A review of David Hagopian and
Douglas Wilson’s book, Beyond Promises: A
Biblical Challenge to Promise Keepers
Several years ago, an old friend with whom I
had lost contact, called to see how things were going. As we got
caught up on kids and jobs, how fat we were getting and how much
hair we were losing, my friend asked me if I had become involved
with Promise Keepers. He then gave an impassioned commercial for the
benefits of this wonderful organization for Christian men, teaching
them how to be a real man, fulfill their duties towards their wives
and children, etc. I finally interrupted him saying, “Hey Bob, all
that sounds great, but I am already involved in just that kind of
ministry, it’s called a Reformed church.” It struck me that this
great new movement with Christian superstars and big rallies was
just another example of broad evangelical hype on something that
always has been fundamental to historic Reformed orthodoxy.
Well, I was wrong. There is far more to Promise
Keepers than I realized. David Hagiopian and Doug Wilson’s new book,
Beyond Promises,
provides an inestimable service to the Christian community by
analyzing the underlying theology and practices of an undisputedly
powerful evangelical movement. Twenty two regional conferences in
1996 expect almost 1.5 million men participating. More than 70,000
pastors showed up at the Georgia Dome for a full fledged
stadium-styled conference. 1997 hopes to see another million man
march in Washington.
Written in an irenic spirit, Beyond Promises
does a marvelous job of critiquing this movement, giving full credit
where due, without taking the cheap shots some of us would find
irresistible. They fully acknowledge that Promise Keepers has
identified a fundamental problem with American culture in general,
and the evangelical church in particular; Christian men are wimps.
This spirit of trying to work with Promise Keepers, rather than just
criticize them runs throughout the book. However, their gentle
manner makes their critique all that more effective. And critique it
they do. For although Promise Keepers has correctly identified the
problem, without a fully consistent Biblical world view to offer as
an alternative, their solutions are little better then the left over
scraps of the Men’s movement, baptized with an occasional Bible
verse and liberally sprinkled with psycho-babble. Once again,
Evangelical Christianity has proven there is no fad so silly, that
the Church will not scrounge the Humanist trash heap for a few
forgotten crumbs.
Beyond Promises
is broken down into four parts: What Promise Keepers does right,
some causes for concern, a Biblical analysis of the actual promises
made and a concluding chapter offering some constructive challenges.
The authors also weave a Biblical alternative throughout the book.
Some weaving is better than others and personally found their
theology of the law a bit confused. However, for the most part, Beyond Promises
actually provides what Promise Keepers themselves lack, a
consistent, Biblical alternative to cultural models.
Beyond Promises
credits Promise Keepers for identifying the crises in masculine
confidence, pointing out male abdication of their role and calling,
the feminization of the church, etc. Furthermore, Promise Keepers is
to be commended for their striving to create a real spiritual hunger
in men for a closer relationship with Christ and seeking to help men
to stand up and be counted. Not the least of the praises given is
that Promise Keepers has earned the hatred and fear of the
feminists. Hey, the gotta be doing something right, right! Wilson
and Hagopian sum up the good points of Promise Keepers by saying,
“In many ways, the movement is well…full of promise!”
But, sadly, the promise is often unfulfilled.
Starting in the second section, the authors expose the underlying
theology of Promise Keepers, and what they find is sometimes not
good. In the “Gospel of Guyhood,” Wilson and Hagopian state that
“the gospel proclaimed by some Promise Keepers spokesman is, with a
few notable exceptions, nothing short of moralism, pure and simple,
To be saved, we must do.” How could it be otherwise? American
evangelicalism long ago sold its Reformed heritage for Arminian
pottage. It should not surprise us that a movement with such a mass
appeal must meet the lowest common theological denominator.
This results in consistently mixed messages.
While Promise Keepers desire ardently to help men be men, in the
chapter entitled “The Tea Party Mentality” the authors reveal that
inadvertently, Promise Keepers actually tries to make men, more like
women. They lack a consistent Biblical understanding of the roles
and relationship between men and women, and therefore recommend that
men become more sensitive, sharing, caring individuals; in other
words, they want men to relate to other men, as women relate to
other women. Though Promise Keeper authors and speakers extol the
family, they sometimes end up undermining the Biblical concepts of
headship and submission on which a Biblical family is based. In
fact, Promise Keepers seems to downplay any authority except their
own. To critique Promise Keepers in some people’s eyes, is to
critique God.
