Written by: gfesadmin on February 28, 2013

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Ice-Cream and Evangelicaism

I wasn’t yet a teenager, but this had to be one of the most exciting days in my life!  My conservative evangelical church was showing the Billy Graham movie, Shadow of the Boomerang.  No preaching or hymn signing, just the movie – and it was all I’d hoped!  It touched me dramatically and made me want to pursue God in a greater way.  Years later, as a teenager, another movie, The Cross and the Switchblade again captured my attention and convicted me to give my life in service to Jesus.  Those two movies generated spiritual growth in ways that church services seldom would.

Luckily I wasn’t living in Great Britain in the mid-20^th century when according to D. W. Bebbington in Evangelicalism in Modern Britain; many evangelicals believed that any type of “cinema is one of the devil’s chief agencies for keeping them away from the Cross!”

In many ways Bebbington’s book which outlines evangelical development in great Britain reminded me of all things, ice-cream. 

Growing up in a small town in Kansas, there was a Dairy Queen, with its 3 flavors of soft ice-cream; chocolate, vanilla and strawberry.  If we liked ice-cream, that’s where we went.  Then a Baskin-Robbins parlor came to town with 33 different flavors!  Now I could pick whichever flavor satisfied me the most – or I could switch from time to time.  But over the years, styles changed, some wanted ice-cream made to their liking or wanted it “their way”, therefore Cold-Stone Creamery was formed.  Others however, wanted something a little less demanding or “light,” and began frequenting the new Frozen Yogurt franchises.

Bebbington’s book shows that evangelical thought started with a clear understanding of its flavors; Conversionism, Activism, Biblicism, Crucicentrism, with each area becoming more or less important depending on the group, decade – or spiritual “flavor of the month.”

But as in all things, disagreements emerged and a “parting of the ways” took place – liberals and conservatives – separated by social issues, entertainment, bible inerrancy, tobacco, and especially the end-times, and…. going to the cinema.  Everyone wanted their own flavor, so groups and denominations were formed, each claiming to be evangelical.

Some even wanted it exclusively their own way, like Cold-Stone Creamery and wouldn’t relent until their way was the dominant expression – usually resulting in a newly created denomination.  Dispensationalist were in this category, holding their Scofield bibles high – and as crazy as it sounds – teaching primarily only on that one subject,  as one person did for 31 afternoons (50 minutes each) on the merits of believing in the second advent!

And lastly, there are those that want a light religion – like frozen yogurt – that doesn’t demand much.  They even have a place in today’s broader definition of evangelicalism!

The final thought to develop in this metaphorical blog regards culture.  Because I love ice-cream, my wife allows me to pursue my craving even during the Michigan winters.  Recently we went to the Hershey Ice Cream parlor near our home.  There was about 6” of snow on the ground and the temperature was hovering around 20 degrees F.  As we were the only ones in the shop, I asked the lady behind the counter how business was.  She turned out to be the owner and relayed that she works the shop alone during the winter months as few darken the doors.  The environment, or culture, impacts her world and business.

Bebbington states that the shape of evangelical religion is influence by the environment.  “The cultural context, not economics or politics, does most to explain the shape of Evangelical religion.”  That “the crucial determinants of change in Evangelical religion have been the successive cultural waves that have broken over Western civilization since the late seventeenth century” – this also was the cause of its deepest divisions.

Like ice-cream, evangelicalism comes in many different flavors, and is changing according to the taste of its followers.  The environment and culture shape it more than most would admit and there will always be someone who wants to develop his or her own savor, according to their own personal taste.

That makes me ponder, could something that remains more constant, a baked potato perhaps, be a metaphor for Roman Catholicism?  You can put different condiments on it to change the flavor, but it still looks and tastes like a potato……

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