Examining Billy Graham's Theology of Evangelism

Thomas Paul Johnston. Examining Billy Graham's Theology of Evangelism. Eugene, Ore.: Wipf and Stock, 2003.486 pp. $36.00.

This monograph by Thomas Johnston is an expanded Ph.D. dissertation written at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in 2001 ("The Work of an Evangelist: The Evangelistic Theology and Methodology of Billy Graham"). Two chapters not found in the dissertation are "Authority" (ch. 2 in this study) and "Cooperation" (ch. 5). There are five chapters in the present study, including "Context," "Parameters," "Message," and "Conclusion." Additionally there are five appendices, a bibliography, and lists of tables and illustrations. The author is the son of a former missionary to France who served as professor of missions at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.

The title of the original dissertation has biblical and historical origins. The apostle Paul exhorted Timothy to "do the work of an evangelist" (2 Tim 4:5). The International Conference for Itinerant Evangelists in Amsterdam (1983) used this biblical injunction as its theme. Curiously, Paul's encouragement to Timothy was given to a young pastor-in-training who most probably did not have the gift of evangelism, and those invited to Amsterdam (some 4000) were identified as "gifted evangelists" in their respective national contexts. Normally, those with obvious spiritual gifts do not need exhortations to exercise their gifts. In any case, this book is an insightful study of one who obviously possesses the strong gift of evangelism. And as most readers of this journal would agree, when asked to identify persons with the gift of evangelism, the name of Billy Graham is usually found at the top, even outside the cultural context of North America. Our first order of business, then, is to alert the reader to the book's contents and to summarize them in a way that does justice to author's intent and conception of his material.

Chapter 1 ("Context") provides a history of Billy Graham's ministry, methodology, and the challenges facing the evangelist relative to culture, cooperation, and choosing a successor. After defining a definition of "a theology of evangelism" the author jars the reader with an academic disjunction: "statement of the problem," "research to date," and "research methodology." How all of this fits under the rubric of "context" is left to the reader to discover.

Chapter 2 is titled "authority" and is not a part of the original dissertation. In comparison to the lengthy chapters on "message" and "cooperation," this chapter seems as if the author needed to supplement his study with additional material, resulting in ch. 2. Its brevity is unfortunate. Most helpfully, Johnston calls on Baptist theologian Millard Erickson for systematic overviews of inspiration, biblical authority, and hermeneutics, including the necessary discussion of inerrancy. But the "treatments" of these subjects is so brief that the reader certainly wants (and needs) more substantive discussion as well as the author's direction showing the relevance of this discussion to Billy Graham's ministry. And this is not an insignificant point.

The third chapter, "Parameters," includes some fascinating material, but the title is confusing. I assume that the author may mean to indicate "a limit or a boundary" by the title, but aside from the genre of doctoral studies, the title is a misnomer and does not really indicate the contents of the chapter in question. Central to the chapter is the discussion surrounding the various approaches and methodologies of evangelism. The author discusses the perspectives of Charles Templeton, Bob Pierce, Joseph Aldrich, Peter Wagner, and Christian Schwarz, comparing each of their methods with those of Billy Graham. The author also depends on the conceptual framework of Yale philosopher Brand Blanshard whose "square of opposition" diagrams provide an organizing motif for Johnston. An extended discussion of the Great Commission provides the author with the motivation to evaluate two influential movements in the history of the twentieth century evangelical church-social responsibility and lifestyle evangelism. This then leads Johnston to enquire as to the extent to which the evangelistic ministry of Billy Graham may have been influenced. The insights manifest in this chapter are very helpful, as they allow the reader to understand the context in which the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association struggled for identity in the midst of criticism of "public proclamation of the gospel."

Chapters 4 ("Message") and 5 ("Cooperation") constitute the core of the book, and their substance justifies their length. Here Johnston describes and defines the evangelistic ministry of Billy Graham. It would be safe to say that these two subjects provided Graham's opponents with most of their ammunition as they sought to discredit him. Under the rubrics of the "early . . . middle . . . later" Graham, Johnston effectively demonstrates the development that has taken place in Graham's ministry. The very heart of Billy Graham's ministry has to do with his understanding of the gospel itself, of conversion, sin, and salvation. Each of these subjects is undertaken with a serious and determined effort. Johnston carefully documents his claims with references to Graham's messages and publications (books, articles, interviews, pamphlets). It is safe to say that one of the most controversial aspects of Billy Graham's evangelistic ministry has been his desire to go wherever doors were open to the presenting of the gospel message, within and beyond the North American continent. The author is even-handed and fair in drawing the landscape of controversy, quoting Graham's enemies (and he has more than a few) as the evangelist attempted to embrace as many denominations as possible without compromising the integrity of the gospel. Along the way, Johnston shows how easy it is to give in, to cut corners, as well as the price one pays for venturing into such territory.