Part of a series on
Christianity
Christians hold Jesus to be Christ
Jesus · Christ Virgin birth Crucifixion Resurrection Easter Jesus in Christianity
Bible / Foundations Old Testament New Testament Gospel Books Canon (Christian canons) Apocrypha Apostles Church Creeds Kingdom New Covenant
Theology Apologetics Baptism Christology Father Son Holy Spirit History of theology Salvation Trinity Ten Commandments
History and traditions Timeline Mary Peter Paul Fathers Early Constantine the Great Ecumenical councils Missions East–West Schism Crusades Protestant Reformation
General topics Art Criticism Ecumenism Liturgical year Liturgy Music Other religions Prayer Sermon Symbolism
Denominations Western Christianity Adventist Anabaptist Anglican Baptist Calvinism Evangelicalism Holiness Independent Catholic Lutheran Methodist Old Catholic Protestant Pentecostal Roman Catholic Eastern Christianity Eastern Orthodox Eastern Catholic Oriental Orthodox (Miaphysite) Assyrian Nontrinitarianism Jehovah's Witness Latter Day Saint Unitarian Christadelphian Oneness Pentecostal
Christianity portal
v t e

Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in the 17th century and became an organized movement with the emergence around 1730 of the Methodists in England and the Pietists among Lutherans in Germany and Scandinavia. The movement became even more important—drawing far more members than in Europe—in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century. It continues to draw adherents globally in the 21st century, especially in the poor nations of the Third World.

It is a religious movement that de-emphasizes ritual and emphasizes the pietism of the individual, requiring him or her to meet certain active commitments, including:

• The need for personal conversion (or being "born again");
• A high regard for biblical authority;
• An emphasis on teachings that proclaim the saving death and resurrection of the Son of God, Jesus Christ;^[1]
• Actively expressing and sharing the gospel.

David Bebbington has termed these four distinctive aspects conversionism, biblicism, crucicentrism, and activism noting, "Together they form a quadrilateral of priorities that is the basis of Evangelicalism."^[2]

Usage[link]

The term evangelical has its etymological roots in the Greek word for "gospel" or "good news": ευαγγελιον (evangelion), from eu- "good" and angelion "message". In that sense, to be an evangelical would mean to be a believer of the Gospel, that is the message of Jesus Christ.

By the English Middle Ages the term had been expanded to include not only the message, but also the New Testament which contained the message, as well as more specifically the four books of the Bible in which the life, death and resurrection of Jesus are portrayed.^[3] The first published use of the term "evangelical" in English was in 1531 by William Tyndale, who wrote "He exhorteth them to proceed constantly in the evangelical truth."^[4] One year later, the earliest recorded use in reference to a theological distinction was by Sir Thomas More, who spoke of "Tyndale [and] his evangelical brother Barns".^[4]

By the time of the Protestant Reformation, Protestant theologians began to embrace the term evangelical as referring to "gospel truth". Martin Luther referred to the evangelische Kirche or evangelical church to distinguish Protestants from Catholics in the Roman Catholic Church.^[5][6] In Germany, Switzerland and Denmark, and especially among Lutherans, the term has continued to be used in a broad sense.^[7] This can be seen in the names of certain Lutheran denominations or national organizations, such as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, and the Evangelical Church in Germany.

Current usage[link]

While the main usage is religious, the term is also used to characterize a movement that uses active missionary work to convert others to its political position. For example, the Times Literary Supplement refers to "the rise and fall of evangelical fervor within the Socialist movement".^[8]

The contemporary North American usage of the term is influenced by the evangelical/fundamentalist controversy of the early 20th century. Evangelicalism may sometimes be perceived as the middle ground between the theological liberalism of the mainline denominations and the cultural separatism of fundamentalism.^[9] Evangelicalism has therefore been described as "the third of the leading strands in American Protestantism, straddl[ing] the divide between fundamentalists and liberals".^[10] According to Christianity Today, "The emerging movement is a protest against much of evangelicalism as currently practiced. The emerging church movement is post-evangelical in the way that neo-evangelicalism (in the 1950s) was post-fundamentalist. It would not be unfair to call it^{[clarification needed]} postmodern evangelicalism."^[11]

While the North American perception is important to understand the usage of the term, it by no means dominates a wider global view, where the fundamentalist debate was not so influential.

In the first half of the 20th century, evangelicalism in America was largely synonymous with fundamentalism. George Marsden in Reforming Fundamentalism says, "There was not a practical distinction between fundamentalist and evangelical: the words were interchangeable" (p. 48). When the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) was formed in 1942, for example, participants included such fundamentalist leaders as Bob Jones, Sr., John R. Rice, Charles Woodbridge, Harry Ironside, and David Otis Fuller.

— D.W. Cloud^[12]

By the mid-1950s, largely due to the ecumenical evangelism of Billy Graham, the terms evangelicalism and fundamentalism began to refer to two different approaches. Fundamentalism aggressively attacked its liberal enemies; Evangelicalism downplayed liberalism and emphasized outreach and conversion of new members^[13]

While some conservative evangelicals^[which?] believe the label has broadened too much beyond its more limiting traditional distinctives, this trend is nonetheless strong enough to create significant ambiguity in the term.^[14] As a result, the dichotomy between "evangelical" and "mainline" denominations is increasingly complex, particularly with such innovations as the "emergent church" movement.

