Whatever your view of Billy Graham and/or Christian evangelism, if you have an open mind I think you'll find this biographical documentary informative and worthwhile.
Graham became an evangelist in the 1940s, capitalizing on his own charisma and power of persuasion, combined with his Christian upbringing and his Bible Institute training. His success in the endeavor surprised even him.
When faced with the crossroads between fundamentalism and modern Christianity, he felt guided to retain the former, and that marked his career for the next many decades.
He began actively associating with the powerful and the influential, seeing them as further gateways to his own personal and spiritual ambitions. But he abandoned Martin Luther King by denouncing civil protests, and his long-term joining of forces with Richard Nixon blew up in his face after Nixon resigned in disgrace following the Watergate trials.
Late in life, after travelling the world, Graham renounced fundamentalism and decried the "Moral Majority" movement. But his own decades of massively popular fundamentalist crusades had paved the way for the politically active "Christian right" to blossom.
I think this documentary and its assorted commentators strike just the right and equitable balance in presenting and reviewing the life of this undeniably influential (both nationally and internationally) man.
Graham became an evangelist in the 1940s, capitalizing on his own charisma and power of persuasion, combined with his Christian upbringing and his Bible Institute training. His success in the endeavor surprised even him.
When faced with the crossroads between fundamentalism and modern Christianity, he felt guided to retain the former, and that marked his career for the next many decades.
He began actively associating with the powerful and the influential, seeing them as further gateways to his own personal and spiritual ambitions. But he abandoned Martin Luther King by denouncing civil protests, and his long-term joining of forces with Richard Nixon blew up in his face after Nixon resigned in disgrace following the Watergate trials.
Late in life, after travelling the world, Graham renounced fundamentalism and decried the "Moral Majority" movement. But his own decades of massively popular fundamentalist crusades had paved the way for the politically active "Christian right" to blossom.
I think this documentary and its assorted commentators strike just the right and equitable balance in presenting and reviewing the life of this undeniably influential (both nationally and internationally) man.
