I\u2019m a bit of a Luddite when it comes to technology.\u00a0 Well, it\u2019s not exactly that I\u2019m AGAINST it; I\u2019m just not very good at it!\u00a0 It takes me a while to catch up.\u00a0 Everyone seems to have a blog and I\u2019ve been urged to join the crowd, so here goes.\u00a0 I\u2019ll probably make some mistakes, but please be patient with me.\u00a0 From time to time (hopefully at least once weekly) I\u2019ll post some of my thoughts about theology here.\u00a0 They will usually have somethin to do with controversial subjects such as the true nature and \u201cessence\u201d (if there is such a thing) of evangelicalism and evangelical theology (something much debated these days), Arminian theology and Calvinism, postmodernism and Christianity, etc.\u00a0 I proudly consider myself an evangelical Christian theologian, but some commentators on evangelicalism probably do not consider me that.<\/p>\n
I recently wrote a chapter on the subject for a forthcoming edited volume on evangelicalism to be published in 2011 by Zondervan.\u00a0 There I argue that \u201cevangelical\u201d is an essentially contested concept without boundaries.\u00a0 In other words, contrary to many commentators, I do not believe \u201cevangelical\u201d is a bounded-set category.\u00a0 Evangelicalism is a movement marked by certain common characteristics or family resemblances.\u00a0 Movements, by their very nature, cannot have boundaries.\u00a0 As soon as they have boundaries they are no longer movements but organizations.\u00a0 Movements are centered-set categories.\u00a0 Other examples from religion\u00a0are \u201ccharismatic,\u201d \u201cNew Age\u201d and \u201cfundamentalist.\u201d\u00a0 These, like evangelicalism, have no headquarters, no magisterium (controlling authority) and no definite membership.\u00a0 Religious groups with boundaries are, for example, the Roman Catholic Church (which has a controlling authority that can decide who\u2019s in and who\u2019s out), the Evangelical Theological Society (which has a definite membership list) and the Baptist General Convention of Texas (which I mention because I\u2019m a member by virtue of my membership in one of its affiliate churches).\u00a0 These groups are not movements but organizations.\u00a0 The difference lies precisely in the presence of identifiable boundaries.\u00a0<\/p>\n
All the current controversy over \u201cevangelical boundaries\u201d annoys me because, by definition, there cannot be such.\u00a0 The Evangelical Theological Society and similar evangelical organizations such as the National Association of Evangelicals can talk about THEIR boundaries, but people cannot meaningfully debate \u201cevangelical boundaries\u201d in general.\u00a0 They don\u2019t exist.\u00a0 So how can one identify an \u201cevangelical?\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s not easy.\u00a0 It\u2019s ambiguous.\u00a0 Some well-intentioned but misguided folks are so uncomfortable with ambiguity that they want to pretend \u201cevangelicalism\u201d is an organization with boundaries and they use whatever influence they may have to try to persuade people with power (e.g., administrators of institutions of higher education and publishers) that THEY know where the boundaries of the movement lie.\u00a0 But they don\u2019t because there can\u2019t be such.<\/p>\n
So what is \u201cevangelicalism?\u201d\u00a0 Simply put, it\u2019s a religious movement, a spiritual movement, specifically a Christian movement made up of diverse people and groups all sharing some common concerns and commitments.\u00a0 But those are not boundaries because nobody has the authority to expel anyone from the movement and those common concerns and commitments are open to varying interpretations.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s how I handle deciding whether someone or something (e.g., an institution or organization) is authentically evangelical.\u00a0 First, I realize that is always a matter of degrees and not a black-or-white settled state of affairs.\u00a0 Second, if the person or group says they are evangelical I want to give them the benefit of the doubt.\u00a0 Third, if there is reason to doubt and it matters, I look to sociologists and historians for help.\u00a0 Two that I consider reliable guides are Mark Noll and David Bebbington; they are widely recognized scholars of the evangelical movement\u2019s history and character.\u00a0 Noll and Bebbington have identified four common characteristics of evangelicals in general: biblicism (the Bible as divinely\u00a0inspired and authoritative for life and thought), conversionism (authentic Christian existence begins with a personal decision to trust in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord that involves repentance and faith), crucicentrism (cross-centered piety) and activism (commitment to change the world even if only one person at a time through evangelism and social action).\u00a0 These four characteristics form a common core\u2013a center\u2013that defines the evangelical movement and \u201cfamily.\u201d\u00a0 However, they are not boundaries because they are relatively flexible and together set forth a portrait rather than a membership list.\u00a0 They express a rough consensus of a diverse group\u00a0and not an exclusive club of uniformity.<\/p>\n
To me the evangelical movement is a large tent, to use a different metaphor, under which very diverse Christians gather to worship and witness.\u00a0 Sometimes fights break out and divisions happen.\u00a0 That\u2019s unfortunate.\u00a0 We have more in common than separates us.\u00a0 And sometimes there\u2019s someone under the tent that doesn\u2019t really belong, but I\u2019m reluctant to have \u201cbouncers\u201d to kick them out.\u00a0 There simply aren\u2019t any, although, unfortunately, there are bullies who\u00a0assign themselves that role.<\/p>\n
I want to enjoy and celebrate our evangelical\u00a0diversity while at the same time arguing loudly that as evangelicals we do have a historical consensus about certain matters of spiritual and theological concern.\u00a0 I enjoy the fact that my evangelical family includes high church Episcopalians and low church Friends (Quakers), tongues-speaking Pentecostals and cessationist, fundamentalist Baptists who eschew the supernatural gifts of the\u00a0Spirit, Calvinists and Arminians, and even a few so-called heretics who serve to remind us to keep\u00a0studying Scripture and our history to discover truth which I consider a never-ending journey rather than a fortress to be defended.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I\u2019m a bit of a Luddite when it comes to technology.\u00a0 Well, it\u2019s not exactly that I\u2019m AGAINST it; I\u2019m just not very good at it!\u00a0 It takes me a while to catch up.\u00a0 Everyone seems to have a blog and I\u2019ve been urged to join the crowd, so here goes.\u00a0 I\u2019ll probably make some […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n