John C. Green, a senior fellow at the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, used polling data to separate evangelicals into three camps which he labels as traditionalist, centrist and modernist.^[9]

• The traditionalists, characterized by high affinity for certain Protestant beliefs, (especially penal substitutionary atonement, justification by faith, the authority of scripture, priesthood of all believers, etc.) which, when fused with the highly political milieu of Western culture (esp. American), has resulted in the political disposition that has been labeled the Christian right, whose most visible spokesmen have been figures like Jerry Falwell and the television evangelist Pat Robertson.
• Centrist evangelicals are described as socially conservative, mostly avoiding politics, who still support much of traditional Christian theology.
• Modernist evangelicals are a small minority in the movement, have low levels of church attendance, and "have much more diversity in their beliefs".^[9]

History[link]

17th century[link]

The work of the Pietists Philipp Jakob Spener and August Hermann Francke is the theological and practical beginning of Evangelicalism. The Francke Foundations in Halle became the education place for many priests of the New World, above all for the United States. The personal experience of enlightenment is the central reason to find the way to good. The spreading of the faith is pursued by the individually piety.^[15]

18th century[link]

Evangelical movements first emerged between 1730 and 1790 and Pietism in Germany and the Netherlands, and Methodism in England and America. They featured revivals and an emphasis on personal salvation and piety, while downplaying rituals and traditions. In the American colonies the First Great Awakening of the 1740s greatly expanded the movement; it was based on revivals led by Congregationalist Jonathan Edwards and Methodist George Whitefield.^[3] In England John Wesley led the Methodist movement inside the Church of England.

19th century[link]

The start of the 19th century saw an increase in missionary work and many of the major missionary societies were founded around this time (see Timeline of Christian missions).

The Second Great Awakening (which actually began in 1790) was primarily an American revivalist movement and resulted in substantial growth of the Methodist and Baptist churches. Charles Grandison Finney was an important preacher of this period.

Evangelicals were also concerned with social reform during this period—in England the Clapham Sect included figures such as William Wilberforce who successfully campaigned for the abolition of slavery.

John Nelson Darby was a 19th century English minister considered to be the father of modern Dispensationalism, an innovative Protestant movement significant in the development of modern evangelicalism.^[16] Cyrus Scofield further promoted the influence of this theology through his Scofield Reference Bible.

Other notable figures of the latter half of the 19th century include Charles Spurgeon and Dwight L. Moody.

In Charlotte Bronte's novel, Jane Eyre, Mr Brocklehurst illustrates the dangers and hypocrisies that Charlotte Brontë perceived in the nineteenth-century Evangelical movement.

20th century[link]

Evangelicalism in the early part of the 20th century was dominated by the fundamentalist movement, which rejected liberal theology and focused on separation from the world.

Following the Welsh Revival, the Azusa Street Revival in 1906 began the spread of Pentecostalism in North America.

In the post–World War II period, a split developed amongst evangelicals, as they disagreed among themselves about how a Christian ought to respond to an unbelieving world. The evangelicals urged that Christians must engage the culture directly and constructively,^[17] and they began to express reservations about being known to the world as fundamentalists. As Kenneth Kantzer put it at the time, the name fundamentalist had become "an embarrassment instead of a badge of honor".^[18]

The term neo-evangelicalism was coined by Harold Ockenga in 1947 to identify a distinct movement within self-identified fundamentalist Christianity at the time, especially in the English-speaking world. It described the mood of positivism and non-militancy that characterized that generation. The new generation of evangelicals set as their goals to abandon a militant Bible stance. Instead, they would pursue dialogue, intellectualism, non-judgmentalism, and appeasement. They further called for an increased application of the gospel to the sociological, political, and economic areas. Not all conservatives are pleased with the new direction. One author has termed it "the apostasy within evangelicalism".^[12]

The self-identified fundamentalists also cooperated in separating their opponents from the fundamentalist name, by increasingly seeking to distinguish themselves from the more open group, whom they often characterized derogatorily, by Ockenga's term, "neo-evangelical" or just evangelical.

The fundamentalists saw the evangelicals as often being too concerned about social acceptance and intellectual respectability, and being too accommodating to a perverse generation that needed correction. In addition, they saw the efforts of evangelist Billy Graham, who worked with non-evangelical denominations, such as the Roman Catholics (which they claimed to be heretical), as a mistake.^{[citation needed]}

The post-war period also saw growth of the ecumenical movement and the founding of the World Council of Churches, which was generally regarded with suspicion by the evangelical community.^{[citation needed]}

In England, John Stott and Martyn Lloyd-Jones emerged as key leaders in evangelical Christianity.

The charismatic movement began in the 1960s and resulted in Pentecostal theology and practice being introduced into many mainline denominations. New charismatic groups such as the Association of Vineyard Churches and Newfrontiers trace their roots to this period (see also British New Church Movement).

The closing years of the 20th century saw controversial postmodern influences entering some parts of evangelicalism, particularly with the emerging church movement.

21st century[link]

This section requires expansion.

Meaning of Evangelicalism[link]

The Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals states:

There are three senses in which the term "evangelical" is used today at the beginning of the 21st-century. The first is to view "evangelical" as all Christians who affirm a few key doctrines and practical emphases. British historian David Bebbington approaches evangelicalism from this direction and notes four specific hallmarks 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 crucicentrism, a stress on the sacrifice of Christ on the cross.

A second sense is to look at evangelicalism as an organic group of movements and religious tradition. Within this context "evangelical" denotes a style as much as a set of beliefs. As a result, groups as disparate as black Baptists and Dutch Reformed Churches, Mennonites and Pentecostals, Catholic charismatics and Southern Baptists all come under the evangelical umbrella, thus demonstrating just how diverse the movement really is.

A third sense of the term is as the self-ascribed label for a coalition that arose during the Second World War. This group came into being as a reaction against the perceived anti-intellectual, separatist, belligerent nature of the fundamentalist movement in the 1920s and 1930s. Importantly, its core personalities (like Harold John Ockenga and Billy Graham), institutions (for instance, Moody Bible Institute and Wheaton College), and organizations (such as the National Association of Evangelicals and Youth for Christ) have played a pivotal role in giving the wider movement a sense of cohesion that extends beyond these "card-carrying" evangelicals.^[19]

Adherents[link]

This section requires expansion.

