For Stott, clear thinking about contemporary problems began with a belief in the Bible as God's Word and in Jesus as his Son, come to earth to rescue humanity from its guilt and shame. In his 400-page commentary on the New Testament book of Romans, he calls this "the most humbling and levelling of all Christian truths". Stott urged this truth upon his audience repeatedly, in every culture and country in which he ministered. He was devoted to the controversial task of evangelism — the task of persuading others that their eternal happiness depends on their belief in Jesus as their Saviour.

This was Stott's foundation for social action: a faith that inspired a deep and costly love for every human soul. "Is it then, healthy or unhealthy to insist on the gravity of sin and the necessity of atonement, to hold people responsible for their actions, to warn them of the peril of divine judgment, and to urge them to confess, repent, and turn to Christ?" he asked in The Cross of Christ. "It is healthy."

It is also unpopular, especially among the secular-minded, who tend to dismiss such ideas as arrogant, hateful, primitive — and dangerous. Thus there is no mention of Stott's actual beliefs in Kristof's essay: the intellectual equivalent of discussing Italy's Chianti region with no reference to wine. "We tend to come to [the Bible] with our minds made up," Stott warned, "anxious to hear only the reassuring echoes of our own prejudice."

John Stott allowed the teachings of Jesus to transform his ideas about justice and mercy, even if it brought him criticism. It would be heartening to see more liberal elites do the same. At the very least, they might venture out of their echo chambers for a moment, if only properly to honour the dead.