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Still Evangelical?: Insiders Reconsider Political, Social, and Theological Meaning
Evangelicalism in America has cracked, split on the shoals of the 2016 presidential election and its aftermath, leaving many wondering if they want to be in or out of the evangelical tribe. The contentiousness brought to the fore surrounds what it means to affirm and demonstrate evangelical Christian faith amidst the messy and polarized realities gripping our country and world. Who or what is defining the evangelical social and political vision? Is it the gospel or is it culture? For a movement that has been about the primacy of Christian faith, this is a crisis.
This collection of essays was gathered by Mark Labberton, president of Fuller Theological Seminary, who provides an introduction to the volume. What follows is a diverse and provocative set of perspectives and reflections from evangelical insiders who wrestle with their responses to the question of what it means to be evangelical in light of their convictions.
Contributors include:
Shane Claiborne, Red Letter Christians
Jim Daly, Focus on the Family
Mark Galli, Christianity Today
Lisa Sharon Harper, FreedomRoad.us
Tom Lin, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship
Karen Swallow Prior, Liberty University
Soong-Chan Rah, North Park University
Robert Chao Romero, UCLA
Sandra Maria Van Opstal, Grace and Peace Community
Allen Yeh, Biola University
Mark Young, Denver Seminary
Referring to oneself as evangelical cannot be merely a congratulatory self-description. It must instead be a commitment and aspiration guided by the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ. What now are Christ's followers called to do in response to this identity crisis?
This collection of essays was gathered by Mark Labberton, president of Fuller Theological Seminary, who provides an introduction to the volume. What follows is a diverse and provocative set of perspectives and reflections from evangelical insiders who wrestle with their responses to the question of what it means to be evangelical in light of their convictions.
Contributors include:
Shane Claiborne, Red Letter Christians
Jim Daly, Focus on the Family
Mark Galli, Christianity Today
Lisa Sharon Harper, FreedomRoad.us
Tom Lin, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship
Karen Swallow Prior, Liberty University
Soong-Chan Rah, North Park University
Robert Chao Romero, UCLA
Sandra Maria Van Opstal, Grace and Peace Community
Allen Yeh, Biola University
Mark Young, Denver Seminary
Referring to oneself as evangelical cannot be merely a congratulatory self-description. It must instead be a commitment and aspiration guided by the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ. What now are Christ's followers called to do in response to this identity crisis?
222 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2017
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About the author
Mark Labberton
28 books8 followersMark Labberton is president of Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. Prior to that Labberton served for a number of years as senior pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley, California. He has also served as chair of John Stott Ministries. Today he continues to contribute to the mission of the global church as a senior fellow of the International Justice Mission. He is the author of Called, The Dangerous Act of Loving Your Neighbor and The Dangerous Act of Worship.
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February 8, 2018
Summary: Ten ethnically diverse evangelical "insiders" explore whether to still identify as "evangelical" and what that means in light of the 2016 election.
Still evangelical? This is a question I've wrestled with and written on. What seems clear, and perhaps even more after reading this book, is that 2016 is a watershed moment in the evangelical movement in the U.S.
The book brings together a collection of evangelical insiders, albeit not those in the news for their associations with the president. This alone is telling because one often has the sense that the only ones speaking for evangelicalism are those (mostly white and male) figures surrounding the president.
The work is edited by Mark Labberton, whose introductory essay explores how an understanding of the varying "social locations" of evangelicals helps account for the deep divides in the movement. The contributions that follow are by an ethnically diverse group of leaders who identify as evangelical (itself a startling fact when evangelical is equated in polls and the media with whiteness).
Lisa Sharon Harper, a black evangelical discusses how evangelicalism was both where she found faith, and found her passion for justice betrayed. Her essay raises the question of what justice will require and whether evangelicalism will step up to this.
