(RNS) — Tony Campolo, an American Baptist minister and sociologist who spent decades trying to convince evangelicals and other Christians that their faith should motivate them to address social ills like poverty and racism, has died.
He was 89.
A native of Philadelphia, Campolo was known for his charismatic preaching and sense of humor, which made him a popular speaker at college campuses, churches and Christian conferences — and equally at home giving an altar call or social commentary.
“Putting religion and politics together is like mixing ice cream with horse manure,” he told the comedian and television host Stephen Colbert in 2006. “It doesn’t hurt the horse manure; it ruins the ice cream. And I think that this merger of church and state has done great harm to religion.”
The author of 35 books, Campolo held degrees from Eastern University, Palmer Theological Seminary and Temple University. He taught sociology first at the University of Pennsylvania and then for decades at Eastern Christian College, where he was named professor emeritus. He also served as an associate pastor at Mount Carmel Baptist, a predominantly Black church in Philadelphia, and in 2019 was named a co-pastor of St. John’s Baptist.
Starting in the 1980s, with books such as “It’s Friday but Sunday’s Comin’,” “A Reasonable Faith,” “Who Switched the Price Tags” and “The Kingdom of God Is a Party,” Campolo showed a knack for reaching young people with the Christian gospel and then inspiring them to go out and work to change the world. In the process, he often challenged the religious right.
In 1985, he lost a speaking gig at Youth Congress, a national event in Washington, D.C., after critics complained his book “A Reasonable Faith” was heretical. A panel of evangelical theologians then “determined that Tony Campolo cannot rightly be called a heretic,” according to Christianity Today.
He eventually became a spiritual adviser to then-President Bill Clinton in the 1990s. Campolo also founded a nonprofit called the Evangelical Association for the Promotion of Education, which worked in several countries, including Haiti, from the early 1970s to 2014.
Ryan Burge, a former American Baptist pastor and an associate professor of political science at Eastern Illinois University, said Campolo carried forward the legacy of the social gospel.
“Tony Campolo was one of the most talented and sought-after preachers in the United States for several decades. He was able to speak to audiences from all corners of American Christianity — reminding them of the radical grace and forgiveness that is found in the Gospel,” Burge said.
The child of Italian American immigrants, Campolo said his belief that Christianity could change lives in this world — as well as saving people’s souls — grew out of his childhood.
In a 2016 online interview, he told the story of how a Baptist mission changed the course of his family’s life.