The movement is highly diverse and encompasses a vast number of people. Because the group is diverse, not all of them use the same terminology for beliefs. For instance, several recent studies and surveys by sociologists and political scientists that utilize more complex definitional parameters have estimated the number of evangelicals in the U.S. at about 25–30% of the population, or roughly between 70 and 80 million people.^[20]

From the late 20th century onwards, such conservative Protestant Christians, and their churches and social movements, have often been called evangelical to distinguish them from other Protestants.^{[citation needed][dubious – discuss]}

Since the Iraq War, evangelicalism has begun to make inroads in Iraq, capitalizing on a new openness to Western missionaries following the US-led invasion of the country, although the vast majority of converts are from other sects of Christianity present in Iraq.^[21][22]

Contemporary North American perspective[link]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2008)

Evangelicals held the view that the modernist and liberal parties in the Protestant churches had surrendered their heritage as evangelicals by accommodating the views and values of "the world". At the same time, they criticized fundamentalists for their separatism and their rejection of the social gospel as it had been developed by Protestant activists of the previous century. They charged the modernists with having lost their identity as evangelicals and the fundamentalists with having lost the Christ-like heart of evangelicalism. They argued that the gospel needed to be reassessed to distinguish it from the innovations of the liberals as well as the fundamentalists.

Today, evangelicals are often concerned with their own failure to live up to Christian standards in contrast to the world. Christianity Today author Mark Galli says "It's now pretty much agreed that the evangelical church mirrors the dysfunctions of secular society, from premarital sex stats to divorce rates to buying habits. Much to our dismay, we are hardly a light to the world, nor an icon of the abundant, transformed life."^[23]

As part of this renewal of evangelicalism, the new evangelicals sought to engage the modern world and the liberal Christians in a positive way, remaining separate from worldliness but not from the world — a middle way between modernism and the separating variety of fundamentalism. They sought allies in denominational churches and liturgical traditions, disregarding views of eschatology and other "non-essentials", and joined also with Trinitarian varieties of Pentecostalism. They believed that in doing so, they were simply re-acquainting Protestantism with its own recent tradition. The movement's aim at the outset was to reclaim the evangelical heritage in their respective churches, not to begin something new; and for this reason, following their separation from fundamentalists, the same movement has been better known merely as "evangelicalism". By the end of the 20th century, this was the most influential development in American Protestant Christianity.^[24]

Global demographics[link]

On a worldwide scale evangelical churches (together with Pentecostals) claim to be the most rapidly growing Christian churches. The two often overlap, in a movement sometimes called transformationalism.^{[citation needed]} Churches in Africa exhibit rapid growth and great diversity in part because they are not dependent on European and North American evangelical sources. An example of this can be seen in the African Initiated Churches.

The World Evangelical Alliance is "a network of churches in 128 nations that have each formed an evangelical alliance and over 100 international organizations joining together to give a worldwide identity, voice and platform" to an estimated more than 600 million evangelical Christians.^[25] The Alliance was formed in 1951 by evangelicals from 21 countries. It has worked to support its members to work together globally.

In Britain, according to a 2005 study conducted by the Assemblies of God, evangelicals give 7.5% of their income to their churches and a further 3% to Christian charities.^[26]

Types of evangelicalism[link]

Conservative evangelicalism[link]

Chinese evangelical church in Madrid, Spain

Toward the end of the 20th century, some have tended to confuse evangelicalism and fundamentalism, but as noted above they are not the same. The labels represent very distinct differences of approach that both groups are diligent to maintain, although because of fundamentalism's dramatically smaller size it often gets classified simply as an ultra-conservative branch of evangelicalism.

Both groups seek to maintain an identity as theological conservatives; evangelicals, however, seek to distance themselves from stereotypical perceptions of the "fundamentalist" posture of antagonism toward the larger society and advocate involvement in the surrounding community rather than separation from it. However, despite the differences, some people, particularly those with a non-denominational background, may consider themselves both evangelical and fundamentalist because they believe in the engaging practices of evangelicalism and take a fundamental view of the Bible.

On the American political spectrum, evangelicals traditionally fall under socially conservative. Based on the view that marriage is only between one man and one woman, they oppose state recognition of same-sex marriage. Since the 1970s they have also opposed abortion. (See below for more details).

Open evangelicalism[link]

Open Evangelical refers to a particular Christian school of thought or Churchmanship, primarily in the United Kingdom (especially in the Church of England). Open evangelicals describe their position as combining a traditional evangelical emphasis on the nature of scriptural authority, the teaching of the ecumenical creeds and other traditional doctrinal teachings, with an approach towards culture and other theological points of view which tends to be more inclusive than that taken by other evangelicals. Some open evangelicals aim to take a middle position between conservative and charismatic evangelicals, while others would combine conservative theological emphases with more liberal social positions.^[27]

Post-evangelicalism[link]

British author Dave Tomlinson characterizes post-evangelicalism as a movement comprising various trends of dissatisfaction among evangelicals. The term is used by others with comparable intent, often to distinguish evangelicals in the so-called emerging church movement from post-evangelicals and anti-evangelicals. Tomlinson argues that "linguistically, the distinction [between evangelical and post-evangelical] is similar to the one that sociologists make between the modern and postmodern eras".^[28]

There persists considerable and inevitable confusion as to how best to classify the non-traditional/non-conservative forms of evangelicalism. Some call the emerging church movement a version or manifestation of post-evangelicalism, whereas others distinguish both under the broader umbrella of the "evangelical left" movement. As such developments are still relatively new, it remains to be seen how the categories and semantics will settle.

