{"id":367,"date":"2014-02-07T04:11:06","date_gmt":"2014-02-07T04:11:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beta.dminlgp.com\/?p=367"},"modified":"2014-08-12T22:52:00","modified_gmt":"2014-08-12T22:52:00","slug":"evolutionary-evangelicalism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/evolutionary-evangelicalism\/","title":{"rendered":"Evolutionary Evangelicalism"},"content":{"rendered":"

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I taught a course for a few years called \u201cReligious Themes in American Culture.\u201d\u00a0 This course caused students to think about the implications of the Christian faith in American cultural evolution.\u00a0 I talked often about the \u201cSacred\/Secular Dance,\u201d a concept that helped students see that the secular culture often has great impact on the Christian Church and that the beliefs and practices of the culture often have more influence on the Church than the Church has on the culture.\u00a0 We also studied contemporary ads, music, symbols, and other types of media and discovered that concepts in Christianity had found their way into American society as well.\u00a0 And, we watched a set of videos called Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory <\/em>by Randall Balmer[1]<\/a>.\u00a0 Balmer skillfully and objectively traces Evangelicalism in the American context with all its foibles, shortcomings, and positive contributions. What I attempted to do in this course, David Bebbington does for British Evangelicalism in his book, Evangelicalism in Modern Britain<\/em>.[2]<\/a><\/p>\n

In his thought-provoking text, David Bebbington paints for his readers the history of evangelicalism (primarily in Britain) from the 1730s to the 1980s. \u00a0His work kept me thinking of the word \u201cchange.\u201d\u00a0 Then the word \u201cevolution\u201d was impressed on my mind \u2013 the evolution of thought, of beliefs, of interpretation of Scripture, and of cultural and social influences that shaped this branch of Christendom.\u00a0 This book is about change \u2013 about theological evolution.\u00a0 For Evangelicals there are four qualities that have marked the movement according to Bebbington:\u00a0 \u201cConversionism<\/em>, the belief that lives need to be changed; activism<\/em>, the experience of the gospel in effort; biblicism<\/em>, a particular regard for the Bible; and what may be called crucientrism<\/em>, a stress on the sacrifice of Christ on the cross.\u00a0 Together they form a quadrilateral of priorities that is the basis for Evangelicalism.\u201d[3]<\/a>\u00a0 In just under 300 pages Bebbington traces the changes of theological beliefs and practices of British Evangelicalism.<\/p>\n

Both secular and spiritual movements influenced the thinking of Evangelicals in the eighteenth through twentieth centuries.\u00a0 These movements included The Enlightenment, Romanticism, the Holiness Movement, and the Charismatic Movement, to name a few.\u00a0 Evangelicals were active in the Church of England and in countless \u201cdissenting\u201d churches and denominations to one degree or another.\u00a0 They came from Calvinistic and Arminian theological perspectives.\u00a0 They were also involved in both conservative and liberal British politics.\u00a0 I was surprised and refreshed to read of the diversity<\/em> of thought and behaviors of Evangelicals described by Bebbington.\u00a0 And, as time passed, so also passed many Evangelical leaders \u2013 to make way for new leadership, new interpretations of Scripture, different ways of relating to culture, to society, and to each other.\u00a0 It is no exaggeration to say that this was an evolutionary movement, never stagnant, never static.\u00a0 Its history has not been without controversy, without human error, or without critics; in fact, it is accurate to say the Evangelicalism is by nature a challenge to the status quo.<\/p>\n

Besides Evangelical diversity, I also learned that Evangelical beliefs and behaviors are cyclical<\/em> \u2013 they come and they go \u2013 then they come back again.\u00a0 The one example that I would like to focus on here is the teaching on the futurist premillennialism of J.N. Darby. After a season of a postmillennial understanding of eschatological events, Darby contributed a new Biblical interpretation to the Evangelicals of his day (the 1820s and 1830s).\u00a0 In the context of a new literal understanding of prophesy and eschatological events, Darby thickened the plot by emphasizing a literal \u201crapture\u201d of the church before the 1000-year millennial period.\u00a0 Bebbington writes of Darby:<\/p>\n