Karen Swallow Prior, an English professor at Liberty University, explores why she has remained evangelical--it reflects her convictions, it speaks powerfully to our modern age, there is a beauty in its witness, a history of advocacy for justice and equality, and it is her own family's tradition.
Mark Young discusses evangelicalism as an alternative to fundamentalism and the critical challenge of recovering and refocusing on identity and mission--an ecclesial missiology across the church lines that make up the evangelical movement.
Robert Chao Romero represents the Latinx community and speaks both of the powerful evangelical movement within while challenging the broader movement to step beyond fear in engaging issues of immigration and the Dreamers.
Soong-Chan Rah challenges the American Christian exceptionalism of a white evangelicalism with no room for lament faced with a growing multi-ethnic movement both in America and globally.
Sandra Van Opstal, a Latinx woman engaged in mobilizing multi-ethnic worship expresses the sense of betrayal many felt on election night coupled with a commitment to reform from within, being situated in an evangelical denomination in a multi-ethnic congregation.
Allen Yeh contrasts the theological orthodoxy of Euro-American evangelicalism with the emphasis on orthopraxy in the developing global movement of evangelicals and that we need a theology that incorporates these voices.
Mark Galli, editor in chief of Christianity Today writes of his realization of being part of an evangelical "elite" that often criticized the fearfulness of the "81 percent" while being blind to their own fears. He recognizes the messiness of our scene and the need to recovery a unity not around our politics but around Christ and our love for each other in him.
Shane Claiborne believes evangelicalism needs to be born again along the lines of his "red letter Christian" movement.
Jim Daly, James Dobson's successor at Focus on the Family speaks to the critical need for threefold listening at this time: to God, to each other, and to the world.
Tom Lin, president of InterVarsity, wraps up the collection with the reminder that evangelicalism is far more than its American expression. It is a global movement and the embrace of that movement as well as a re-affirmation of the distinctives often referred to as Bebbington's Quadrilateral may be critical in our day. He is heartened by what he sees in the next generation in the movement he leads (in which I am also employed)--conversions, collaboration, the embrace of people of color (53 percent of InterVarsity), and faithfulness to doctrine.
At first glance, this might be another version of the old saw about lining up economists end to end and having them point every direction. Yet I also found several threads running through these contributions:
1. Evangelicalism in American life is just as messy as American life. Part of the reason for this is the success of evangelicalism in saturating so many of the "social locations" in our national life. Our failure is one of not being able to transcend those locations with a stronger identification with each other through and in Christ. What could happen if we awake to that, lament our mess, and allow Christ to do a fresh work?
2. A part of our needed awakening is to the people of color who share with those of us who are white a love for the Savior and for his scriptures, and a recovery of an evangelical passion for justice for all who are image bearers of God.
3. Our awakening also needs to be to a movement that is global in character, one in which we are a minority, and from whom we have much to learn, even as we repent from Christian versions of American exceptionalism. How might our vision of every tribe and nation, and people worshiping God in the age to come shape how we view those peoples in the present time? A departure from evangelicalism that doesn't reckon with our global identity risks simply falling into a different variant of American exceptionalism.
4. There is much that remains that is good and beautiful and true, from our history, from our bedrock convictions, and from how the Spirit of God is moving amid our messy national life.
Finally, the existence of leaders like those in this book, the wider movements they represent, and the relative lack of notice they receive in the broader media reminds us that it is worth questioning the media accounts of evangelicals. I do not consider these "fake news." I believe they are giving us true accounts, but not full accounts of a complex and messy movement. I also believe that we cannot let these accounts define our self-understanding of what it means to be evangelical, or to determine whether we are still evangelical. For me, the contributions in this book much more closely reflect the lived reality of my faith than the media accounts. Hence, I would be one who says he is "still evangelical."
____________________________
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
Still evangelical? This is a question I've wrestled with and written on. What seems clear, and perhaps even more after reading this book, is that 2016 is a watershed moment in the evangelical movement in the U.S.