Evangelicalism in the United States[link]

Demographics[link]

An event at Gateway Church's 114 Southlake Campus

The 2004 survey of religion and politics in the United States identified the evangelical percentage of the population at 26.3 percent while Roman Catholics are 22 percent and mainline Protestants make up 16 percent.^[29] In the 2007 Statistical Abstract of the United States, the figures for these same groups are 28.6 percent (evangelical), 24.5 percent (Roman Catholic), and 13.9 percent (mainline Protestant.) The latter figures are based on a 2001 study of the self-described religious identification of the adult population for 1990 and 2001 from the Graduate School and University Center at the City University of New York.^[30] A 2008 study showed that in the year 2000 about 9 percent of Americans attended an evangelical service on any given Sunday.^[31] The Economist estimated in May 2012 that "over one-third of Americans, more than 100m, can be considered evangelical".^[32]

The National Association of Evangelicals is a U.S. agency which coordinates cooperative ministry for its member denominations.

Politics[link]

Christian right in politics[link]

Evangelical political influence in America was first evident in the 1830s with movements such as abolition of slavery and the prohibition movement, which closed saloons and taverns in state after state until it succeeded nationally in 1919.^[33] The Christian right is a coalition of numerous groups of traditionalist and observant church-goers of every kind: especially Catholics on issues such as birth control and abortion, Southern Baptists, Missouri Synod Lutherans,and others.^[34]

Evangelical political activists are not all on the right. There is a small group of liberal white evangelicals.^[35] Most blacks belong to Baptist, Methodist or other denominations that share evangelical beliefs; they are firmly in the Democratic coalition and (except for gay and abortion issues) are generally liberal in politics.^[36]

Abortion[link]

Since 1970 a central issue motivating conservative evangelicals' political activism is abortion. Theologically they argue abortion is the taking of an innocent life. Pro-choice advocates oppose the evangelicals on abortion and argue that any legal restrictions based on such a religious worldview amount to imposing religion. Abortion was not a crime under English and American common law at least until the "quickening" of the fetus. Physicians—not religious leaders—were responsible for enacting the 19th century laws against abortion in the name of protecting the mother. The 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade by the Supreme Court said women have a right to choose abortion; with some modifications, that remains the law. It proved decisive in bringing together Catholics (who had opposed abortion since the 1890s) and evangelicals in a political coalition in the 1970s, which became known as the Religious Right when it successfully mobilized its voters behind presidential candidate Ronald Reagan in 1980.^[37]

School prayer[link]

In the United States, Supreme Court decisions that outlawed organized prayer in school and restricted church-related schools also played a role in mobilizing the Religious Right.^[38] In addition, questions of sexual morality and homosexuality have been energizing factors—and above all, the fear that "elites" are pushing America into secularism.

Other issues[link]

According to recent reports in the New York Times, some evangelicals have sought to expand their movement's social agenda to include poverty, combating AIDS in the Third World, and protecting the environment.^[39] This is highly contentious within the evangelical community, since more conservative evangelicals believe that this trend is compromising important issues and prioritizing popularity and consensus too highly. Personifying this division were the evangelical leaders James Dobson and Rick Warren, the former who warned of the dangers of a Barack Obama victory in 2008 from his point of view,^[40] in contrast with the latter who declined to endorse either major candidate on the grounds that he wanted the church to be less politically divisive and that he agreed substantially with both men.^[41] Indeed many are not sure how to characterize Rick Warren on the evangelical spectrum; despite his avowed centrism he recently supported California's controversial Proposition 8 (2008), which is regarded by critics as a right-wing position.

Christian nation[link]

Some opponents have argued that the evangelicals actually want a Christian America—that is a nation in which Christianity is given a privileged position.^[42] Survey data shows that 60–75% of evangelicals reject proposals for a Christian America.^[43] Evangelical leaders retort they merely seek freedom from the imposition by national elites of an equally subjective secular worldview, and feel that it is their opponents who are violating their rights.^[44]

Christian left[link]

Typically, members of the evangelical left affirm the primary tenets of evangelical theology, such as the doctrines of Incarnation, atonement, and resurrection, and also see the Bible as a primary authority for the church. A major theological difference, however, which in turn leads to many of the social/political differences, is the issue of how strictly to interpret the Bible, as well as what particular values and principles predominantly constitute the "biblical worldview" believed to be binding upon all followers. Inevitably, battles over how to characterize each other and themselves ensue, with the evangelical left and right often hyperbolically regarding each other as "mainline/non-evangelical" and "fundamentalist" respectively.

Unlike conservative evangelicals, the evangelical left is generally opposed to capital punishment and supportive of gun control. In many cases, evangelical leftists are pacifistic. Some promote the legalization of same-sex marriage or protection of access to abortion for the society at large without necessarily endorsing the practice themselves. There is considerable dispute over how to even characterize the various segments of the evangelical theological and political spectra, and whether a singular discernible rift between "right" and "left" is oversimplified. However, to the extent that some simplifications are necessary to discuss any complex issue, it is recognized that modern trends like focusing on non-contentious issues (like poverty) and downplaying hot-button social issues (like abortion) tend to be key distinctives of the modern "evangelical left" or "emergent church" movement.

Evangelical environmentalism[link]

Evangelical environmentalism is an environmental movement in the United States in which some Evangelicals have emphasized biblical mandates concerning humanity's role as steward and subsequent responsibility for the caretaking of Creation. While the movement has focused on different environmental issues, it is best known for its focus of addressing climate action from a biblically grounded theological perspective. The Evangelical Climate Initiative argues that human-induced climate change will have severe consequences and impact the poor the hardest, and that God's mandate to Adam to care for the Garden of Eden also applies to Christians today, and that it is therefore a moral obligation to work to mitigate climate impacts and support communities in adapting to change.^[45]

See also[link]

Publications[link]

Notes[link]

Further reading[link]

