Early this morning, on my Facebook page, I posted the below review of Randy Boyagoda's 2015 biography of Richard John Neuhaus. Observations about the ALPB are included.
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Richard John Neuhaus: A Life in the Public Square, by Randy Boyagoda, was a 2015 biography of Neuhaus (1936-2009). The book received numerous endorsements. I had occasion to correspond with Neuhaus a few times in my life, and also heard him speak in person several times.
To summarize in broad strokes, Neuhaus, son of a Lutheran pastor, was raised in Canada and eventually attended Lutheran seminary at Concordia, St. Louis, Missouri, in the 1950s. He was known as a liberal then. He always had very high liturgical leanings and became a Roman Catholic priest in 1990. He was a founder of the intellectual journal, First Things. It was claimed that he was a "Catholic of the Year," as well as "the Most Influential Clergyman in America."
The book description notes that "Neuhaus' life and ideas placed him at the vanguard of events and debates across the political and cultural spectrum. For instance, alongside Abraham Heschel and Daniel Berrigan, Neuhaus co-founded Clergy Concerned About Vietnam, in 1965. Forty years later, Neuhaus was the subject of a New York Review of Books article by Garry Wills, which cast him as a Rasputin of the far right, exerting dangerous influence in both the Vatican and the Bush White House." Neuhaus was on the political liberal and then political conservative side.
Neuhaus edited the American Lutheran Publicity Bureau's Forum Letter for years until he became Roman Catholic. The New York City area-based ALPB is a lackluster pan-Lutheran group that can barely if at all articulate why it continues to exist. The ALPB is pretty lukewarm doctrinally (AND IT'S NOT GOOD TO BE LUKEWARM – Revelation 3:16). Several other ALPB leaders joined Neuhaus in becoming Roman Catholic. Like Neuhaus and First Things, ALPB can have its moments, but not very often. It's barely hanging on. Membership in churches can increase or decrease for good or bad reasons, but the member numbers of ALPB-influenced Lutheran churches have been dropping like a rock and figure to continue to do so.
The book discusses Neuhaus' relations with the late Herman Otten; Boyagoda interviewed Otten, and quoted extensively from Otten's newspaper, Missouri-based Christian News. The two men clashed while students at Concordia Seminary. Boyagoda comments, "Neuhaus played the willing progressive while Otten offered rearguard pushback: in a sense, each young man likely benefited in his development along his chosen ideological line thanks to his encounters with the other. For Otten, Neuhaus was a cosmopolitan 'slick' who heralded a hollowed-out, trend-chasing future for Lutheranism. For Neuhaus, Otten was a parochial reactionary who embodied the inward-focused, stiff-minded past of the Lutheranism he had encountered in various small-town forums..."
When at his best, Otten was a staunch Lutheran who upheld fundamental doctrines. In 1969, Otten charged Neuhaus with false teaching. Boyagoda: "The charges themselves were fivefold: Neuhaus 'adheres to and promulgates doctrines which are contrary to Holy Scripture'; he 'does not accept the binding nature of the Lutheran Confessions'; he 'publicly worships with Jews, Religious Liberals, and others who do not accept historic Christianity'; he 'perverts the true nature of the Christian Church' [with respect to his political activity—did Neuhaus truly advocate missions/evangelism?]; and he 'encourages civil disobedience even when the government does not command the Christian to sin.'" These charges basically went nowhere but I would (without going into exhaustive reasons here) nevertheless defend them as essentially accurate.
Neuhaus did make noises about being more theologically conservative in his later years, though I personally would argue that his heavily Roman Catholic leaning, often philosophical First Things magazine is way overrated in terms of being truly biblical, i.e., advocating for theistic evolution (at least among some writers), etc. To his credit, he was opposed to abortion throughout his life (though, contrary to some popular belief, by no means is everyone in the Roman Catholic Church, i.e., President Joe Biden and many other government officials).
When Neuhaus died, a number of prominent Missouri Synod Lutherans offered glowing eulogies. Ironically, then as now, Neuhaus received more praise than Otten did, among this group of Lutherans. The ALPB's Peter Speckhard, a Neuhaus nephew, gave a presentation (media and text are available on the seminary's web site) at Concordia Theological Seminary Fort Wayne Indiana, "Can the Shoes of Richard John Neuhaus Be Filled?" One wonders where that seminary stands on purgatory, indulgences, sacrifice of the mass, the papacy (the Lutheran Confessions as well as the 1932 LCMS brief doctrinal statement refer to the papacy as the Antichrist, as do some Reformed confessions), etc., by hosting such an over the top tribute to Neuhaus. (CTSFW has for decades claimed to be staunchly "confessional Lutheran" and even says on its "About" webpage that it has "the finest theological faculty in the world, bar none"—they have some good professors but how is it possible to quantify that grandiose boast? Not an accurate boast in my view.)
In terms of telling the story of a life, I gave Boyagoda's 498 page biography four stars when I read it seven years ago. I think Neuhaus's life is way overblown in its importance, though. This is not a necessary book for most people to read. He traveled in political and think tank circles, and his (hardly surprising) move to Roman Catholicism was doctrinally problematic, at best, in my opinion. There are many other Catholics who are more noteworthy and more admirable than he was.
https://www.amazon.com/Richard-John-Neuhaus-Public-Square-ebook/dp/B00MSRTF9A/ref=sr_1_3?crid=1VL7UBDJ77X5S&keywords=Randy+Boyagoda&qid=1646971208&sprefix=randy+boyagoda%2Caps%2C138&sr=8-3
* * *
Richard John Neuhaus: A Life in the Public Square, by Randy Boyagoda, was a 2015 biography of Neuhaus (1936-2009). The book received numerous endorsements. I had occasion to correspond with Neuhaus a few times in my life, and also heard him speak in person several times.
