Michael Gerson is thankful for Chuck Colson’s life and example: In Memoriam: Charles W. Colson, A Life Well-Lived (1931-2012). Writes Gerson:
I saw Chuck’s character close up. Chuck gave me my first job, as a research assistant working at Prison Fellowship. He also gave me a lifelong example of leadership. Following Chuck’s conversion, God took hold of a set of extraordinary skills. Christian belief did not make Chuck mild or retiring. He remained driven. He demanded much of those around him, but was quick to praise every success and achievement. He thought the standards and professionalism we bring to the Kingdom of God should be at least as high as those he brought to the Marines or the White House. Faith was never an excuse for mediocrity.
In the meantime, author Frank Schaeffer offers only a qualified appreciation for Chuck: Colson: An Evangelical Homophobic Anti-Woman Leader Passes On. In the comments under his post, Schaeffer gives his readers this bit of insight:
The Bible is a book filled with good things and lots of nonsense too. God — if there is one — is the creator of everything you see in the Hubble plus more. What some collection of Bronze Age mythology says and what is really out there (and in us) isn’t the same thing. Don’t blame the creator for religion or religious books.
I myself will have more to say about Colson’s legacy in the near future. Stay tuned.
April 27th, 2012 | 5:42 pm | #1
“author Frank Schaeffer offers only a qualified appreciation for Chuck”
If that’s the mark of qualified appreciation, I wonder if Chuck Colson would have preferred that Mr. Schaeffer say nothing at all.
Have you read Tim Challies’ qualified appreciation of Chuck Colson?
April 27th, 2012 | 9:33 pm | #2
If that’s Schaeffer’s “qualified appreciation,” how would he speak of someone with whom he had more than a little disagreement?
At least Challies expressed some appreciation.
April 28th, 2012 | 12:39 pm | #3
I assume you are talking about this: The Legacy of Charles Colson. My initial impression is that Challies severely overstates his case in averring that Colson “labored to strike a significant blow against the gospel, and who time and again called on the church to do the same.” However, I think there are definitely flaws in Colson’s approach, which I hope to return to in a future post.
May 5th, 2012 | 8:47 am | #4
And continuing the “Legacy” quote above:
“And this is what is absent in so many remembrances. He labored for good and positive causes, but he also labored for outright sinful causes.
“Colson was a leader, a co-founder, of Evangelicals and Catholics Together…”
The comments also put rabid Calvinsts in a poor light. My estimate of Tim Challies has dropped from appreciation to a low from which it will never recover.
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