministries.

Dr. Gardner C. Taylor: America’s preacher turns 90

Dr. Gardner Calvin Taylor, one of the twentieth century's most celebrated preachers, turns 90 this month. In keeping with the modesty that has characterized much of his life, Taylor will mark his June 18 birthday at his home in Raleigh, N.C., with little fanfare, says his wife, Phyllis. But that won't discourage the good wishes and tributes paid to this beloved and legendary preacher who has touched the lives of so many during his half century in ministry.

For 42 years, Taylor served as senior pastor at the 14,000-member Concord Baptist Church of Christ in Brooklyn, N.Y., one of the largest American Baptist churches in the United States when he retired in 1990. Concord gained a deserved reputation for its social activism and community outreach under the leadership of this faithful servant of God.

Looking back over countless accolades and professional honors received throughout his life—the Presidential Medal of Freedom notwithstanding—Taylor considers "Sunday mornings in the pulpit at Concord" his greatest achievement. His successor and longtime protégée, Dr. Gary V. Simpson, now Concord's senior pastor, reflects on Taylor's storied preaching:

"Of all the contributions that Dr. Taylor continues to make to my life and ministry, I am most indebted to the sacred, serious discipline he modeled as preacher in the Concord pulpit. There is no question that the people of this congregation have a uniquely earnest expectation of any preacher—to convey a word of life in a culture that portends death. It is overwhelming to think that his preaching is the high bar of what was normative and usual on Sunday mornings. His voice has unequivocally decreed, 'There is a Word from the Lord.'"

Although Taylor is distinguished by his eloquence in the pulpit—having preached more than 2,000 sermons—his audiences were not limited to his Concord family. Taylor's sermons are still studied in schools of divinity throughout the country and abroad, and they continue to be read and listened to by an even wider audience, thanks to several books and recordings published by Judson Press. Today the lifetime sales of those resources approach $750,000. Taylor's longtime Judson Press publisher and friend, Laura Alden, recalls the generous spirit of this man:

"Judson Press has been privileged to serve as Dr. Taylor's publisher for these many years. In addition to being a great preacher, pastor and author, Gardner Taylor is a gracious and generous man of God. The Judson Press staff who have worked with him are readers, listeners and absolute fans of Dr. Taylor. We have relationships with all our authors, but this relationship is different—it's in a special category. We are Baptists, so, of course, we don't officially have saints. But if we did, Dr. Taylor would be our top candidate. He has been a blessing to all of us."

Taylor seems comfortable letting others speak about his "legacy." Perhaps the most important of his "earthly" tributes have come from peers. Certainly, being called "one of the greatest preachers in America" and the "dean of the nation's Black preachers" is no small achievement for a Louisiana-born itinerant preacher's son and grandson of slaves. It is also notable when pastors like the venerable Dr. J. Alfred Smith Sr., a legend in his own right, pay him homage:

"With gentleness, modesty, wit and some humor, Dr. Taylor continues to mentor me, and many ministers in the generations after me, to work for excellence as servants of the church and as representatives of Jesus Christ."

Although not initially brought up with American Baptist roots, as he puts it, Taylor "inherited" an American Baptist congregation in Concord, which became God's launching pad for his great success. Fellow pastor and National Ministries' Executive Director Dr. Aidsand F. Wright-Riggins III recounts Taylor's contributions to the Black church and Protestant tradition:

"I am most appreciative to Dr. Taylor for his role in radicalizing the Black church and having a revolutionary impact on mainline Protestantism throughout the 1960s and beyond. His co-founding of the Progressive National Baptist Convention, along with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., is still sending reverberations of racial justice and racial reconciliation across this land. I am proud to have benefited by and learned from his legacy."

These days Dr. Taylor devotes some of his time to mentoring aspiring seminarians and young preachers and the rest to combing through his exhaustive collection of writings, interviews, speeches and sermons for materials that will become part of his archive.

When asked what scripture passage he would choose for his final sermon, Taylor responded without hesitation in that full-throated, resonant, vibrato that is his trademark: "Now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." (1 John 3:2)

Happy birthday, Dr. Taylor.

Today in Church History

On 30 May 1822, a slave betrayed the plans of African Methodist (and former slave) Denmark Vesey to stage a massive slave uprising on July 14. Of the 131 African Americans arrested in the plot, 35 were executed (including Vesey) and 43 were deported. Vesey's Charleston, South Carolina, church was closed until 1865.