Reaching the Happy Thinking Pagan
Dave Goetz
April 1, 1995
A conversation with apologist Ravi Zacharias
The muddied streets of an Indian city, where families crowd into tired buildings and an ancient culture prevails as it has for centuries. The ivied halls of Harvard University, where the erudite elite debate postmodern ideas.
Both are home to Ravi Zacharias, Christian apologist.
Ravi was born into an Indian family whose ancestry is traced back to priests in the temples of South India. He grew up agonizing over the meaning of life. At 17, he attempted suicide. While recovering in a New Delhi hospital, he pledged to "leave no stone unturned" in his pursuit of truth. A short time later, that quest led him to Christianity.
In 1966 he emigrated to Canada, where he worked in business until he sensed God's call to ministry. After college and seminary, Ravi was commissioned by the Christian & Missionary Alliance as an evangelist. But at a conference for itinerant evangelists in Amsterdam in 1983, Ravi felt God calling him to a more specific task: to reach the intellectually resistant--whom Ravi has affectionately nicknamed "the happy pagan." Answering that call has taken him to university campuses such as Harvard and Princeton, where in open forums he lectures on the truths of Christianity.
Ravi had just returned from a university lectureship when LEADERSHIP editor Dave Goetz visited him in his Atlanta office. LEADERSHIP wanted to know what the gospel sounds like to the ears of the "happy pagan" and how church leaders can reach the people in today's world.
LEADERSHIP:
Are "happy pagans" as happy as they seem?
RAVI ZACHARIAS:
The happy pagan is wrapped up in the belief that this world and the success it affords are the greatest pursuits in life. He or she feels no need for anything transcendent. ...
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