Well-Known Christians

It’s not so much knowing Jesus, as being known by him.

“Who’s the best-known Christian in the world today?”

Not so many years ago, a whole lot of us would have answered, “Billy Graham.” (At least, those of us who are Protestant.) But Billy’s gone now, and no single successor has emerged to claim the title.

No doubt Roman Catholics would say it’s Pope Francis — but they’d probably say that of anyone who sits on the Throne of Peter. Truth be told, the Christian world isn’t all that unified. It hasn’t been since the Great Schism of 1040, when the Roman Catholics broke with the Eastern Orthodox over an obscure theological point in the Nicene Creed. Whatever “well-known Christians” there may be are particular to our own denominational traditions.

 

It’s Not Who You Know

Yet, there’s another sense of the phrase “well-known” — a sense that refers not to breadth of knowledge, but depth. This way of being well-known is not limited...