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The art of the public grovelCrocodile tears on TV?THE ART OF THE PUBLIC GROVEL With a mugshot of a remorseful-looking Bill Clinton against the backdrop of the American flag staring out from the cover, a first glance at this book certainly raises a degree of curiosity. A closer look at the subtitle — ‘sexual sin and public confession in America’ — serves only to reinforce it. Coming with the imprint of Princeton University Press, this is clearly an academic study which sets out to relate a series of transgressions on the part of high-profile figures to the influence of evangelical thought and theology on American life. Covering a range of figures from the late 19th century to the infamous episode involving President Clinton, it seeks to chart and analyse the attempts by public figures suspected of sexual misdemeanours to survive the fallout of their conduct. These figures include lesser-known individuals like Grover Cleveland through to Ted Kennedy, Jimmy Carter, Jim Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart and Bill Clinton himself. Appetite for emotingSusan Bauer’s basic thesis is that the impact of evangelical revivalist teaching on American culture generally has cultivated an appetite for public confession of sin from those who hold public office. She contends that it is not enough to have acknowledged and confessed a sin in private (the Roman Catholic view of confession and absolution), but rather that it needs to be done openly in a ‘public space’. She argues that the idea of ‘public space’ expanded in the American understanding with the expansion of communications technology through the media. So, successive generations of miscreants have had to make ever more public confession in order to obtain absolution in the eyes of the public and be able to hold on to office, or the aspiration to hold office. If they are prepared to grovel publicly to the public, then their careers — political or pastoral — are secure. All she says makes fascinating reading, but is no reflection of a good theology of whether or not public figures should be reinstated to their positions after gross sexual misconduct. Her observations of how such figures have used the ‘ritual’ of public confession (her term) to salvage their careers have merit, but do not reflect accurately a bibilical understanding of confession, repentance and the appropriate actions that follow. In particular, she makes the common mistake of equating what happened in the Great Awakening, as reflected in the theology of Jonathan Edwards, with what became the norm in the revivalist theology of Charles Finney and those who followed him. The latter were indeed guilty of turning confession and repentance into a quasi-public ritual, but, in so doing, moved away from the kind of genuine contrition and repentance that leads to true forgiveness and transformation of life. Verdict? — as a Puritan might say, ‘No sure guide to true religion (or integrity in the world of politics)’! Mark G. Johnston, © Evangelicals Now - April 2009 |