Here\u2019s the big question: Is the word \u201cevangelical\u201d losing its theological anchor? If you ask the theologians<\/em>, an evangelical is someone committed to such things as personal conversion, the authority of the Bible, the cross, and evangelistic-missionary efforts. If you ask the American populace,<\/em> however, the word \u201cevangelical\u201d means Religious Right, it means fundamentalism, it means taking America back for God (the fear of Constantinianism: Church rules the State), and it means intolerance. This popular perception concerns me deeply. Here\u2019s the big question: Is the word \u201cevangelical\u201d losing its theological anchor? If you ask the theologians, an evangelical is someone committed to such things as personal conversion, the authority of the Bible, the cross, and evangelistic-missionary efforts. If you ask the American populace, however, the word \u201cevangelical\u201d means Religious Right, it means fundamentalism, it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1736],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-emerging-movement"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nHas the meaning of this once-broad term often used for those who were post-fundamentalist changed? Does it have any use for those of us who are evangelical moderates or progressives? Has the term been hi-jacked by neofundamentalism?
\nI\u2019ve been reading some of Hauerwas recently and his essay \u201cOn Being a Christian and an American\u201d resonates with this concern I am hearing about the capitulation of far too many evangelicals to being identified by political views. Hauerwas speaks of his concern \u201cto make the world the world\u201d and that \u201cChristians have no service [to their country] more important than to be a people capable of the truthful worship of God\u201d (25).
\nChristians should not he said adopt a stance of \u201cmediating language\u201d when they enter the public square. Far too many, he says, are concerned with \u201cmaking America work\u201d and speaking of \u201cthe story of America in which Christians get to have a role.\u201d This story, the one that dictates both the Religious Right and Liberalistic Left, tells a story \u201cmeant to make our God at home in America.\u201d
\nInstead, he asks, why don\u2019t we tell \u201cthe church\u2019s story of America\u201d?
\n\u201cI believe, therefore, Christians can do nothing more significant in America than to be a people capable of worshiping a God who is to be found in the cross and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.\u201d
\nQuotations of Hauerwas are from his book, A Better Hope<\/em>, chp. 1.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"