The book brings together a collection of evangelical insiders, albeit not those in the news for their associations with the president. This alone is telling because one often has the sense that the only ones speaking for evangelicalism are those (mostly white and male) figures surrounding the president.
The work is edited by Mark Labberton, whose introductory essay explores how an understanding of the varying "social locations" of evangelicals helps account for the deep divides in the movement. The contributions that follow are by an ethnically diverse group of leaders who identify as evangelical (itself a startling fact when evangelical is equated in polls and the media with whiteness).
Lisa Sharon Harper, a black evangelical discusses how evangelicalism was both where she found faith, and found her passion for justice betrayed. Her essay raises the question of what justice will require and whether evangelicalism will step up to this.
Karen Swallow Prior, an English professor at Liberty University, explores why she has remained evangelical--it reflects her convictions, it speaks powerfully to our modern age, there is a beauty in its witness, a history of advocacy for justice and equality, and it is her own family's tradition.
Mark Young discusses evangelicalism as an alternative to fundamentalism and the critical challenge of recovering and refocusing on identity and mission--an ecclesial missiology across the church lines that make up the evangelical movement.
Robert Chao Romero represents the Latinx community and speaks both of the powerful evangelical movement within while challenging the broader movement to step beyond fear in engaging issues of immigration and the Dreamers.
Soong-Chan Rah challenges the American Christian exceptionalism of a white evangelicalism with no room for lament faced with a growing multi-ethnic movement both in America and globally.
Sandra Van Opstal, a Latinx woman engaged in mobilizing multi-ethnic worship expresses the sense of betrayal many felt on election night coupled with a commitment to reform from within, being situated in an evangelical denomination in a multi-ethnic congregation.
Allen Yeh contrasts the theological orthodoxy of Euro-American evangelicalism with the emphasis on orthopraxy in the developing global movement of evangelicals and that we need a theology that incorporates these voices.
Mark Galli, editor in chief of Christianity Today writes of his realization of being part of an evangelical "elite" that often criticized the fearfulness of the "81 percent" while being blind to their own fears. He recognizes the messiness of our scene and the need to recovery a unity not around our politics but around Christ and our love for each other in him.
Shane Claiborne believes evangelicalism needs to be born again along the lines of his "red letter Christian" movement.
Jim Daly, James Dobson's successor at Focus on the Family speaks to the critical need for threefold listening at this time: to God, to each other, and to the world.
Tom Lin, president of InterVarsity, wraps up the collection with the reminder that evangelicalism is far more than its American expression. It is a global movement and the embrace of that movement as well as a re-affirmation of the distinctives often referred to as Bebbington's Quadrilateral may be critical in our day. He is heartened by what he sees in the next generation in the movement he leads (in which I am also employed)--conversions, collaboration, the embrace of people of color (53 percent of InterVarsity), and faithfulness to doctrine.
At first glance, this might be another version of the old saw about lining up economists end to end and having them point every direction. Yet I also found several threads running through these contributions:
1. Evangelicalism in American life is just as messy as American life. Part of the reason for this is the success of evangelicalism in saturating so many of the "social locations" in our national life. Our failure is one of not being able to transcend those locations with a stronger identification with each other through and in Christ. What could happen if we awake to that, lament our mess, and allow Christ to do a fresh work?
2. A part of our needed awakening is to the people of color who share with those of us who are white a love for the Savior and for his scriptures, and a recovery of an evangelical passion for justice for all who are image bearers of God.
3. Our awakening also needs to be to a movement that is global in character, one in which we are a minority, and from whom we have much to learn, even as we repent from Christian versions of American exceptionalism. How might our vision of every tribe and nation, and people worshiping God in the age to come shape how we view those peoples in the present time? A departure from evangelicalism that doesn't reckon with our global identity risks simply falling into a different variant of American exceptionalism.
4. There is much that remains that is good and beautiful and true, from our history, from our bedrock convictions, and from how the Spirit of God is moving amid our messy national life.
