I've decided to get rich quick. It seems by most measures to be preferable to penury. Rather than the usual ponzi schemes or work-at-home scams, I've decided to take a more subtle route. I'm going to be one of the semi-heretics. I noticed awhile ago that one of the best ways to sell books and boost your name recognition is to question one of the key tenets of Evangelical Christianity. The resulting controversy drives up sales and interest in a way no normal academic can ever hope to achieve.
The key is to attack only ONE tenet. This is important. Anything more and you could get thrown out of even the 3-ring-circus-sized tent of modern Evangelicalism. Then Family Christian Stores might not give you an end-cap. So restraint is needed. Pick one, it doesn?t really matter which?the traditional view of justification, the eternality of Hell, the omniscience of God... The reign of tolerance in Evangelical circles will ensure you get only enough criticism to bring you panel debate invitations and speaking honoraria.
I'm personally going to cobble together a revisionist history of the Reformation. I'll do a passable job asserting that Roman Catholicism wasn't actually morally bankrupt and theologically corrupted, and that the entire resulting 500 years of ecclesiastical history was a big misunderstanding. Call it the "New Perspective on Tetzel." Then I'll just sit back and wait for Christianity Today to call me for the interview. My only worry is that I get in print before the ECT people beat me to it.
Posted by Discoshaman at mai 2, 2003 03:19 AM | TrackBack