From the Eye of the Storm: A Pastor to the President Speaks Out - Hardcover

J. Philip Wogaman is former Senior Minister at Foundry United Methodist Church in Washington, D.C. and former Professor of Christian Ethics at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C. Wogaman is a past president of the Society of Christian Ethics of the United States and Canada and the author of several books on Christian ethics.

While conservative religion scholars have been debating the differences between confession and forgiveness, President Clinton's pastor Wogaman has listened to the president's private confessions and counseled him in matters of faith. Wogaman, like the signers of the "Declaration Concerning Religion, Ethics, and the Crisis in the Clinton Presidency," believes that this moment represents a significant moment in the course of America's moral and religious history. However, Wogaman contends that many politicians and religious leaders have been too quick to judge and condemn Clinton both for his sexual misconduct and for his alleged perjury before a grand jury. He asserts, to the contrary, that the Christian virtues of repentance and forgiveness should be emphasized in the Clinton case. Wogaman focuses on Clinton's speeches on August 17, 1998, and on September 11, 1998, as well as on his own private conversations with Clinton to argue that Clinton has confessed his sin in a contrite way, is seeking actively to repent of his sin and is seeking forgiveness from both his family and his nation. In a stirring chapter, Wogaman applies 1 Corinthians 13, which speaks about the character of love, to this situation and says that this virtue "operates in the service of a harmonious community." Wogaman raises important questions: "Can we adequately assess anybody's moral character if we focus entirely on a small number of personal virtues or flaws of character? How much should be public, and how much should be private? Where do we draw the line?" In the end, Wogaman believes that Clinton has acknowledged his need for healing and that the politicians who would persecute Clinton need to move beyond what he sees as their narrow-mindedness and pettiness to forgiveness and a larger picture of America's future.

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