Beyond Promises
also identifies the fundamental flaw in a Promise Keepers key
concept: the notion of “mentoring.” Men, need to be mentored by
other men, according to Promise Keepers, men who will teach them,
train them, stand alongside them, support them and hold them
accountable. Who could argue with this? But it is not the need that
is the problem, but the solution. God has already provided such men
for “mentoring,” they are called “elders.” Of course as Rushdoony
has repeatedly stated, “most elders think their job is sitting in
judgment on the pastor, rather than governing the church.” Promise
Keepers are certainly right in finding the problem, it’s just that
they don’t have a Biblical solution. Interesting that Promise
Keepers chooses terminology from the business world, “mentoring”
rather than the Biblical term “discipleship.”
The authors do give Promise Keepers full credit
though for drawing a clear line in the sand. “In no small measure,
Promise Keepers has had the positive impact which it has had because
of this emphasis on integrity and purity, straight up.” In the area
of sexual purity, Promise Keepers faces the situation head on and
calls men to Biblical morality. However, the problem is that Promise
Keepers does not always speak with a clear voice. Some say one
thing, others say another. For example, Promise Keeper spokesman
Robert Hicks wants young men to celebrate sins as “rites of
passage.” Or, in a Promise Keeper book, “Strategies for a Successful
Marriage” co-authored by a divorced man, divorce is seen as an
unhappy event, something painful, unfortunate, but never discussed
in moral, covenantal terms, there is no mention of sin, compromise,
moral failure, broken vows, etc.
Furthermore, in this same book on marriage
(dealing with promise #4) Beyond Promises
says that an assumption is made that the feminine expectations for
marriage are accurate, and that the masculine ones are not. Hence
the husband must learn to conform his behavior to his wife’s
expectations. Men are exhorted to discover their wives expectations
and then commit themselves to doing everything within their power to
meet them. But shouldn’t a man ask first, are those expectations
Biblical? Marriage exists first to glorify God. Meeting perceived
needs can only occur if God is glorified, if husband and wife
understand their specific Biblical roles, duties, and
responsibilities.
Beyond Promises
rightly states that God gives each man a dominion calling and that,
a wife’s calling is to help her husband. “While a man must honor,
love, and cherish the one given to him to help in his ordained task,
he must not begin to think that he was created for her. He was
created to do something else under God, and she was created as
ideally suited to help him do it.” Promise Keepers does not always
seem to understand this.
The same kind of mixed message also comes
through regarding parenting. While the authors cite favorably James
Dobson’s clear Biblical instruction regarding discipline in Seven Promises of A Promise
Keeper,
they then note that the very next chapter takes
away with the left hand what the right hand just gave. They analyze
a family confrontation where a college student has done something
which he knew would make his father angry, simply because of peer
pressure from friends at school. In other words, the opinion of his
peers was more important to him than the wishes of his parents. The
father is commended for not blowing his stack, but the son is never
confronted with his disrespect and contempt for his parents. This is
hardly Biblical parenting. One of the greatest gifts we can give our
children is to teach them to respect and honor their parents; it is
the first commandment with a promise! Of course Dad should not have
blown up, but “the father grievously failed when he refused to
address a profound problem that his son clearly had an inability to
resist ungodly pressure, even when the price of capitulation is
hurting the family.” But the author in question just doesn’t get it
and therefore sends a confused message.
Though Promise Keepers stated intention is to
“complement what the church is already doing,” the reality may be
far different. Hagopian and Wilson state that “some of what it has
taught may subtly undermine the local church in very serious ways.”
They note that while downplaying the sacraments (which they
commend), Promise Keepers has initiated a whole new series of
rituals; e.g., the “closing night coronation” or the “blessing of
pastors.” They also have adopted the now defunct “encounter group”
mentality as the basis for a small group program. In effect, like
certain other parachurch organizations, they recruit men out of the
local church, motivate them with seminars, conferences, etc., which
minimize crucial doctrinal issues and send those men back into the
local church on “fishing” expeditions.
There is of course much more to be said about
Promise Keepers, so buy the book! In fact, Beyond Promises
should be required reading for anyone concerned about the impact of
the Promise Keeper’s movement. It is a fair, even handed critique,
easy to read with solutions rather than just endless criticism.
Hagopian and Wilson are both committed to raising the standard of
Biblical masculinity in the church. They have done a fine job. Buy
an extra copy and start loaning it out.
Beyond Promises: A
Biblical Challenge to Promise Keepers,
Canon Press, PO Box 8741, Moscow ID
83843(about
$15.)