Nick Kristof is a very entertaining and informative columnist/opinion-writer/humanitarian/world-traveler. I was quite excited when the New York Times made its “Times Select” online content available free to students because I knew it meant I’d finally be reading Kristof right when his material came out!
Kristof has literally given his blood for the poor of the third world. He doesn’t care so much about the label worn by those who join him in this work. Though he speaks openly of his liberal views, he gives much more than grudging respect to his opponents when they deserve it.
This is just what he has done in his latest opinion piece in today’s NYT. Kristof praises evangelicals for some of the changes which have taken place in their public and private faces.
You’ll need to decide for yourself whether the moves Kristof praises are all truly praiseworthy. Evangelicalism’s move into social issues can either be a social-gospel liberalization which bodes (more) ill for the movement, or it can be a robustly theological call to the gospel-moored, full-orbed “good works” that Paul enjoins over and over again in the Pastoral Epistles (1 Tim. 2:10; 5:10, 25; 6:18; 2 Tim. 3:17; Tit. 2:7, 14; 3:8, 14). I tend to think it’s a lot of the former and a little of the latter.
All the same, a prominent non-Christian for whom I have real respect has just shown major cross-cultural, cross-aisle grace. This should not go unnoticed.
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