Jim Dobson: A giant of the faith

Millions of Americans awakened Thursday morning to the news that Dr. James Dobson has departed to his heavenly reward at the age of 89. Dr. Dobson played a huge role in what he called the “Civil War of Values” in America from the 1970s until the present day.

Dr. Dobson was the son, grandson and great-grandson of Church of the Nazarene pastors. Dr. Dobson once shared with me a childhood memory of being called in from play by his father. His father sat the 10-year-old Dr. Dobson on his knee and told him to listen to the radio. The year was 1948, and the United Nations General Assembly was voting to establish the Jewish State of Israel. The senior Rev. Dobson told Dr. Dobson, “Jimmy, you are listening to the fulfillment of biblical prophecy.”

Out of that strong Evangelical background, Dr. Dobson received a doctorate in psychology from the University of Southern California and taught as an associate clinical professor of pediatrics at the USC School of Medicine. He also spent 17 years on the staff of the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles. When the American Psychological Association “de-pathologized” homosexuality by removing it from its list of “mental disorders” in 1973, Dr. Dobson resigned in protest.

In 1976, Dr. Dobson took a sabbatical from USC and the Children’s Hospital, destined to never return. Instead, Dr. Dobson began to speak out on videos and radio and found a tremendous response among Evangelical parents across the country. He began the “Focus on the Family” radio program, which rapidly grew to be broadcast on 2,000 radio stations with 6- to 10 million daily listeners by the early 2000s.

His books, audio and videotapes became enormously popular among Evangelicals across America. He also founded the Family Research Council to influence the political arena.

Dr. Dobson promoted the traditional Judeo-Christian family structure and believed in disciplining children. “Dr. Dobson says” became a virtually ubiquitous phrase wherever Evangelicals gathered across the land. During the 1980s and '90s, Dr. Dobson became as influential a figure among Evangelicals as Billy Graham. If you were going to construct an Evangelical Mount Rushmore, Dr. Dobson would be one of the profiles placed in that setting.

In many significant ways, Dr. Dobson’s Dare to Discipline and his other works were the Evangelical’s equivalent of Dr. Benjamin Spock’s incredibly popular Dr. Spock’s Baby and Child Care (1946), originally published as The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care.

Published in the first year of the post-World War II baby boom, Dr. Spock’s book sold 500,000 copies in the first six months and had sold 50 million copies by his death in 1998. Spock’s views were more permissive on child rearing than Dr. Dobson’s more traditional views (Dare to Discipline) and multitudes of Evangelical parents welcomed the affirmation of traditional child rearing from a psychologist like Dr. Dobson.

Dr. Dobson encouraged Christians to get involved in public policy and was very supportive of President Ronald Reagan and his Republican successors in the White House. I particularly appreciated his fearless and tireless defense of unborn babies from “conception onward!” He was also instrumental in organizing Evangelical Christians against same-sex marriage.

I had the privilege of knowing Jim Dobson well and working in partnership with him on many issues in the culture wars from the late 1970s onward. He was both fearless and kind. It was clear that his focus was always the mission, not self-promotion. He had a great sense of humor, and you could not be around him for more than 15 minutes without knowing that he was crazy about his wife, Shirley.

I had many opportunities to be with Jim in private settings, both high-pressure and relaxed, and Jim Dobson was always the same man in private that he was in public. He was a godly and great man, and it was a privilege to have known him.

He has now gone home to his heavenly reward and is enjoying his fellowship with his Savior and Lord. God bless you, Jim.