The Rev. D. James Kennedy: RIP

Editor's note. I'm sure many of you have listened to Dr. Kennedy over the years. I would love to hear from you and everyone else who reads TN&V.. Please write to daveandrusko@hotmail.com.

As I drove in this morning, I listened with keen attention to an accolade-filled report that commemorated the life of the legendary Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti who passed away Wednesday from pancreatic cancer. Near the end, the announcer highlighted what many have said over the years about the 71-year-old Pavarotti: that he had a voice "touched by God."

Someone else passed away Wednesday, legendary in his own right, someone whose very soul was touched by God: D. James Kennedy, pastor of the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, since 1959.

The last few months have witnessed the passing of a number of great men of God who had made abortion one of their primary concerns. First, there was the Reverend Jerry Falwell, then Dr. Harold O.J. Brown, and now, Dr. Kennedy.

A friend of mine who used to work for him recently told me that the 76-year-old Dr. Kennedy was quite ill. So when he passed away in his sleep from complications from the heart attack he had suffered last December, it was not unexpected but still a shock.

As single-issue pro-lifers, we can be deeply grateful that Dr. Kennedy preached about abortion over and over and over again. Over the years I have seen him preach on television (The Coral Ridge Hour, which airs on more than 400 stations and four cable networks) and heard him many times on radio (Truths That Transform.)

In fact, he was one of the first to use television in a sophisticated manner to advance the Gospel, and was often described as a "visionary." Last year he was inducted into the National Religious Broadcasters' Hall of Fame.

The author of more than 60 books, Dr. Kennedy built an assortment of influential ministries which included Evangelism Explosion International, Knox Theological Seminary, Westminster Academy (a K-12 school), the Center for Christian Statesmanship in Washington, D.C., and Coral Ridge Ministries, a radio and television outlet that reports a weekly audience of some three million people.

As I read some of the stories on his passing, I thought this description was right on the mark. "[T]he Rev. Kennedy crafted an urbane, intellectual approach, blending history, logic, rhetoric and Bible interpretation," the South Florida Sun Sentinel wrote. "He sought to reach not only ordinary people but government, cultural and academic leaders --'influencing the influential,' he called it."

If a man can be known by the critics he attracts, Dr. Kennedy was clearly a man we should honor. If you do a Google search, the assaults on Dr. Kennedy for his uncompromising stand on abortion are absolutely withering. In a hate-filled spiel, Rolling Stone nonetheless grudgingly called him "the most influential evangelical you've never heard of."

On its web site Christianity Today quotes former Los Angeles Times reporter Russell Chandler, author of a 1972 biography, The Kennedy Explosion. "He was entrepreneurial, he was innovative, and he was brave," Chandler said.

And very well-educated. Dr. Kennedy earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Tampa, a master's degrees from Columbia Theological Seminary and the Chicago Graduate School of Theology, and a doctorate from New York University.

When he addressed the abortion issue (and embryonic stem cell research), which was often, Dr. Kennedy was simultaneously passionate about the injustice visited on unborn children and almost academic in his delivery, calmly obliterating the arguments for abortion. His deep baritone was as unmistakable as his logic was formidable.

He is survived by Anne Kennedy, his wife of 51 years, and his daughter, Jennifer Kennedy Cassidy.

Please send your comments to Dave Andrusko at daveandrusko@hotmail.com.