Why a Theologian from New York?

New York State is a place of opportunity, diverse needs, and argueably neglected for the ministry of the truth of Scripture.

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If you talk about New York, getting past the awkward “New York State” versus “New York City” discussion, in short order many think of “non-religious” (the unbeliever) or “non-Christian.” Certainly, the lifestyle of modernity that leaves God out of day to day life has left its mark strongly on New York just like it has New England. For your understanding, when I say “New York” I mean by default New York State. But, I am not an upstate NYer who scoffs about when New York City or Long Island.

Some may not understand New York State’s history. The same place rhat British Christians fled to first before they came to America as what we call Pilgrims was Holland. That is in the Netherlands, the same country that settled New York City as New Amsterdam. That country had a Protestant tradition rooted in Calvinistic-Reformation theology, but it also had a somewhat early emphasis on freedom of conscience - the ability for individuals to have freedom of faith. This kind of background was behind the New Netherland colony in which New Amsterdam was settled. The story is complex for sure, but one should recognize that it is the Dutch trend toward liberty of conscience, not Virginia or Massachusetts, that brought the concept of religious liberty to America. For more about the history of the Dutch founding of New York, I can recommend with caution Russell Shorto’s The Island at the Center of the World (Amazon Associate Link and my Goodreads Review) and Taking Manhattan (My Amazon Associate Link and my Goodreads Review) as excellent introductions to the Dutch history of New York City. America would be a very different place without religious liberty that came in.

Even as America grew, New York was understandable one of the earliest frontiers. The economic growth of the United States as a whole in many ways flowed from New York especially because of the construction of the Erie Canal in the early 1800s. However, the religious climate certainly took some problematic turns. For more on that in an interesting interesting narrative on this period, see Heaven's Ditch by Jack Kelly (Amazon Associate Link and My Goodreads Review). But many New Yorkers were Christians of some variety like many other colonies. Two key eras stand out to me in the the religious history of New York. First, there was the Second Great Awakening in the early 1800s. In this period, New York experienced perhaps an unprecedented, if not exceptional, degree of emotional religious activity. This combined with “backwoods” frontier living led to the development of aberrant, even strange, religions. The emotionalism left a sour taste in the minds of more rational minds, such that scholars call parts of upstate NY as the “burnt over district,” referring to how the excessive emotionalism led to an almost increased skepticism.

The second era that certainly marked New York was the controversies between conservative theology and the liberal theology. Many key events and figures from both sides happened in NY. By was of liberals, we had Harry Emerson Fosdick who preached “Shall the Fundamentalists Win?” pastoring a Baptist church as a Presbyterian(!) in New York City. We also had Walter Rauschenbusch as well. He was an early thinker of the “social gospel” that man’s needs for salvation from poor living. He was a pastor in New York City’s infamous “Hell’s Kitchen” neighborhood, and later he was a seminary professor in upstate NY’s Rochester Theological Seminary. On the more conservative side, another noted Baptist theologian Augustus H. Strong also taught at Rochester. Even in Buffalo, NY, my current residence, the initial meeting of what now constitutes the Foundations Baptist Fellowship International happened in the 1920s. The school both Rauschenbusch and Strong taught at now is the markedly liberal and progressive Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School.

Baptists especially were a noted group within New York life. I know people who grew up in Baptist churches that did not preach the gospel who, praise the Lord, are now saved. Even the noted Rockefeller clan were Baptists. However, their mark on NY in that realm was not positive as they trended toward the liberal variety.

These religious challenges combined with the massive growth of New York City and its metropolitan region over the last 125 years made orthodox Christians more and more on the “out side.” Political structures enabled conservative minded people upstate to maintain some degree of power for a long time, but the condition eventually led to New York’s domination by the more liberal perspective centered in the downstate region. Nelson Rockefeller, for example, was a liberal Republican governor who legalized abortion in New York a few years before the Supreme Court did in the 1970s. The trend continued, as one might predict, when so-called same-sex marriage passed as well a few years before the Supreme Court did 15 years or so ago. Yet, not all is bad - for example a Republican governor Thomas E. Dewey passed a very early civil rights law in New York in a time when the Bible Belt was still holding on to Jim Crow segregation of blacks and whites.

In some ways, the life-cycle of New York is not surprising. At its peak, New York sent nearly 50 congressmen to Washington, peaking just before the 1950s. Now only 27 congressmen go to Washington from New York. The fact that states like Florida and Texas are growing just shows that their states are younger, the new is better so it seems for human nature (as well as weather and any number of other things).

The decline of New York is an opportunity for people to come and invest in gospel preaching churches in a neglected area—New York may not have the romance of being the land of the Pilgrims like New England, but it is just as needy and is a fair land.

Western NY tends to have many small villages, and the feel (and cost of living) can be close to the mid-west like Ohio. There some opportunities in the mid-sized cities of upstate, and New York City is not very far away. I enjoy the quaint villages and the recreational opportunities. I also loved New York City. It has something larger than life reputation--many, even critics, would admit that. I am not blind to the serious anti-God things there. I have heard a bible-believing pastor still refer to NYC as “The Greatest City in the World.” Other missionaries I know have perhaps rightly called it “Modern Nineveh.” Like Jonah, someone needs to be sent there. A couple with a heart for the city came to my town on deputation to support a Bronx Church plant years ago, and I personally supported them while they served there for a few short years.

As a committed Bible-believer, I believe the voice of truth must emanate from New York. As God has given me a heart for New York, I pray that I can be a witness to unbelievers and let believers elsewhere remember God has many people in this state (like Acts 18:10). Don’t expect that I will sound like one from NYC, but I do have an understanding more than some upstate NYers about the issues. I believe that in the Lord the faith can still sound out from here. By God’s grace, as I seek to teach the Word, I hope to have some measure of influence on New York and for New York as I continue to live here.

’Note: I may receive money if you purchase from an Amazon Associate link in this post.