Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A History from the 1730s to the 1980s<\/i><\/p>\n
Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n Since its beginning in the 1730\u2019s Evangelicalism has been a force in Britain and in the world.\u00a0 According to Bebbington\u2019s thesis, one of the reasons Evangelicalism has had such far-reaching impact is because it has been able to change with the times and yet maintain its core values. Because of that Evangelicalism has remained relevant and resilient even today.[1]<\/p>\n Bebbington\u2019s delineation of the core characteristics of Evangelicalism have been both the foundation and the starting point of much of the scholarly discussions on the\u00a0subject and are referred to as the \u201cBebbington Quadrilateral.\u201d The quadrilateral consists of Conversionism<\/em> – the understanding and belief that at the core of the religious experience is a changed life and that assurance that that has happened; Activism<\/em>– the outward or centrifugal movement of the Gospel i.e. James\u2019 \u201cfaith without works.\u201d \u00a0This activism includes the sending of missionaries.[2] \u00a0Biblicism<\/em> – the Bible is the Word of God and is to be both respected and revered; and finally, Crucicentrism<\/em> – a clear and distinct emphasis on the importance of Christ\u2019s sacrifice on the cross.<\/p>\n From the foundation of these core characteristics, Beddington delineates three phases of British Evangelicalism and some of the influences that make it what is today. The first phase began in the 1730\u2019s with the birth of Evangelicalism. According to Bebbington, the birth of Evangelicalism was influenced by both the Enlightenment and John Wesley\u2019s Methodism. The influence of Wesley at the birth of Evangelicalism were theological: His belief in original sin, justification by faith and the need for salvation. The influence of Wesley in the context of the Enlightenment was \u201cWesley\u2019s application of the empiricist philosophy to religious experience.\u201d[3] \u00a0The second phase began in the 19th<\/sup> Century. Bebbington highlights the social aspect and activism and the influence the Holiness Movement had on Evangelicalism. Finally, the most recent phase is the modernist expression of the 20th<\/sup> century which include the Charismatic Movement. Evangelicalism continues to grow to include many expressions of faith who adhere to the core values.<\/p>\n Application<\/strong><\/p>\n Evangelicalism has certainly impacted the whole world. Its impact on the United States has been enormous and well documented. As I mentioned in the closing of the prior paragraph, Evangelicalism now includes many expressions of faith.<\/p>\n I come from the Pentecostal side of the Evangelical rubric. However, my Pentecostal roots are rather unique in the Evangelical world. I come from a group of Italian Pentecostals that have their roots in the Italian-American community in Chicago in the early 1900s. Our expression of faith and life was quite different from other Pentecostal and Evangelical churches of the time, for as in any movement the culture (Italian-American) heavily influenced the movement and thus our expression of faith.<\/p>\n I didn’t know my expression of faith was unique until the first day of 3rd grade. I remember my teacher announcing that she didn’t know that Italians could be Protestant. I don\u2019t remember how we got on the subject of religious affiliation in the first place\u2014I was in 3rd<\/sup> grade! But I remember that I answered, \u201cI\u2019m not Protestant, I\u2019m Pentecostal!\u201d Even though our roots did not go as deeply historically as other Evangelical movements and our worship was rather, shall I say “expressive; ” we none-the-less considered ourselves Evangelical. The breadth and width of those who call themselves Evangelicals is for me amazing and wonderful.<\/p>\n That being said, I am interested in the “why” of the recent negative connotations that seem to have come to be associated with the term \u201cEvangelicalism.\u201d What has caused the upswing on the negative side of a term?<\/p>\n In an interesting article in The Atlantic<\/em>, Jonathan Merrett suggests that in may have to do with the inability to define what Evangelicalism is or who exactly is an Evangelical. He states, \u201cTo the pollster, [Evangelical] is a sociological term. To the pastor, it is a denominational or doctrinal term. And to the politician, it is a synonym for a white Christian Republican.\u201d[4] \u00a0It is interesting to see the various meanings associated with a word that was once simply descriptive of a religious movement but now crosses into sociological and political contexts.<\/p>\n Bebbington asserts that Evangelicalism has changed with culture and yet maintains its core values. I\u2019m wondering if culture has impacted Evangelicalism more than we know? \u00a0Have I lived overseas so long that I missed something? I don\u2019t have the answers. But this Protestant, Pentecostal, Evangelical would be interested in your thoughts?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A History from the 1730s to the 1980s Summary Since its beginning in the 1730\u2019s Evangelicalism has been a force in Britain and in the world.\u00a0 According to Bebbington\u2019s thesis, one of the reasons Evangelicalism has had such far-reaching impact is because it has been able to change with the times […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":90,"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-11076","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\/11076","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\/90"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11076"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11076\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n