• Randall Herbert Balmer. Encyclopedia of Evangelicalism. 1st ed. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press; 2002. ISBN 978-0-664-22409-7.
• Balmer, Randall. (2010) The Making of Evangelicalism: From Revivalism to Politics and Beyond. ISBN 978-1-60258-243-9.
• Balmer, Randall. (2000) Blessed Assurance: A History of Evangelicalism in America
• Beale, David O. (1986) In Pursuit of Purity: American Fundamentalism Since 1850. Greenville, SC: Bob Jones University (Unusual Publications). ISBN 0-89084-350-3.
• Bebbington, D. W. (1989), Evangelicals in Modern Britain: A History from the 1730s to the 1980s, London: Unwin .
• Carpenter, Joel A. (1980), "Fundamentalist Institutions and the Rise of Evangelical Protestantism, 1929–1942", Church History 49: 62–75 .
• Carpenter, Joel A. (1999). Revive Us Again: The Reawakening of American Fundamentalism. Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-512907-5.
• Dudley, Jonathan (2011) "Broken Words: The Abuse of Science and Faith in American Politics." New York: Crown.
• Freston, Paul (2004), Evangelicals and Politics in Asia, Africa and Latin America, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-60429-X 
• Hindmarsh, Bruce, The Evangelical Conversion Narrative: Spiritual Autobiography in Early Modern England (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2005).
• Marsden, George M. Understanding Fundamentalism and Evangelicalism (1991) excerpt and text search
• Marsden, George M. (1987), Reforming Fundamentalism: Fuller Seminary and the New Evangelicalism, Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans .
• Noll, Mark (1992). A History of Christianity in the United States and Canada.. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. 311–389. ISBN 0-8028-0651-1.
• Noll, Mark A., David W. Bebbington and George A. Rawlyk eds. Evangelicalism: Comparative Studies of Popular Protestantism in North America, the British Isles and Beyond, 1700–1990. (1994)
• Pierard, Richard V. (1979), "The Quest For the Historical Evangelicalism: A Bibliographical Excursus", Fides et Historia 11 (2): 60–72 .
• Price, Robert M. (1986), "Neo-Evangelicals and Scripture: A Forgotten Period of Ferment", Christian Scholars Review 15 (4): 315–330 .
• Rawlyk, George A., and Mark A. Noll, eds. Amazing Grace: Evangelicalism in Australia, Britain, Canada, and the United States (1993).
• Schafer, Axel R. Countercultural Conservatives: American Evangelicalism From the Postwar Revival to the New Christian Right (University of Wisconsin Press; 2011). 225 pages; covers evangelical politics from the 1940s to the 1990s that examines how a diverse, politically pluralistic movement became, largely, the Christian Right.
• Stackhouse, John G. Canadian Evangelicalism in the Twentieth Century (1993)
• Utzinger, J. Michael (2006) Yet Saints Their Watch Are Keeping: Fundamentalists, Modernists, and the Development of Evangelical Ecclesiology, 1887–1937, Macon: Mercer University Press, ISBN 0-86554-902-8
• Ward, W. R. Early Evangelicalism: A Global Intellectual History (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2006).
• Kidd, Thomas S. "God of Liberty: A Religious History of the American Revolution" (Basic Books, 2010) ISBN 0-465-00235-8

External links[link]

Look up evangelist, evangelical, or evangelicalism in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Institute for the Study of American Evangelicalism – Wheaton College
• The Coming Evangelical Collapse by Michael Spencer, The Christian Science Monitor, March 10, 2009
• Modern Evangelical African Theologians: A Primer
• American Evangelicalism and Islam: From the Antichrist to the Mahdi

This article's tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia. Specific concerns may be found on the talk page. See Wikipedia's guide to writing better articles for suggestions. (May 2012)

Robert Charles Sproul, (born February 13, 1939, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)^[1][2] is a prominent^{[peacock term]} American Calvinist theologian, author, and pastor of the Reformed tradition. He is the founder and chairman of Ligonier Ministries (named after the Ligonier Valley just outside of Pittsburgh, where the ministry started as a study center for college and seminary students) and can be heard daily on the Renewing Your Mind radio broadcast in the United States and internationally. "Renewing Your Mind with Dr. R.C. Sproul" is also broadcast on Sirius and XM satellite radio.^[3]

Ligonier Ministries hosts several theological conferences each year, including the main conference held each year in Orlando, Florida, at which Sproul is one of the primary speakers.^[4]

Education and career[link]

Sproul holds degrees from Westminster College, Pennsylvania (B.A., 1961), Pittsburgh-Xenia Theological Seminary (M.Div, 1964), the Free University of Amsterdam (Drs., 1969), and Whitefield Theological Seminary (Ph.D., 2001). He had to learn the Dutch language while studying in the Netherlands which he has described as a trying experience. He has taught at numerous colleges and seminaries, including Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando and Jackson, Mississippi, and Knox Theological Seminary in Ft. Lauderdale.^[1]

Currently, Sproul is Senior Minister of Preaching and Teaching at Saint Andrew's, a congregation in Sanford, Florida.^[1][5] He was ordained as an elder in the United Presbyterian Church in the USA in 1965, but left that denomination around 1975 because of liberalism and joined the Presbyterian Church in America. He is also a Council member of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals.

Sproul has been an ardent advocate of Calvinism in his many print, audio, and video publications, and he is also known for his advocacy of the Thomistic and classical approaches to Christian apologetics, less common among Reformed apologists, and his rejection of presuppositionalism. A dominant theme in many of Sproul's Renewing Your Mind lessons is the holiness and sovereignty of God.

Sproul, a critic of the Roman Catholic Church and Catholic theology, denounced the 1994 ecumenical document Evangelicals and Catholics Together.^[6]

Publications[link]

Sproul's work The Holiness of God^[7] is considered a modern classic on the subject of God's character, and his book Not a Chance: The Myth of Chance in Modern Science and Cosmology ^[8] was highly praised by those who reject the materialism advocated by some in the scientific community.^[9]

Through Ligonier Ministries and the Renewing Your Mind radio program and conferences, Sproul has generated an extensive collection of audio and video lectures on subjects such as the history of philosophy, theology, Bible study, apologetics, intelligent design, and Christian living. In addition, Sproul is a prolific author who has written more than 60 books and many articles for evangelical publications. He signed the 1978 Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy, which affirmed the traditional view of Biblical inerrancy, and he wrote a commentary on that document titled Explaining Inerrancy. He also served as the editor of the Reformation Study Bible (ISBN 0-87552-643-8), a six year long project, which has appeared in several editions and was also known as the New Geneva Study Bible.

