Word: graham
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Though he does not think himself a prophet, Graham can sound like Jonah addressing the men of Ninevah: "We're approaching a crisis that will make Cuba look pale, and you only have to read the papers to see it. The explosive points around the world are increasing rapidly; it seems as if the whole world is catching fire...
...Graham's solution to the growing crisis is purely religious. He refuses to classify himself politically. "I don't like people to label me liberal or conservative," he says. "I want to be all things to all men. That's St. Paul's phrase." The evangelist's ideologically balanced public statements make one aware that he is conscious of Paul's dictum. "I believe every word of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelations," he says, but again "the Bible isn't a scientific document; it's written for the common people, in language they can understand." And again, "I disagree...
...Graham adds to his balanced, careful sentences a politician's forced modesty. "I'm in the line of these people," he says, comparing himself to great evangelists of the past, like St. Augustine and St. Francis of Assisi. But he quickly adds, "I'm the least of them all. . . . I shouldn't be mentioned in the same breath with them. . .I'm not worthy. . . ." The words have the hollow sound of a statement which once was passionately sincere but which had been eroded by constant flattery until its speaker had come almost to disbelieve...
Above all, like a campaigner and yet far better than most politicians, Graham, understands his audiences. "People are the same deep down," he explains, "but you do have to vary your approach a little." His Harvard speeches lacked the hardline moralizing Graham sometime presents, and they were spiced with quotations from Sartre, and Kant. But the appeal, to be born again in God, was the same...
...speaking ability, his understanding of his audiences, his modesty, could get Graham no-where without the obvious sincerity of his beliefs. The word "sincere" is one that is applied over and over both to him and to Barry Goldwater; the word "commitment" crops up again and again in Graham's speeches. Graham, like Goldwater is often criticized for presenting simple answers to complex problems. The words of each man, read in cold print, seem fantastically foolish to some people. Yet when he presents his views in person, each man wins the approval of almost any audience. Graham's semi-fundamentalist...