Finally, the existence of leaders like those in this book, the wider movements they represent, and the relative lack of notice they receive in the broader media reminds us that it is worth questioning the media accounts of evangelicals. I do not consider these "fake news." I believe they are giving us true accounts, but not full accounts of a complex and messy movement. I also believe that we cannot let these accounts define our self-understanding of what it means to be evangelical, or to determine whether we are still evangelical. For me, the contributions in this book much more closely reflect the lived reality of my faith than the media accounts. Hence, I would be one who says he is "still evangelical."
____________________________
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
December 27, 2018
This is inside baseball for people who are evangelical but horrified by the associations with white evangelicalism today. The range of essays is useful, and I appreciated the international focus on the people of color whose work was featured. There is an essay or two I will use in my church history class to illustrated the challenges within evangelicalism over the last 40 years.
November 30, 2017
The question making the rounds – “Do you still consider yourself an evangelical?” – has theological, political, and cultural ramifications. This book collects essays from a dozen writers (if you count editor Mark Labberton's valuable introduction) to address that question. The list of authors includes plenty of names you should know (and probably more I should know if only I knew I should know them) from across the political spectrum, and each one makes a worthy contribution.
Whether each thinker defines herself as still (or ever) an evangelical is not so much a priority as is the question of what the term “evangelical” itself means. Several essays reference the Bebbington quadrilateral (biblicism, crucicentrism, conversionism, activism) in their work, but the problem seems to lie in the shift in usage since Bebbington and even Mark Noll's landmark writings. The term now has specific political implications. “Evangelical” now, in general usage, tends to define not only what you believe and how you respond to that belief, but how you vote.
The writers here try to suss out that matter in various ways, often not explicitly claiming or not the label for themselves, but sorting out the meaning in the process. Shane Claiborne, for example, wants to shift the thinking toward the Red Letter Christianity that he identifies with. Lisa Sharon Harper traces the problems with the term to somewhere earlier in its history than, say, the rise of the Moral Majority.
Mark Young does address his own status, stating his continuing connection to evangelicalism to be grounded in the gospel of Jesus Christ. He sees the deep cracks in the tradition's public outworking and seeks to find a way forward not through partisanship but through missional ecclesiology. Karen Swallow Prior takes a different path, finding her connection to evangelicalism not in the current political climate but in historical and biographical reasons, acknowledging that “Robust Christianity is not for the faint of heart – or the faint of mind.” The challenges are part of the deal, and are no reason to abandon deep traditions.
Each essay in the book has something to contribute. It'd be nice to see these writers in conversation with each other, but that's not the point of the text (though maybe a panel discussion with four or five of them would really push these ideas). Still Evangelical? is a smart and timely entry into a discussion that's likely to reverberate for a while.
[Based on a NetGalley edition.]
Whether each thinker defines herself as still (or ever) an evangelical is not so much a priority as is the question of what the term “evangelical” itself means. Several essays reference the Bebbington quadrilateral (biblicism, crucicentrism, conversionism, activism) in their work, but the problem seems to lie in the shift in usage since Bebbington and even Mark Noll's landmark writings. The term now has specific political implications. “Evangelical” now, in general usage, tends to define not only what you believe and how you respond to that belief, but how you vote.
The writers here try to suss out that matter in various ways, often not explicitly claiming or not the label for themselves, but sorting out the meaning in the process. Shane Claiborne, for example, wants to shift the thinking toward the Red Letter Christianity that he identifies with. Lisa Sharon Harper traces the problems with the term to somewhere earlier in its history than, say, the rise of the Moral Majority.
Mark Young does address his own status, stating his continuing connection to evangelicalism to be grounded in the gospel of Jesus Christ. He sees the deep cracks in the tradition's public outworking and seeks to find a way forward not through partisanship but through missional ecclesiology. Karen Swallow Prior takes a different path, finding her connection to evangelicalism not in the current political climate but in historical and biographical reasons, acknowledging that “Robust Christianity is not for the faint of heart – or the faint of mind.” The challenges are part of the deal, and are no reason to abandon deep traditions.
