Thursday, July 28, 2005

On Joel Osteen's "Church": Does Jesus Exist to Make us Happy?

Just want to point readers to Jason Byassee's excellent piece on Joel Osteen. Jason is remarkably charitable to Osteen, but in the end--and because of that--offers a stinging critique of Osteen's version of what Rodney Clapp once called "Winnie-the-Pooh" theology. Pooh bear reasons as follows: If I hear buzzing, there must be bees about; if there are bees, there must be honey; and if there is honey, it must be FOR ME! Osteen translates that into a theology which populates a stadium each Sunday.

Yet another reason that the church stands in dire need of her own Orwell.