{"id":939,"date":"2013-03-01T19:39:04","date_gmt":"2013-03-01T19:39:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beta.dminlgp.com\/whats-wrong-with-evangelicalism\/"},"modified":"2013-03-01T19:39:04","modified_gmt":"2013-03-01T19:39:04","slug":"whats-wrong-with-evangelicalism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/whats-wrong-with-evangelicalism\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s wrong with Evangelicalism?"},"content":{"rendered":"

David Bebbington\u2019s book, Evangelicalism In Modern Britain <\/em>is truly an outstanding compilation of both history and theology providing the reader quite a methodical understanding of the subject. \u00a0With great clarity Bebbington delineates the four distinct primary characteristics that underscore evangelicalism as it started in the 1730s.<\/span><\/p>\n

Conversionism: That lives need to be transformed through a \u201cborn-again\u201d experience<\/span><\/p>\n

Activism: <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Expressed in Evangelistic zeal and the desire to seek the conversion of others<\/span><\/p>\n

Biblicism:<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>The Bible as the inerrant Word of God and it\u2019s authoritative place in Christian life<\/span><\/p>\n

Crucicentrism:<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>A <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>strong emphasis on the cross and redemption through the suffering of Jesus.<\/span><\/p>\n

The author also explains three phases of the history of evangelicalism in Britain starting first from its birth in the 1730s with the rise of Wesleyan Methodism and a result of the age of Enlightment.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>The second phase according to Bebington took place in 19<\/span>th<\/sup> century with the dawn of the Romantic influences.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>This may have been the time when British evangelicalism was strongest in its social impact. The third phase of evangelicalism was shaped in the 20<\/span>th<\/sup> century by modernist expressionism.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tracing the history of evangelicalism does not seem possible to set any single phase of the above as a standard for the present. Historical antecedents have influenced each phase. However, it is heartening to notice that as the cultural contexts changed, Evangelicalism was also ready to change.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>As Szabados rightly points out in his review, \u201c It shows that Evangelicalism is a transcultural, and even supracultural, movement, a rather protean phenomenon that can be valid for all ages and all people groups.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0(Szabados 2010) <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>In this capacity of evangelicalism to change (as long as its core identity remains unwavering) lies its strength and perhaps the good news for the Church today.<\/span>\u00a0(Szabados 2010)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Without diverting too much from the present discussion, I wish to raise a couple of questions that are unsettling for me.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>They are disconcerting because of the nature of my ministry and the manner in which I see evangelicalism present itself <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>in my country and its context today. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>This could be the reality in other regions of the world as well. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Throughout my reading of Bebbington, I tried to track the socio cultural impact of evangelicalism which seemed the most robust in the mid 19<\/span>th<\/sup> century followed by a gradual decline to almost none by the middle of the 20<\/span>th<\/sup> Century.<\/span><\/p>\n

a.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span>Has evangelicalism as described by Bebbington diluted the social impact of the Gospel since?<\/span><\/p>\n

b.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span>Has evangelicalism presented Christianity as a more inward focused faith limiting the horizontal dimension (activism) of Christianity to merely \u201cwinning of souls\u2019 (proseletism)?<\/span><\/p>\n

c.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span>Has evangelicalism led to the abdication of social responsibility of the church to para church organizations?\u00a0 In India Evangelicalism is perceived more as a fundamentalist and\u00a0 proseletyzing arm of Christianity rather\u00a0 than a faith based on core beliefs and practices and practically lived out and being the \u2018salt\u2019 and the \u2018light\u2019 \u2013 in other words a guiding influence on the community?<\/span><\/p>\n

d.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span>Has evangelicalism weakened and dissipated the Holistic \u2018Misseo Dei\u2019 thereby giving rise to another school committed to a purely a social gospel?<\/span><\/p>\n

Christianity in India at the present time may be classified into two broad categories.<\/span><\/p>\n

a.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span>The evangelical \/pentecostal \/ charismatic with much spiritual fervor (activism) \u00a0but no social impact<\/span><\/p>\n

b.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span>The non evangelical mainline churches that are traditional, institutionalized \u00a0with no activism and no social impact either. At the most, they remain as custodians of a religious tradition .<\/span><\/p>\n

It <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>disappointing that in Bebbington\u2019s <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>definition of evangelicalism the transforming power of the Gospel that we see impacting societies today does not find a place. As a result for centuries the holistic component of the Gospel has been missing and bothe the church and society are at a loss.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>BIBLIOGRAPHY \u00a0<\/span>l 1033 <\/span><\/span>Bebbington, David. Evangelicalism In Modern Britain: A History From The 1730s To the 1980s.<\/em> London: University Press, Cambridge, 1989.<\/span><\/p>\n

Szabados, Adam. David Bebbington.<\/em> September 2010. http:\/\/szabadosadam.hu\/divinity\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/BEBBINGTON.pdf<\/a> (accessed February 28, 2013).<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

David Bebbington\u2019s book, Evangelicalism In Modern Britain is truly an outstanding compilation of both history and theology providing the reader quite a methodical understanding of the subject. \u00a0With great clarity Bebbington delineates the four distinct primary characteristics that underscore evangelicalism as it started in the 1730s. Conversionism: That lives need to be transformed through a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"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":[12,2],"class_list":["post-939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-bebbington","tag-dminlgp","cohort-lgp3"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/939","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\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/939\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}