To summarize in broad strokes, Neuhaus, son of a Lutheran pastor, was raised in Canada and eventually attended Lutheran seminary at Concordia, St. Louis, Missouri, in the 1950s. He was known as a liberal then. He always had very high liturgical leanings and became a Roman Catholic priest in 1990. He was a founder of the intellectual journal, First Things. It was claimed that he was a "Catholic of the Year," as well as "the Most Influential Clergyman in America."
The book description notes that "Neuhaus' life and ideas placed him at the vanguard of events and debates across the political and cultural spectrum. For instance, alongside Abraham Heschel and Daniel Berrigan, Neuhaus co-founded Clergy Concerned About Vietnam, in 1965. Forty years later, Neuhaus was the subject of a New York Review of Books article by Garry Wills, which cast him as a Rasputin of the far right, exerting dangerous influence in both the Vatican and the Bush White House." Neuhaus was on the political liberal and then political conservative side.
Neuhaus edited the American Lutheran Publicity Bureau's Forum Letter for years until he became Roman Catholic. The New York City area-based ALPB is a lackluster pan-Lutheran group that can barely if at all articulate why it continues to exist. The ALPB is pretty lukewarm doctrinally (AND IT'S NOT GOOD TO BE LUKEWARM – Revelation 3:16). Several other ALPB leaders joined Neuhaus in becoming Roman Catholic. Like Neuhaus and First Things, ALPB can have its moments, but not very often. It's barely hanging on. Membership in churches can increase or decrease for good or bad reasons, but the member numbers of ALPB-influenced Lutheran churches have been dropping like a rock and figure to continue to do so.
The book discusses Neuhaus' relations with the late Herman Otten; Boyagoda interviewed Otten, and quoted extensively from Otten's newspaper, Missouri-based Christian News. The two men clashed while students at Concordia Seminary. Boyagoda comments, "Neuhaus played the willing progressive while Otten offered rearguard pushback: in a sense, each young man likely benefited in his development along his chosen ideological line thanks to his encounters with the other. For Otten, Neuhaus was a cosmopolitan 'slick' who heralded a hollowed-out, trend-chasing future for Lutheranism. For Neuhaus, Otten was a parochial reactionary who embodied the inward-focused, stiff-minded past of the Lutheranism he had encountered in various small-town forums..."
When at his best, Otten was a staunch Lutheran who upheld fundamental doctrines. In 1969, Otten charged Neuhaus with false teaching. Boyagoda: "The charges themselves were fivefold: Neuhaus 'adheres to and promulgates doctrines which are contrary to Holy Scripture'; he 'does not accept the binding nature of the Lutheran Confessions'; he 'publicly worships with Jews, Religious Liberals, and others who do not accept historic Christianity'; he 'perverts the true nature of the Christian Church' [with respect to his political activity—did Neuhaus truly advocate missions/evangelism?]; and he 'encourages civil disobedience even when the government does not command the Christian to sin.'" These charges basically went nowhere but I would (without going into exhaustive reasons here) nevertheless defend them as essentially accurate.
Neuhaus did make noises about being more theologically conservative in his later years, though I personally would argue that his heavily Roman Catholic leaning, often philosophical First Things magazine is way overrated in terms of being truly biblical, i.e., advocating for theistic evolution (at least among some writers), etc. To his credit, he was opposed to abortion throughout his life (though, contrary to some popular belief, by no means is everyone in the Roman Catholic Church, i.e., President Joe Biden and many other government officials).
When Neuhaus died, a number of prominent Missouri Synod Lutherans offered glowing eulogies. Ironically, then as now, Neuhaus received more praise than Otten did, among this group of Lutherans. The ALPB's Peter Speckhard, a Neuhaus nephew, gave a presentation (media and text are available on the seminary's web site) at Concordia Theological Seminary Fort Wayne Indiana, "Can the Shoes of Richard John Neuhaus Be Filled?" One wonders where that seminary stands on purgatory, indulgences, sacrifice of the mass, the papacy (the Lutheran Confessions as well as the 1932 LCMS brief doctrinal statement refer to the papacy as the Antichrist, as do some Reformed confessions), etc., by hosting such an over the top tribute to Neuhaus. (CTSFW has for decades claimed to be staunchly "confessional Lutheran" and even says on its "About" webpage that it has "the finest theological faculty in the world, bar none"—they have some good professors but how is it possible to quantify that grandiose boast? Not an accurate boast in my view.)
In terms of telling the story of a life, I gave Boyagoda's 498 page biography four stars when I read it seven years ago. I think Neuhaus's life is way overblown in its importance, though. This is not a necessary book for most people to read. He traveled in political and think tank circles, and his (hardly surprising) move to Roman Catholicism was doctrinally problematic, at best, in my opinion. There are many other Catholics who are more noteworthy and more admirable than he was.
https://www.amazon.com/Richard-John-Neuhaus-Public-Square-ebook/dp/B00MSRTF9A/ref=sr_1_3?crid=1VL7UBDJ77X5S&keywords=Randy+Boyagoda&qid=1646971208&sprefix=randy+boyagoda%2Caps%2C138&sr=8-3