On Theology, Media, and Politics

Shmuel Rosner interviews David Brog, a colleague of Pastor Hagee, about his statement that Hitler was a divine tool. The statement caused quite a brouhaha, and John McCain publicly distanced himself from Hagee. Brog puts the statement into theological context, while regretting that politics and the media are a bad place to explain theology.

Indeed, mixing theology with the other two is a bad idea. Barack Obama, by the way, will tell you the same. So far as I understand, much of the world view of his former pastor, Reverend Wright, is also informed by theology - in his case, Liberation Theology.

It's mildly astonishing, don't you think, how theology is playing such a major role in this presidential campaign (of 2008, I remind you: the 21st century).

As for Hagee's statement. When I was in 6th grade one of our teachers made a rather similar point, during a bible class (in Isaiah, I think). That evening I proudly presented the insight at the family dinner table. My father looked at me calmly, and then began posing questions about the implications of the statement. Within about 15 minutes he had dismantled it entirely, leaving not a single pebble in place. It was an electrifying and formative experience.

My father was the better teacher of the two.