In 2006 Ligonier Ministries launched Reformation Trust Publishing to produce books true to the historic Protestant Christian faith by today's best Reformed pastors, educators, and church leaders.

Some of Sproul's other written works include:

• The Donkey Who Carried a King, Reformation Trust Publishing, 2012 - 978-1-56769-269-3
• The Barber Who Wanted to Pray, Crossway Books, 2011 - 978-1-4335-2703-6
• The Priest with Dirty Clothes, Reformation Trust Publishing, 2011 - 978-1-56769-210-5
• The Truth of the Cross Audio Book, Reformation Trust Publishing, 2011 - 978-1-56769-213-6
• Mark (St. Andrew's Expositional Commentary), Reformation Trust Publishing, 2011 - 978-1-56769-265-5
• 1&2 Peter (St. Andrew's Expositional Commentary), Crossway Books, 2011 - 978-1-4335-2289-5
• Abortion: A Rational Look at An Emotional Issue, Reformation Trust Publishing, 2010 - 978-1-56769-209-9
• Unseen Realities: Heaven, Hell, Angels and Demons, Christian Focus Publications, 2011 - 978-1-8-4550-682-7
• What Does it Mean to Be Born Again?, Reformation Trust Publishing, 2010 - Crucial Questions series - 978-1-56769-206-8
• What is Faith?, Reformation Trust Publishing, 2010 - Crucial Questions series - 978-1-56769-207-5
• Can I Be Sure I'm Saved?, Reformation Trust Publishing, 2010 - Crucial Questions series - 978-1-56769-208-2
• Holy, Holy, Holy: Proclaiming the Perfections of God, Reformation Trust Publishing, 2010 - 978-1-56769-205-1
• Acts (St. Andrew's Expositional Commentary), Crossway Books, 2010 - 978-1-435-2273-4
• John (St. Andrew's Expositional Commentary), Reformation Trust Publishing, 2009 - 978-1-56769-185-6
• Romans (St. Andrew's Expositional Commentary), Crossway Books, 2009 - 978-1433506857
• Who is Jesus?, Reformation Trust Publishing, 2009 - Crucial Questions series - 978-1-56769-181-8
• Can I Trust the Bible?, Reformation Trust Publishing, 2009 - Crucial Questions series - 978-1-56769-182-5
• How Should I Live in This World?, Reformation Trust Publishing, 2009 - Crucial Questions series - 978-1-56769-180-1
• Can I Know God's Will?, Reformation Trust Publishing, 2009 - Crucial Questions series - 978-1-56769-179-5
• Does Prayer Change Things?, Reformation Trust Publishing, 2009 - Crucial Questions series - 978-1-56769-178-8
• The Prayer of The Lord, Reformation Trust Publishing, 2009 - 978-1-56769-118-4
• The Prince's Poison Cup, Reformation Trust Publishing, 2008 - 978-1-56769-104-7
• Five Things Every Christian Needs to Grow, revised, expanded Reformation Trust Publishing, 2008 - 978-1-56769-103-0
• The Truth of the Cross, Reformation Trust Publishing, 2007 - 978-1-56769-087-3
• A Taste of Heaven, Reformation Trust Publishing, 2006 ISBN - 978-1-56769-076-7
• The Lightlings, a children's title, Reformation Trust Publishing, 2007 ISBN 978-1-56769-078-1
• Knowing Scripture, InterVarsity, 1977 (ISBN 0-87784-733-9)
• If there is a God, why are there atheists?: A surprising look at the psychology of atheism, Bethany Fellowship, 1978 (ISBN 0-87123-238-3)
• Reason to Believe: A Response to Common Objections to Christianity, Zondervan, 1982 (ISBN 0-310-44911-1)
• Classical Apologetics with John Gerstner and Arthur Lindsley, Zondervan, 1984 (ISBN 0-310-44951-0)
• Abortion: A Rational Look at an Emotional Issue, Navpress, 1990 (ISBN 0-89109-345-1)
• Lifeviews: Make a Christian Impact on Culture and Society, Revell, 1990 (ISBN 0-8007-5357-7)
• Chosen by God, Tyndale, 1994 (ISBN 0-8423-1335-4)
• The Mystery of the Holy Spirit, Tyndale, 1994 (ISBN 0-8423-4378-4)
• Pleasing God, Tyndale, 1994 (ISBN 0-8423-5024-1)
• Now, That's a Good Question!, Tyndale, 1996 (ISBN 0-8423-4711-9)
• Grace Unknown: The Heart of Reformed Theology, Baker, 1997 (ISBN 0-8010-1121-3)
• The Invisible Hand: Do All Things Really Work for Good?, Word Books, 1997 (ISBN 0-8499-1207-5)
• The Priest With Dirty Clothes A Timeless Story Of God's Love And Forgiveness with Liz Bonham (illustrator), Tommy Nelson, 1997 (ISBN 0-8499-1455-8)
• Willing to Believe: The Controversy over Free Will, Baker, 1997 (ISBN 0-8010-6412-0)
• Essential Truths of the Christian Faith, Tyndale, 1998 (ISBN 0-8423-2001-6)
• Renewing Your Mind: Basic Christian Beliefs You Need to Know 3rd ed., Baker, 1998 (ISBN 0-8010-5815-5)
• Faith Alone: The Evangelical Doctrine of Justification, Baker, 1999 (ISBN 0-8010-5849-X)
• Gospel of God: An Exposition of Romans, Christian Focus, 1999 (ISBN 1-85792-490-8)
• The Consequences of Ideas: Understanding the Concepts That Shaped Our World, Crossway, 2000 (ISBN 1-58134-172-5)
• The King Without a Shadow with Liz Bonham (illustrator), P & R, 2000 (ISBN 0-87552-700-0)
• The Last Days According to Jesus, Baker, 2000 (ISBN 0-8010-6340-X)
• Loved By God, W Publishing Group, 2001 (ISBN 0-8499-1648-8)
• The Purpose of God: An Exposition of Ephesians, Christian Focus, 2002 (ISBN 1-85792-609-9)
• Saved from What?, Crossway, 2002 (ISBN 1-58134-417-1)
• The Dark Side of Islam with Abdul Saleeb, Crossway, 2003 (ISBN 1-58134-441-4)
• Defending Your Faith: An Introduction to Apologetics, Crossway, 2003 (ISBN 1-58134-519-4)
• Getting the Gospel Right, Baker, 2003 (ISBN 0-8010-6447-3)
• The Glory of Christ, P & R, 2003 (ISBN 0-87552-703-5)
• The Intimate Marriage: A Practical Guide to Building a Great Marriage, P & R, 2003 (ISBN 0-87552-708-6)
• What's in the Bible: A One-Volume Guidebook to God's Word with Robert Wolgemuth, W Publishing Group, 2003 (ISBN 0-8499-4460-0)
• The Soul's Quest for God: Satisfying the Hunger for Spiritual Communioun with God, P&R Publishing, 2003 (ISBN 0-87552-706-2)
• The Character of God: Discovering the God Who Is, Servant Publications, 2004 (ISBN 0-8307-3398-1)
• Scripture Alone: The Evangelical Doctrine, P & R, 2005 (ISBN 1-59638-010-1)
• What Is Reformed Theology?: Understanding The Basics, Baker, 2005 (ISBN 0-8010-6559-3) - the author describes it as "a shorthand introduction to the crystallized essence of Reformation theology."