Each essay in the book has something to contribute. It'd be nice to see these writers in conversation with each other, but that's not the point of the text (though maybe a panel discussion with four or five of them would really push these ideas). Still Evangelical? is a smart and timely entry into a discussion that's likely to reverberate for a while.
[Based on a NetGalley edition.]
April 23, 2018
I was born and raised Catholic, and when I was in high school I chose to complete my initiation by receiving confirmation in the Catholic church. However, I also grew up alongside a community of Evangelical Christians, many of whom deeply influenced my formative years. I've come to see Evangelicalism as a sort of step-parent religion to my own Catholicism.
While I disagree with much of the Evangelical theology I encountered over the years (particularly the kind that questions the Christian status of Catholics or hovers too close to fundamentalism), I have come to love and appreciate the raw, personal form of spontaneous prayer that many of my Evangelical peers and mentors practice.
Still, with the 2016 election of Donald Trump (81% of white Evangelicals voted for Trump), my dismay at the inconsistency of Christians supporting a decidedly un-Christian candidate was largely pointed at Evangelical churches. However, I have been pleased to see that many of my devoutly Evangelical friends are public in their disapproval for Trump. While some of them have parents who support the man, a large portion of twenty- and thirty-somethings have consistently called out the myriad of ways in which Trump's policies and personal life directly violate the Gospel.
This collection of essays presents a number of voices that can all be classified as Evangelical (though some have abandoned the label itself) and allows some insight into various Evangelical perspectives that thwart the impression that *all* Evangelicals comply with Trump and the GOP. Thankfully, that narrative is simply untrue. Thoughts on a consistent ethic of life, ministering to communities of color or people in danger of deportation, reforming what has been hijacked by political groups, and other topics make for a riveting read. Highly recommended to American Christians disillusioned by recent events.
While I disagree with much of the Evangelical theology I encountered over the years (particularly the kind that questions the Christian status of Catholics or hovers too close to fundamentalism), I have come to love and appreciate the raw, personal form of spontaneous prayer that many of my Evangelical peers and mentors practice.
Still, with the 2016 election of Donald Trump (81% of white Evangelicals voted for Trump), my dismay at the inconsistency of Christians supporting a decidedly un-Christian candidate was largely pointed at Evangelical churches. However, I have been pleased to see that many of my devoutly Evangelical friends are public in their disapproval for Trump. While some of them have parents who support the man, a large portion of twenty- and thirty-somethings have consistently called out the myriad of ways in which Trump's policies and personal life directly violate the Gospel.
This collection of essays presents a number of voices that can all be classified as Evangelical (though some have abandoned the label itself) and allows some insight into various Evangelical perspectives that thwart the impression that *all* Evangelicals comply with Trump and the GOP. Thankfully, that narrative is simply untrue. Thoughts on a consistent ethic of life, ministering to communities of color or people in danger of deportation, reforming what has been hijacked by political groups, and other topics make for a riveting read. Highly recommended to American Christians disillusioned by recent events.
February 2, 2018
As expected, this collection makes for an uneven read. Some of the essays are personal and heartfelt, while others are measured and matter-of-fact. There's some overlap (Bebbington's Quadrilateral, anyone?), but there are also strong divergences among the writers regarding what the actual issue is, what's at stake, and if there's a way forward. While time fails me to offer thoughts on each piece, I have a few stand-out comments. First, having just read Rah's book Prophetic Lament, I was struck by how much of his essay was material straight from that book. Second, I thought that -- given the fact this book is supposed to be the voices of "evangelical insiders" -- we'd hear from some of the die-hard Trump supporters whose words and actions have called into question the use of the word "evangelical." But while there's great diversity among the authors (both of gender, race, denominations, etc.), we don't hear an insider voice from the 81% who voted for Donald Trump and would still defend doing so. Am I the only one who finds this omission odd? Third, I find Allen Yeh's thesis brilliant, because it so cogently summarizes both where we are now and where we need to go: "Just as Western evangelicalism ought to balance its orthodoxy with orthopraxis to restore purity, Majority World evangelicalism needs to increase its theological production to achieve maturity." Last, I'm not sure who the target audience of this book is supposed to be; however, it's unlikely that people who need to read it the most (those responsible for hijacking the term "evangelical" from a theological term to a political one) are unlikely to read it.
