{"id":4088,"date":"2015-02-20T01:52:11","date_gmt":"2015-02-20T01:52:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=4088"},"modified":"2015-02-20T01:52:11","modified_gmt":"2015-02-20T01:52:11","slug":"evangelicalism-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/evangelicalism-today\/","title":{"rendered":"Evangelicalism Today"},"content":{"rendered":"

Evangelicalism <\/strong><\/p>\n

David Bebbington\u2019s book, Evangelicalism in Modern Britain, <\/em>reviews the history of the evangelical movement in Britain from the 1700\u2019s through the 1980s. Prominent evangelicals that have influenced the movement throughout history include John Welsey, William Wilberforce, and Lord Shaftesbury. I\u2019ve collided with these historic figures as I\u2019ve been educated in my faith throughout my life. \u00a0I\u2019ve often heard the term evangelical, but I haven\u2019t necessarily understood the significance of what being an evangelical means. As a child, my impression was that being evangelical was akin to holiness. According to Bebbington, \u201cthere 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.<\/em>\u201d[1]<\/a> Bebbington looks at the influence that Evangelicals have had on British society, and how culture and environment have impacted the beliefs within the evangelical movement over time.<\/p>\n

Evangelicalism is a protestant movement, not to be confused with a denomination or religion. Adherents of the movement have often had difficulty articulating the specific traditions of evangelical beliefs, yet the four traits of conservatism, activism, biblicism, and crucicentrism were consistent across the movement. Conversionism considers that once a person\u2019s life has been changed, they will begin a life of service based on the model that Christ exhibited (activism). Evangelical belief is centered on Scripture and the sacrifice that Christ made on the cross (biblicism and crucicentrism).<\/p>\n

Today, the term evangelical is used loosely. For example, we preach about the authority of Scripture in evangelical churches. Preachers will speak about the danger of beliefs based on anything but Scripture. Yet, at the same time very few people actually read their Bible or learn what it has to say. In fact, many people don\u2019t even know why they believe what they believe.<\/p>\n

We spend much time and effort into converting sinners and saving the lost, but once a person accepts Christ there is less emphasis on the way that they act and behave as believers. The term activism<\/em>, in today\u2019s context, means \u201cthe practice of vigorous action or involvement as a means of achieving political or other goals, sometimes by demonstrations, protests, etc.\u201d [2]<\/a> The lack of action after a person\u2019s conversion to christianity is concerning. Too many people call themselves Christian, yet fail to act or respond in a way that demonstrates Christ to the world around them. If our hearts are changed, then with that change action occurs.\u00a0 Evangelicals realize that it is through grace that one is saved, not by works. However, the natural consequence of becoming saved is to act out one\u2019s faith by modeling Christ. Despite this, many people today are less likely to serve and more likely to give money in evangelical churches.<\/p>\n

As Bebbington describes, evangelicalism has been a major influence within culture while being influenced itself by culture. Yet, since the 1980\u2019s, society in America hasn\u2019t embraced evangelical philosophy. Looking forward to the next ten years, I hope the face of evangelicalism shifts as Christians awaken from their complacency. Biblicism and activism need to once again become a common traits evidenced in Christian communities.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Bebbington, David W. (2004-03-09). Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A History from the 1730s to the 1980s (pp. 2-3). Taylor and Francis. Kindle Edition.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> activism. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. http:\/\/dictionary.reference.com\/browse\/activism<\/a> (accessed: February 19, 2015).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Evangelicalism David Bebbington\u2019s book, Evangelicalism in Modern Britain, reviews the history of the evangelical movement in Britain from the 1700\u2019s through the 1980s. Prominent evangelicals that have influenced the movement throughout history include John Welsey, William Wilberforce, and Lord Shaftesbury. I\u2019ve collided with these historic figures as I\u2019ve been educated in my faith throughout my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"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":[12,484],"class_list":["post-4088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-bebbington","tag-dawnel-volzke","cohort-lgp5"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4088","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\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4088"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4088\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4089,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4088\/revisions\/4089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}