Randy Newman has been working for Campus Crusade for Christ for 31 years, 20 of those years at George Mason University. A native of Long Island, he attended college in Philadelphia and graduate school in Chicago before settling down in the Washington area. A self-styled “integrationist” who likes to pursue connections between ideas, he is the author of three books on evangelism, including his most recent, Bringing the Gospel Home. He now splits his time between a ministry to professors at GMU and speaking engagements across the country. Do you consider yourself to be of a specific faith?
Yes, I consider myself a Christian. In particular I’m a Jewish believer in Jesus. I appreciate the grace of forgiveness for sins and a right standing before God purely because of his goodness and loving kindness towards me.
What is it like to be a Jewish Christian?
Seeing how Judaism and Christianity fit together gives a really, really beautiful and rich understanding of the Christian faith. I think a lot of Jewish people are missing out on something that’s quite exciting — that the Messiah has come. On the other hand, there’s a certain kind of loneliness to being a Jewish Christian. A lot of my family doesn’t believe in Jesus as Messiah. And many Jews consider Jewish Christians traitors. But more and more Jewish people know there are Jewish people who believe in Jesus. They still think we’re crazy, but at least they know about it.
How did you become a Christian?
It was in college; I was about 20 years old. I was looking for intimacy with God, but he still seemed distant to me. Five years before that, one Yom Kippur, I rededicated myself to the commandments, but during the holiday I noticed I had worn leather shoes the whole time. And I remembered that the rabbis said we weren’t supposed to do that. So I thought, “Oh, that’s why God seems distant — I wore the wrong shoes.” But then I thought, “No, that can’t be right.” Then I met some Christian friends, and they used all sorts of words that sounded like Jewish words — ‘atonement’ is a Jewish word. So that began for me an investigation of who Jesus was. I thought he was just a good rabbi, a faithful teacher, but then I read the gospel of Matthew and realized he was claiming to be God.
Sociologist Christian Smith has a new book, “Lost in Transition,” that says young people today don’t even have the vocabulary for moral reasoning, let alone strict moral beliefs. Is this something you’ve encountered in your work with Campus Crusade for Christ?
Yes, I think there are some disturbing trends. It seems to me there are plenty of people who are shallower than ever — they can’t even think in moral categories; most of their moral views have been shaped by shows like “Jersey Shore.” I think we’re in a time of great upheaval, morally, ethically. It depends on which day you find me — some days I’m very depressed about it. But there are also many young people who are thinking deeply about moral issues. Students today have had to wrestle with some pretty tough issues, and they’re not content with shallow answers.
Your most recent book is about sharing the Christian gospel with unbelieving family members. How do you believe something so deeply that you’re willing to upset relationships with others?
There are some things that are more important than keeping the peace. That’s true about not just religion; that’s true about anything. I think we have a distorted view of what love means. If you really, really love someone, and you see them — in an extreme example — ruining their lives with drugs, it would not be loving at all to ignore that. The real love would be to stage an intervention. And that would upset the apple cart. So if you have a faith that you think is truth and that’s done very good things in your life, it would not be loving for you to withhold that information. It would be callous. Our postmodern world believes in individual autonomy and individual truth, but that’s not working out so well for us.
At your core, what is one of your defining beliefs?
All of life is a gift from a good God who created us to know him and enjoy him forever.
– Liz Essley
