{"id":11068,"date":"2017-01-19T13:23:01","date_gmt":"2017-01-19T21:23:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dminlgp.com\/?p=11068"},"modified":"2017-01-19T13:23:01","modified_gmt":"2017-01-19T21:23:01","slug":"who-do-you-say-that-i-am-or-what-makes-someone-evangelical","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/who-do-you-say-that-i-am-or-what-makes-someone-evangelical\/","title":{"rendered":"Who do you say that I am? or what makes someone Evangelical?"},"content":{"rendered":"

What does it mean?<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

As those of you that have read my posts before know, I almost always have some image at the top of my posts. \u00a0There is something I like about giving a visual clue as to the point I am trying to make, and it helps me focus in on the direction I am trying to head. \u00a0I almost always find these images with a simple google image search, usually using my title or something similar as the search term.<\/p>\n

This week was no different, so before writing anything I went to google, typed in ‘Who is Evangelical?’ and hit search. That is when things took an unexpected turn. \u00a0Much to my surprise, 5 of the first dozen or so images were of Donald Trump and three others were American politicians as well (Mike Pence, Tim Kaine & Bob Dole). \u00a0Regardless of your political persuasion or your opinion on Trump as a person or as a soon-t0-be President, I don’t believe many people regard Trump, himself, as an evangelical. \u00a0In fact, I don’t believe I have heard even the religious leaders that have supported him identify him as such.<\/p>\n

And while, as holder of a degree in history, I found lots of interesting elements in Bebbington’s book, Evangelism in Modern Britain: A History from the 1730s to the 1980s<\/em>, what stuck with me and what I am still thinking about is the discourse from the first chapter about who was called an Evangelical, how that term was used and what the hallmarks of an Evangelical were and are.<\/p>\n

This historical account of the usage of the term, Evangelical, informs the very current discussion ongoing in this country. \u00a0The questions of what makes someone an Evangelical, who has ‘ownership’ of that term and what claiming that title means are ones that are still very much open for discussion and debate. \u00a0All of these questions have also been greatly influenced by the election of Donald Trump and the role that self described ‘Evangelical’ voters played in securing his narrow victory, (a strong majority of these voters voted for Trump).<\/p>\n

In light of the current American discussions about what makes someone Evangelical – which often center around specifically excluding certain people and\/or beliefs – I had a sad, sarcastic chuckle as I read Bebbington describe how there was reticence in the 1700s (particularly in Scotland) to attach the term to any one group because there was a desire not to brand anyone as ‘not of the gospel’ (Bebbington, Kindle location 77)<\/p>\n

Despite the desire to not brand groups as ‘in or out’ of the Evangelical circle, Bebbington does layout four qualities or traits that are present in Evangelical religious expression:<\/p>\n

There are the four qualities that have been the special marks of Evangelical religion: conversionism, the belief that lives need to be changed; activism, the expression of the gospel in effort; biblicism, a particular regard for the Bible; and what may be called crucicentrism, a stress on the sacrifice of Christ on the cross (Bebbington, Kindle Locations 108-111)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The four qualities: Conversionism, Activism, Biblicism and Crucicentrism do form a fairly clear ‘definition’ of the Evangelical expression, as evidenced by the four statements found in the 2015 Christianity Today<\/em> article entitled \u00a0‘What Is an Evangelical? Four Questions Offer New Definition’ \u00a0<\/em>I found the article as I followed the ‘internet rabbit hole’ that I fell down after my Trump-Evangelical image search. \u00a0This article (which can be found here:\u00a0here<\/a>) describes the work of the National Association of Evangelicals (noted as one of the ‘stewards’ of the term) and LifeWay research as they attempt to define the term in more explicitly theological terms, instead of the mishmash of religious, political and ethnic points that currently go into what is often meant as the term is applied in the U.S.<\/p>\n

The team took a list of 17 theological statements and eventually narrowed them down to four that they deemed essential to claim the title Evangelical. \u00a0They are:<\/p>\n

\n
    \n
  • The Bible is the highest authority for what I believe.<\/li>\n
  • It is very important for me personally to encourage non-Christians to trust Jesus Christ as their Savior.<\/li>\n
  • Jesus Christ\u2019s death on the cross is the only sacrifice that could remove the penalty of my sin.<\/li>\n
  • Only those who trust in Jesus Christ alone as their Savior receive God’s free gift of eternal salvation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    As you can see they align very closely with Bebbington’s attributes. \u00a0This certainly speaks to Bebbington’s insight as well, I think, to the consistency of Evangelical expression – even across continents. \u00a0As accurate as these statements or attributes might be, I wonder if the Scots didn’t have the right idea.<\/p>\n

    As I am writing this post, I am also thinking about the inauguration that will happen tomorrow and the sermon I will be preaching on Sunday, based on this week’s lectionary readings (1Cor. 1:10-18 & Matthew 4:12-23). \u00a0The sermon is still in process, but it will focus on our call to be united in Christ. \u00a0All of this seems so dissonant and at the same time so interconnected.<\/p>\n

    It certainly seems like human nature to want to categorize our beliefs and even ourselves, there is a reason that the question of ‘who is an Evangelical?’ is still being asked 300 years later (there is a similar question in the Reformed tradition about what are the ‘essential tenets’ of the faith – they are often talked about, even in our denominational documents, but they have never been universally agreed upon).<\/p>\n

    At the same time, as Christians that have been called to united to Christ, but also united IN\u00a0<\/em>Christ (as in, to each other), what is the benefit of drawing circles that intentionally exclude some of our brothers and sisters? \u00a0This question goes well beyond Evangelicalism and asks questions about denominational identity and what unity might actually look like.<\/p>\n

    I don’t have the answers to these questions, but in a moment in time when I am studying the question what it means to be Evangelical and at the same time reading blog posts and articles from Christians reacting to the most recent election with titles like ‘Why I can’t call myself an Evangelical anymore’, I am struck by the fact that while there is incredible diversity of Christian belief and expression there should not – and need not – be any division (1Cor. 1:10), for if we are united in the mind of Christ, what can truly separate us?<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      As those of you that have read my posts before know, I almost always have some image at the top of my posts. \u00a0There is something I like about giving a visual clue as to the point I am trying to make, and it helps me focus in on the direction I am trying […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[12],"class_list":["post-11068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-bebbington","cohort-lgp7"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/88"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11068\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}