December 19, 2017
Short Review: Still Evangelical is worth reading. Part of why it is worth reading is that it is well balanced and actually has as many women and minority authors as White males. And for this discussion that matters. I mentioned each of the chapters in my full review, but the best chapters is Allen Yeh's chapter, which while about more than just this, is about the importance of retaining the orthodoxy we have while adopting a greater focus on orthopraxy. Mark Galli's chapter was most frustrating for me, but I think that it was also a necessary chapter as being the most standard critique of the state of Evangelicalism (not paying enough attention to the non-elites and roughly parallel argument for economic and cultural anxiety as the reasons people voted for Trump).
There were many other chapters that were also quite good. Roughly the line of argument throughout the book is that Evangelicalism as a group matters, that it is a worldwide movement and that the critique of the term in the US doesn't listen enough to those outside the US, or the term's history. But that there is a reason for the critique inside the US.
I really was not incredibly interested in this discussion and was planning on skipping the book. But I picked it up mostly because of Karen Swallow Prior talking about it positively. I gave it a chance and it was much better and more helpful than I expected it to be.
My full review is on my blog (about 1500 words) at http://bookwi.se/still-evangelical/
There were many other chapters that were also quite good. Roughly the line of argument throughout the book is that Evangelicalism as a group matters, that it is a worldwide movement and that the critique of the term in the US doesn't listen enough to those outside the US, or the term's history. But that there is a reason for the critique inside the US.
I really was not incredibly interested in this discussion and was planning on skipping the book. But I picked it up mostly because of Karen Swallow Prior talking about it positively. I gave it a chance and it was much better and more helpful than I expected it to be.
My full review is on my blog (about 1500 words) at http://bookwi.se/still-evangelical/
April 17, 2018
A solid, timely book formed by a wide range of perspectives. If you have been wrestling with what it means to be "evangelical" in America post 2016 (like I have), then you probably won't be shocked or surprised by anything you read in these essays. Rather, you may be assured you aren't alone, gently convicted, and reminded of some of the positive legacy of our tradition that hasn't gotten any airtime in the past two years.
In my opinion, the stand-out contributions are from Karen Swallow Prior, Allen Yeh, Soong-Chan Rah, and Tom Lin. These essays, in particular, bring a refreshing, zoomed out perspective on evangelical history (Prior), global evangelicalism (Yeh, Lin) and how most of the hand-wringing is actually about white-American evangelicalism (Rah, Yeh) and that the rest of the movement is alive and well.
So, like any essay-collection from different authors, it's a little uneven. You may find a few frustrating pieces (as I did), but it's overall a timely and thoughtful reflection on an important question for the church.
In my opinion, the stand-out contributions are from Karen Swallow Prior, Allen Yeh, Soong-Chan Rah, and Tom Lin. These essays, in particular, bring a refreshing, zoomed out perspective on evangelical history (Prior), global evangelicalism (Yeh, Lin) and how most of the hand-wringing is actually about white-American evangelicalism (Rah, Yeh) and that the rest of the movement is alive and well.
So, like any essay-collection from different authors, it's a little uneven. You may find a few frustrating pieces (as I did), but it's overall a timely and thoughtful reflection on an important question for the church.
