On Joel Osteen’s “Church”: Does Jesus Exist to Make us Happy?
Just want to point readers to Jason Byassee’s excellent piece on Joel Osteen. Jason is remarkably charitable to Osteen, but in the end–and because of that–offers a stinging critique of Osteen’s version of what Rodney Clapp once called “Winnie-the-Pooh” theology. Pooh bear reasons as follows: If I hear buzzing, there must be bees about; if there are bees, there must be honey; and if there is honey, it must be FOR ME! Osteen translates that into a theology which populates a stadium each Sunday.
Yet another reason that the church stands in dire need of her own Orwell.