References[link]

External links[link]

• Ligonier Ministries
• Reformation Trust Publishing
• Ligonier Academy of Biblical and Theological Studies
• Reformation Bible College
• Saint Andrew's
• Monergism - R. C. Sproul biography

E.J. Dionne
E. J. Dionne, January 2008
Born	April 23, 1952 Boston, Massachusetts
Education	Harvard University, Balliol College, Oxford
Occupation	Columnist, author, political analyst, professor

Eugene Joseph "E.J." Dionne, Jr. (pronounced /diːˈɒn/; born April 23, 1952) is an American journalist and political commentator, and a long-time op-ed columnist for The Washington Post. He is also a Senior Fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution, a University Professor in the Foundations of Democracy and Culture at Georgetown Public Policy Institute, a Senior Research Fellow at Saint Anselm College, and an NPR Commentator.

Dionne's published works include the influential 1991 bestseller Why Americans Hate Politics, which argued that several decades of political polarization was alienating a silent centrist majority, as well as They Only Look Dead: Why Progressives Will Dominate the Next Political Era (1996), Stand up Fight Back: Republican Toughs, Democratic Wimps, and Politics of Revenge (2004), and Souled Out: Reclaiming Faith and Politics After the Religious Right (2008).

Dionne is a columnist for Commonweal, a liberal Catholic publication. Before becoming a columnist for the Post in 1993, he worked as a reporter for that paper as well as The New York Times.

Early life[link]

Dionne was born in Boston, Massachusetts and raised in Fall River, Massachusetts. He attended Portsmouth Abbey School, a Benedictine college preparatory school in Portsmouth, Rhode Island. Dionne holds a B.A. in Social Studies from Harvard University (1973), where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and was affiliated with Adams House, and a DPhil in Sociology from Balliol College, Oxford (1982), where he was a Rhodes Scholar.

Personal life[link]

Dionne lives in Bethesda, Maryland, with his wife and three children.

Writings[link]

• Why Americans Hate Politics. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1991. ISBN 978-0-671-68255-2
• They Only Look Dead: Why Progressives Will Dominate the Next Political Era. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996. ISBN 978-0-684-80768-3
• Community Works: The Revival of Civil Society in America (editor). Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution, 1998 ISBN 0-8157-1867-5
• Stand Up, Fight Back: Republican Toughs, Democratic Wimps, and the Politics of Revenge. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2004. ISBN 978-0-7432-5858-6
• Souled Out: Reclaiming Faith and Politics After the Religious Right. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2008. ISBN 0-691-13458-8
• "Our Divided Political Heart: The Battle for the American Idea in an Age of Discontent". New York: Bloomsbury, 2012. ISBN 1608192016

See also[link]

• Co-commentator on NPR: David Brooks (journalist).

External links[link]

• Washington Post columns
• Brookings Institution page
• Georgetown Faculty web page
• Works by or about E. J. Dionne in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• NPR page
• Truthdig page
• Biography from the Washington Post Writers Group
• "Conversation with History" interview
• Booknotes interview with Dionne on Why Americans Hate Politics, August 25, 1991.

Paul Washer
Nationality	American
Education	Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
Occupation	Founder/Director, Missions Coordinator, Pastor
Religion	Christian (Calvinistic Baptist)
Spouse	Charo Washer

Paul David Washer (born 1961) is the Founder/Director & Missions Coordinator of HeartCry Missionary Society which supports indigenous missionary work.^[1] He is also a Southern Baptist itinerant preacher. Washer's sermons tend to have an evangelistic focus on the gospel and the doctrine of the assurance of salvation, and he frequently speaks against practices such as the sinner's prayer, and a focus on numerical church growth.

Biography[link]

Washer had a born again experience while studying to become an oil and gas lawyer at the University of Texas. Upon graduation, he attended Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and achieved a Master of Divinity degree. He then moved to Peru to become a missionary for 10 years, after which he returned to the United States. Washer resides in Radford, Virginia,^[2] where he lives with his wife and three children.