October 8, 2019
Interesting topic but was so so so bored. Maybe the reader was the problem? Ugh. Maybe I just dont care about politics.
December 21, 2018
I am a graduate of the one of the largest evangelical seminaries (Fuller), having both the M.Div. and PhD. I value the education I received and the professors I studied with. The question is, do I consider myself an evangelical? I probably don't fit into the Evangelical box anymore, but it is part of me, like my Pentecostal and Anglican pieces. In recent years, especially in the aftermath of the Trump election, and the news that some 81% of self-described white evangelicals voted for him and largely support him despite his immoral life and bigoted views. These facts have led to many who have called themselves evangelicals to rethink what that means. In other words, there has been a lot of soul-searching. As for me, I grieve over what has become of my former tribe.
It is with interest that I read "Still Evangelical," which is edited by the current president of Fuller Seminary. The book features eleven essays by persons who self-identify as evangelicals. While there is a theological component to evangelicalism, Labberton admits that the lines dividing evangelical/non-evangelical are as much sociological and ideological as they are theological. What is often forgotten, and is revealed in the diversity of essays, is that evangelicalism is more than a white phenomenon. Many who hold to evangelical theological beliefs, and thus are within the tent, are black, Asian, or Latinx. Unfortunately, their voices are often ignored or suppressed. So, what makes one an evangelical? The essayists often refer to the Bebbington Quadrilateral, a four point description of evangelicalism developed by British church historian David Bebbington. This quadrilateral includes, biblicism, crucicentrism (centrality of the cross), conversionism, and activism. The latter refers to the commitment to evangelism, but also the Great Commandment, and these are undertaken with an entrepreneurial spirit, that has birthed a myriad of efforts. There is a flexibility and pragmatism organizationally that is less present in Mainline Protestantism.
The question then concerns whether one still wishes to be considered an evangelical and what that means? What is interesting to me about the essays, is that I found the essays written by women and persons of color (non-white males), to be the most compelling and helpful. It is these essays that raise concerns about the racism and bigotry that still inhabits evangelical circles. The essays written by white males, by and large, were not all that interesting. Shane Claiborne raised the question of whether the word evangelical may need to be abandoned, but he is numbered among the so-called progressive evangelicals, many of whom have simply left the fold (eg Brian McLaren, Tony Jones, Doug Pagitt, Rachel Held Evans, and Rob Bell).
Perhaps I am numbered among that group as well.
So, essays by Lisa Sharon Harper, an African American woman, Robert Chao Romero, a Latino professor of Chicano studies, Soong-Chan Rah (Asian-American), Allen Yeh (Asian American), Sandra Maria Van Opstal (Latinx woman), and Tom Lin (Asian American), all raise important issues about social justice, racism, and the continuing dominance of white males.
Consider this word from Sandra Van Opstal, a second-generation Latina whose parents immigrated from Columbia and Argentina. Despite being "born again" in a Southern Baptist church, "discipled in an evangelical parachurch movement, and trained in an Evangelical Free seminary," she notes that you would think she would have no problem identifying with evangelicalism. It is her theological foundation, her place of spiritual re-birth, and yet she struggles with this self-identification. She writes "It's not that I can't include myself with evangelicals. Rather, evangelicals have not sought to include me." (p. 123). This is in part a reality of being a Latina (born of immigrant parents and thus an outsider) but also of being a woman. She stays, however, in the hope that she can contribute to the reformation of the movement. I should note that the publisher of this book, InterVarsity Press, has done an excellent job of publishing non-white authors.
It is difficult to take note of all of the contributions, so let me say that this is worth reading, both for evangelicals and for non-evangelicals. For my non-evangelical friends who speak with derision of evangelicalism as a racist movement, this might help understand the diversity that makes up the movement. For the most part, non-white evangelicals don't support Donald Trump, even if their theology is conservative. It is also important to note, as Allen Yeh points out, evangelicalism is a global movement. At the same time many majority world evangelicals are wondering what is happening here in the United States. Thus, he advises evangelicals in the Weste to balance concern for orthodoxy with orthopraxis (right action).