He steadily elaborated the view that the predictions of Revelation would be fulfilled after believers had been caught up to meet Christ in the air, the so-called \u2018rapture\u2019.\u00a0 No events in prophecy were to precede the rapture.\u00a0 In particular\u201e the period of judgments on Christendom expected by other premillennialists, \u201cthe great tribulation\u201d, would take place only after the true church had been mysteriously translated to the skies.\u00a0 The second coming, in this view, was divided into two parts: the secret coming of Christ for<\/em> his saints at the rapture; and the public coming with<\/em> his saints to reign over the earth after the tribulation.\u00a0 Darby\u2019s teaching was often termed \u2018dispensationalism\u2019 because it sharply distinguishes between different dispensations, or periods of divine dealings with mankind.\u00a0 Although never the unanimous view among Brethren, dispensationalism spread beyond their ranks and gradually became the most popular version of futurism.\u00a0 In the nineteenth century it remained a minority view among premillennialists, but this intense form of apocalyptic expectation was to achieve much greater salience in the twentieth.[4]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Darby\u2019s doctrinal position received some acceptance, but this doctrine lay relatively dormant for almost a century, as Evangelicals dealt with more pressing issues.\u00a0 However, this teaching has had a significant impact on my life in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.\u00a0 This \u201cnew doctrine\u201d was introduced to me and to my family in my teens, over 40 years ago.\u00a0 These were the days of the Evangelical film, A Thief in the Night,[5]<\/strong><\/a><\/em> the music of Larry Norman[6]<\/a> (I Wish We\u2019d All Been Ready<\/em>), and many popular books written by Hal Lindsey[7]<\/a> on the subject of the \u201crapture\u201d of the Church.\u00a0 Many young people came to Christ through this \u201cnew\u201d Evangelical movement.\u00a0 Our family began attending a \u201cJesus Movement\u201d church in California called Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa.\u00a0 I eventually became a youth pastor at this mega church.\u00a0 Eventually, as described in our text, we began to take on a defensive posture (and sometimes an offensive posture) toward \u201cthe world.\u201d\u00a0 Our pastor, Chuck Smith, figured out that Christ would probably return for his church in the early 1980s.\u00a0 Many people were swept up into this teaching.\u00a0 But the Lord did not come, at least physically.\u00a0 And many lives were damaged.\u00a0 There were so many disillusioned souls during this movement that many left the faith \u2013 or at least the Evangelical faith \u2013 once and for all.\u00a0 But some stayed faithful to the teaching of these Evangelical churches.\u00a0 Among the faithful was my father, who is now 81 years old.\u00a0 He is still a conservative, evangelical, fundamentalist Christian who holds firmly to a literal rapture of the church, which could come at any moment.\u00a0 His belief system has not changed in the last 40 years. \u00a0I love my father.\u00a0 But we do not agree on many things, so our relationship is somewhat superficial.\u00a0 I accept this but I also mourn the relationship we could have had.<\/p>\n

I came to faith at nine years of age in a Conservative Baptist Sunday School class.\u00a0 I could confidently say that on that day in 1965, my Sunday School teacher, Mr. Hansel, \u201cscared the hell out of me.\u201d\u00a0 But the fear turned into a genuine love for Christ and an eventual call to full-time ministry.\u00a0 In my years as a Christian and as a minister, I have experienced many different denominations:\u00a0 Conservative Baptist, Assembly of God, Foursquare, Calvary Chapel, Anglican, Presbyterian, Eastern Orthodox, Methodist, Roman Catholic, Several Community churches, Lutheran, and Episcopal.\u00a0 My experiences in these churches either reinforced or challenged my Evangelical roots.\u00a0 Add to this my educational endeavors in two Evangelical institutions of higher education \u2013 and now a third \u2013 and one might think that all of these experiences should have strengthened my Evangelical foundation.\u00a0 Actually, what all of these experiences have ultimately done for me was to shape me into a deeper thinker, a person who isn\u2019t afraid to ask tough questions, and a person who is open to a broader (more liberal) understanding of religion and life. \u00a0I have developed into the person I am today, with fewer spiritual answers and more spiritual questions.\u00a0 I cherish mystery more than certainty.\u00a0 And I have had to conclude that at this point in my life I am not an Evangelical<\/em>.\u00a0 I am not against Evangelicalism; how can I be, it is my heritage. But I do not have the certainty I used to about Evangelical beliefs and practices, particularly about the rapture of the church.\u00a0 Nevertheless, I love Jesus and am in a community of Believers that I am committed to.\u00a0 My father doubts my salvation, disagrees with my politics, doesn\u2019t think my church is \u201cright on,\u201d and detests my eschatology.\u00a0 But that is OK with me; it doesn\u2019t change my love for him.\u00a0 And who knows, I just might be wrong.\u00a0 At this point in my life I would say that I am an evolving Evangelical<\/em>.\u00a0 Thank you David Bebbington for the clarification!<\/p>\n

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[1]<\/a> Randall Balmer, Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory: Exploring the Amazing Vitality and Diversity of Evangelicalism and Its Role in American Life<\/em>. [VHS] (Worcester, PA: Gateway Films\/Vision Video, 1992)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[2]<\/a> David Bebbington, Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A History from the 1730s to the 1980s<\/em> (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1989)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[3]<\/a> Bebbington, Evangelicalism in Modern Britain. 2-3.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[4]<\/a> Ibid., 86.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[5]<\/a> Donald W. Thompson [Dir.] A Thief in the Night<\/em>, [Film] (Mark IV Pictures Incorporated, 1972)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[6]<\/a> Larry Norman was born on April 8, 1947 in Corpus Christi, Texas, USA as Larry David Norman. He was married to Pamela Norman and Sarah Norman. He died on February 24, 2008 in Salem, Oregon, USA.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[7]<\/a> Hal Lindsey, born in 1929, is a dispensational preacher and \u201cChristian Newscaster.\u201d His website is http:\/\/www.hallindsey.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I taught a course for a few years called \u201cReligious Themes in American Culture.\u201d\u00a0 This course caused students to think about the implications of the Christian faith in American cultural evolution.\u00a0 I talked often about the \u201cSacred\/Secular Dance,\u201d a concept that helped students see that the secular culture often has great impact on the Christian […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"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":[12,21],"class_list":["post-367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-bebbington","tag-dminglp","cohort-lgp4"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367","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\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=367"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1693,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367\/revisions\/1693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}