Wither The Evangelicals?

Jonny Baker has picked up on an editorial in Christianty Today on the problems with using the term Evangelical. Andrew Jones has followed up with some further thoughts and both blogposts have thoughtful comments.

I see the term evangelical working in at least three ways; as a brand, as a sociological descriptor and as a historical stream. Notice I left out theological distinctive. To me, the typical descriptions of evangelicalsim in theological categories are secondary to the three keys ways the term is used.

On Jonny’s blog I commented on evangelical as a brand. What I mean is the sense in which evangelical is adopted by churches, leaders and believers; the act of calling oneself evangelical. Whilst evangelical brand-loyalty is frequently genuine, it is also often driven by ecclesastical politics.

Such forces are the realm of evangelical as a social descriptor. This the thrust of the CT editorial and the crisis in the evangelical identity. Take a sociological look at evangelicalism and you see the face of fundamentalism staring back at you. Moreover, it is the face of localising anti-cosmpolitanism as well. This is where evangelicals have inverted against their historical identity and also why all the theological posturing in the world cannot save the term or salvage the brand.

Evangelicals were the religious entrepreneurs of early globalisation, but have become the religious localists and negators of the current era of globalisation. This is not a brand I can easily adopt, regardless of how much I cherish its history.

[tags] Evangelical [/tags]