Bethany House Publishers, 2012, pgs. 220
Allow me to give a thumbnail sketch of an historical event, and then I’ll pull in some dates and names, and spin the whole thing about to a review of Dr. Mohler’s The Conviction to Lead.
There once was a reasonably sophisticated politician with some decidedly mediocre theology. He was a decent man who gave popular speeches that moved the masses. He recognized that the political and cultural elite were leading the people away from the wholesome traditions of the past. He began to poke about and discovered part of the intellectual source of the decline. It was a combination of English Epicureanism and a German philosopher. And so in all earnestness he began the public battle.
He bloodied his enemies enough through citation and critique that they took notice of him. Two in particular plotted against him—a lawyer and newspaperman. The lawyer had defended two rich wastrels who had read the German philosopher and murdered a youth in response. The newspaperman had written extensively on English Epicureanism and translated the German philosopher as well as wrote the first American introduction to his canon.
The politician being a decent man with weak theology didn’t see the trap. He could sway live audiences but he didn’t understand the power of the popular media nor was he capable of lying and spinning in the papers like his enemies. And so he won a legal case but lost the national battle, and then he died.
William Jennings Byran died believing that he won the Scopes’ Trial. He hoped this victory would be the culmination of his long public battle against Nietzsche’s philosophy and Darwin’s scientific materialism. But he hoped in vain. Clarence Darrow (cf. his defense of Leopold and Loeb) and H. L. Mencken (translator of the Antichrist and author of The Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche) understood that they had won the battle of public opinion.
The Scopes’ Monkey Trial was the greatest public setback of orthodox Christianity that I am aware of in modern history. Bryan was a convictional leader, but he violated or ignored about half of the twenty-five principles Dr. Mohler lays out in his book The Conviction to Lead. He shared the convictions but lacked the wisdom. The issue is not that Mohler’s insights are new, but rather Bryan was hamstrung by a theological system and heritage that underestimated the human propensity towards untruth. Also, Bryan had grown soft, lazy, and pompous on the paid speakers’ circuit. The basic theological, moral, and practical weaknesses of Bryan remain within popular evangelicalism.
Mohler’s book and life lacks these weaknesses. His convictions were forged after Bryan’s failure by the likes of Karl F. H. Henry, and Molher understands the times. The backbone of his theology is thoroughly Augustinian. The Bishop of Hippo does not appear in the citations, but he organizes Mohler’s assessment of both man and God (cf. 70-72). Further, a robust Augustinianism informs the practice and posture of self-critique and humility which blossom within principles like “The Moral Virtues of Leadership.”
The book is packaged to take its place next to T. D. Jakes’ works, but the discerning reader should place the book nearer at least in intent to Alexis de Tocqueville’s invitation to the French nobility in Democracy in America. De Tocqueville was offering a model of conservative reform in the aftermath of the Revolution; Mohler does much the same.
Mohler has drawn from everyone from Stephen King to Martin Luther to distil his thoughts for effective and godly leadership. Stodgy academics and sanctimonious ideologues may be befuddled and tempted to ignore a book that quotes Bill Murray movies and Justin Martyr. Such would be a mistake. A writer who both has and mocks his memento mori needs to be taken with a degree of academic gravitas (200); and anyone who observes Mohler’s handling and use of Scripture should consider carefully his handling and use of pop culture.
And so friends and enemies of Mohler’s convictions, here is the blueprint. What shall you do with it?