William Martin
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- June 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780190683528
- eISBN:
- 9780190683559
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190683528.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
This chapter chronicles Billy Graham’s missions and influence around the world. Throughout his career, Graham held more than two hundred preaching missions of varied length in more than eighty ...
More
This chapter chronicles Billy Graham’s missions and influence around the world. Throughout his career, Graham held more than two hundred preaching missions of varied length in more than eighty countries and reached virtually every country in the world through various electronic media. In the process, he developed reputation, influence, and authority that enabled him to play a dominant role in creating a worldwide evangelical movement. This chapter describes the representative and most important evangelistic efforts on each of the continents other than North America where he proclaimed the Christian gospel in a substantial way. In addition, it gives a brief account of major international conferences that he and his BGEA associates organized, joining Christians from almost every nation into a world in ecumenical concord.Less
This chapter chronicles Billy Graham’s missions and influence around the world. Throughout his career, Graham held more than two hundred preaching missions of varied length in more than eighty countries and reached virtually every country in the world through various electronic media. In the process, he developed reputation, influence, and authority that enabled him to play a dominant role in creating a worldwide evangelical movement. This chapter describes the representative and most important evangelistic efforts on each of the continents other than North America where he proclaimed the Christian gospel in a substantial way. In addition, it gives a brief account of major international conferences that he and his BGEA associates organized, joining Christians from almost every nation into a world in ecumenical concord.
Darren E. Grem
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- June 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780199927975
- eISBN:
- 9780190467012
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199927975.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Focusing on the business elites and ideas behind Billy Graham’s early career, this chapter shows the expanding network of businessmen behind postwar fundamentalism as it transitioned into a more ...
More
Focusing on the business elites and ideas behind Billy Graham’s early career, this chapter shows the expanding network of businessmen behind postwar fundamentalism as it transitioned into a more socially engaged, pragmatic, and results-minded form, namely the “new evangelicalism.” Graham is also reinterpreted in this chapter as more than a religious figure but also as a savvy big businessman who used corporate culture to frame, advance, and order his ministry in the 1950s and 1960s. The contributions of businessmen like oil tycoon J. Howard Pew to evangelical startups like Christianity Today magazine and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association also receive attention in this chapter.Less
Focusing on the business elites and ideas behind Billy Graham’s early career, this chapter shows the expanding network of businessmen behind postwar fundamentalism as it transitioned into a more socially engaged, pragmatic, and results-minded form, namely the “new evangelicalism.” Graham is also reinterpreted in this chapter as more than a religious figure but also as a savvy big businessman who used corporate culture to frame, advance, and order his ministry in the 1950s and 1960s. The contributions of businessmen like oil tycoon J. Howard Pew to evangelical startups like Christianity Today magazine and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association also receive attention in this chapter.
Margaret Bendroth
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- June 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780190683528
- eISBN:
- 9780190683559
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190683528.003.0013
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
This chapter assesses Billy Graham’s long-term impact on American evangelicalism and American culture. At last estimates, he evangelized over two billion people during his sixty-year career. He ...
More
This chapter assesses Billy Graham’s long-term impact on American evangelicalism and American culture. At last estimates, he evangelized over two billion people during his sixty-year career. He remained culturally nimble enough to stay in the public eye through all the tumultuous years of the late twentieth century. Billy Graham did not just reflect his times—he also changed them. Exactly what that means is a matter of debate. Despite the evangelist’s durable popularity, his legacy is surprisingly difficult to measure. This chapter identifies that there are uncertainties about the future of the evangelical world Billy Graham shaped, and that the long-term prospects for religion in American society remain uncertain. It also discusses the possible successors to Graham and posits that a successor—if there will be one at all—is unlikely to be an American.Less
This chapter assesses Billy Graham’s long-term impact on American evangelicalism and American culture. At last estimates, he evangelized over two billion people during his sixty-year career. He remained culturally nimble enough to stay in the public eye through all the tumultuous years of the late twentieth century. Billy Graham did not just reflect his times—he also changed them. Exactly what that means is a matter of debate. Despite the evangelist’s durable popularity, his legacy is surprisingly difficult to measure. This chapter identifies that there are uncertainties about the future of the evangelical world Billy Graham shaped, and that the long-term prospects for religion in American society remain uncertain. It also discusses the possible successors to Graham and posits that a successor—if there will be one at all—is unlikely to be an American.
Andrew Finstuen, Grant Wacker, and Anne Blue Wills (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- June 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780190683528
- eISBN:
- 9780190683559
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190683528.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
For more than six decades, Billy Graham played a prominent role in shaping Americans’ outlook on the critical religious, political, and cultural issues of the day. By drawing on new sources and by ...
More
For more than six decades, Billy Graham played a prominent role in shaping Americans’ outlook on the critical religious, political, and cultural issues of the day. By drawing on new sources and by asking new questions of old sources, Billy Graham: American Pilgrim offers groundbreaking accounts of Graham’s storied career. The distinguished contributors offer fresh perspectives on the major changes Graham brought to American Christianity, World Christianity, church and state, the Cold War, race relations, American manhood and family, intellectual life, religious media, Christian relief work, and Christian music. Charting his titanic career provides a many-paned window for viewing the history and character of our present and recent past while also attending to Graham’s personal evolution and complexity on these issues. Yet Graham stayed true to evangelical precepts, as he addressed contemporary questions of religion, politics, and culture, as well as perennial questions of spiritual and daily life, that stretched his tradition to its limits. The volume presents this interplay of change and continuity in the life of Graham as a pilgrimage. But Graham lived his journey on an international stage, influencing the world around him in ways large and small—ways that still echo in today’s religious, political, and cultural arenas.Less
For more than six decades, Billy Graham played a prominent role in shaping Americans’ outlook on the critical religious, political, and cultural issues of the day. By drawing on new sources and by asking new questions of old sources, Billy Graham: American Pilgrim offers groundbreaking accounts of Graham’s storied career. The distinguished contributors offer fresh perspectives on the major changes Graham brought to American Christianity, World Christianity, church and state, the Cold War, race relations, American manhood and family, intellectual life, religious media, Christian relief work, and Christian music. Charting his titanic career provides a many-paned window for viewing the history and character of our present and recent past while also attending to Graham’s personal evolution and complexity on these issues. Yet Graham stayed true to evangelical precepts, as he addressed contemporary questions of religion, politics, and culture, as well as perennial questions of spiritual and daily life, that stretched his tradition to its limits. The volume presents this interplay of change and continuity in the life of Graham as a pilgrimage. But Graham lived his journey on an international stage, influencing the world around him in ways large and small—ways that still echo in today’s religious, political, and cultural arenas.