Washer's sermons often focus on the character of Christ and how a person is saved from hell. According to Washer, a person is saved through faith alone, but the evidence of a person's repentance is by walking with Jesus. Washer claims that most people who profess a belief in Christianity aren't truly saved. Washer blames preachers, as he claims many preachers often say a person is saved without looking for evidence of repentance in that person's life.

Washer cites Thomas Watson, R.C. Sproul, John F. MacArthur, George Muller, John Piper, Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, Charles Spurgeon, Leonard Ravenhill, John Wesley, A.W. Tozer and Martyn Lloyd-Jones among others, as influences.^[3] He has frequently appeared on Christian radio to discuss how people are saved.^[4]

Books[link]

• Washer, Paul (2004). The One True God. HeartCry Missionary Society. ISBN 978-0-9770234-0-0. 
• Washer, Paul (2009). Truth About Man. Granted Ministries Press. ISBN 978-0-9817321-1-4. 

References[link]

External links[link]

• HeartCry Missionary Organization Official site of Washer's organization.
• Shocking Message Transcript: http://www.scribd.com/doc/789/The-Truth-About-Christianity
• Regeneration vs. Idolatry of Decisional Evangelism: http://adidab.wordpress.com/2009/05/05/paul-washer-transcript-01-regeneration-v-the-idolatry-of-decisional-evangelism/
• Ten indictments video & transcript: http://adidab.wordpress.com/2009/05/05/paul-washer-transcript-03-ten-indictments/
• Truth About Man Workbook: http://www.heartcrymissionary.com/resources/online_books
• Brief Washer Biography: http://www.hcmissions.org/about/staff/2
• Paul Washer Bible Study Video Series Studies: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=8872D3C0103E8568
• Paul Washer Biography on Theopedia: http://www.theopedia.com/Paul_Washer
• Paul Washer en Español: http://salvacioneterna.com/pwasher.html

Gary DeMar is an American writer, lecturer and the president of American Vision, an American Christian nonprofit organization. The think-tank has a vision of "an America that recognizes the sovereignty of God over all of life and where Christians are engaged in every facet of society".^[1]

Family life and education[link]

DeMar resides in Marietta, Georgia with his wife Carol. They have two grown sons. DeMar is a member of Midway Presbyterian Church, affiliated with the Presbyterian Church in America. DeMar graduated from Western Michigan University in 1973 and earned a M.Div. from Reformed Theological Seminary in 1979. He earned his Ph.D. in Christian Intellectual History from unaccredited, online Whitefield Theological Seminary in 2007.^[2]

Career[link]

DeMar began working at American Vision in 1981 as a research analyst. In 1986 he became the president of the organization. DeMar is the author of 25 books. Beginning on June 3, 2006, DeMar began hosting "The Gary DeMar Show", a radio program airing live from Atlanta, every Saturday at noon ET."^[3] The Gary DeMar Show" now is available as a podcast every weekday for 10 minutes and as a video-cast on YouTube.^[4]

[edit] Ruler of the Nations

In the Foreword to DeMar's book Ruler of the Nations, John W. Whitehead notes that the book "presents a clear and well-substantiated description of the three types of government established by God-the family, the church, and the civil government-each given its own specific and limited jurisdiction".^[5] In the Editor's Introduction, Gary North points out DeMar's description of "an intellectual war going on, a war between two rival views of God, man, law and society." North says that the "book has made the meaning of theocracy clear".^[6]

In the chapter titled Reconstructing Civil Government, DeMar states,

All government requires a reference point. If God is to be pleased by men, the Bible must become the foundation of all their governments, including civil government. This means that Biblical law must be made the foundation of all righteous judgment in every government: personal (self government), ecclesiastical, familial, and civil.^[7]

Religious and political views[link]

DeMar states in an article on the American Vision web site, "Darwinism has secularized everything in America, including our understanding of the Constitution".^[8]

American Vision promotes the idea "that the world is not ending tomorrow and that Christ’s Kingdom will be victorious on the earth"^[9] . AV connects the writing's of the founders of America with the organization's vision of contemporary America, "In the New England Confederation of 1643, the Pilgrims stated: "[W]e all came to these parts of America, with one and the same end and aim, namely, to advance the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.”^[10]

DeMar is a proponent of partial preterism.

Bibliography[link]

DeMar is the general editor and co-author of A New World in View (1996) and Reformation to Colonization (1997), the first two volumes in the To Pledge Allegiance history textbook series, and author of the books:^[11]

• God and Government series (3 vols.) (1982–86)
• Ruler of the Nations (1987, 2002)
• The Reduction of Christianity with Peter J. Leithart (1988)
• Surviving College Successfully (1988)
• Something Greater Is Here (1988)
• Christian Reconstruction (Co-authored by Dr. Gary North) (1991)
• You’ve Heard It Said (1991)
• America’s Christian History: The Untold Story (1993)
• War of the Worldviews (1994)
• Last Days Madness (4th ed., 1999)
• Is Jesus Coming Soon? (1999)
• Thinking Straight in a Crooked World (2001)
• End Times Fiction: A Biblical Consideration of the Left Behind Theology (2001)
• The Changing Face of Islam in History and Prophecy (2002)
• America’s Christian Heritage (2002)
• Myths, Lies, & Half Truths (2004)
• The Early Church and the End of the World (2005)
• Whoever Controls the Schools Rules the World (2007)
• Memory Mechanics (2008)
• America's 200-Year War with Islamic Terrorism (2009)
• Movies with Worldviews in Mind (2009)
• Doomsday Deja Vu (2009)
• Meaty Tales! (2009)
• Why the End of the World Is Not in Your Future (2009)
• Left Behind: Separating Fact from Fiction (2009)
• 10 Popular Prophecy Myths Exposed (2010)

References[link]

External links[link]

Christianity portal

• American Vision