I was a bit hesitant to pick up the book, in part fearful that it would simply be a defense of the status quo. Instead, I found a lot of self-criticism. You even get the sense that there is increasing openness to LGBT folks, or at the very least, recognition of the problem of homophobia. They may, for the most part, not be ready to move toward full inclusion, but here and there I saw signs of a slight opening. It is, therefore, worth reading.
It is with interest that I read "Still Evangelical," which is edited by the current president of Fuller Seminary. The book features eleven essays by persons who self-identify as evangelicals. While there is a theological component to evangelicalism, Labberton admits that the lines dividing evangelical/non-evangelical are as much sociological and ideological as they are theological. What is often forgotten, and is revealed in the diversity of essays, is that evangelicalism is more than a white phenomenon. Many who hold to evangelical theological beliefs, and thus are within the tent, are black, Asian, or Latinx. Unfortunately, their voices are often ignored or suppressed. So, what makes one an evangelical? The essayists often refer to the Bebbington Quadrilateral, a four point description of evangelicalism developed by British church historian David Bebbington. This quadrilateral includes, biblicism, crucicentrism (centrality of the cross), conversionism, and activism. The latter refers to the commitment to evangelism, but also the Great Commandment, and these are undertaken with an entrepreneurial spirit, that has birthed a myriad of efforts. There is a flexibility and pragmatism organizationally that is less present in Mainline Protestantism.
The question then concerns whether one still wishes to be considered an evangelical and what that means? What is interesting to me about the essays, is that I found the essays written by women and persons of color (non-white males), to be the most compelling and helpful. It is these essays that raise concerns about the racism and bigotry that still inhabits evangelical circles. The essays written by white males, by and large, were not all that interesting. Shane Claiborne raised the question of whether the word evangelical may need to be abandoned, but he is numbered among the so-called progressive evangelicals, many of whom have simply left the fold (eg Brian McLaren, Tony Jones, Doug Pagitt, Rachel Held Evans, and Rob Bell).
Perhaps I am numbered among that group as well.
So, essays by Lisa Sharon Harper, an African American woman, Robert Chao Romero, a Latino professor of Chicano studies, Soong-Chan Rah (Asian-American), Allen Yeh (Asian American), Sandra Maria Van Opstal (Latinx woman), and Tom Lin (Asian American), all raise important issues about social justice, racism, and the continuing dominance of white males.
Consider this word from Sandra Van Opstal, a second-generation Latina whose parents immigrated from Columbia and Argentina. Despite being "born again" in a Southern Baptist church, "discipled in an evangelical parachurch movement, and trained in an Evangelical Free seminary," she notes that you would think she would have no problem identifying with evangelicalism. It is her theological foundation, her place of spiritual re-birth, and yet she struggles with this self-identification. She writes "It's not that I can't include myself with evangelicals. Rather, evangelicals have not sought to include me." (p. 123). This is in part a reality of being a Latina (born of immigrant parents and thus an outsider) but also of being a woman. She stays, however, in the hope that she can contribute to the reformation of the movement. I should note that the publisher of this book, InterVarsity Press, has done an excellent job of publishing non-white authors.
It is difficult to take note of all of the contributions, so let me say that this is worth reading, both for evangelicals and for non-evangelicals. For my non-evangelical friends who speak with derision of evangelicalism as a racist movement, this might help understand the diversity that makes up the movement. For the most part, non-white evangelicals don't support Donald Trump, even if their theology is conservative. It is also important to note, as Allen Yeh points out, evangelicalism is a global movement. At the same time many majority world evangelicals are wondering what is happening here in the United States. Thus, he advises evangelicals in the Weste to balance concern for orthodoxy with orthopraxis (right action).
I was a bit hesitant to pick up the book, in part fearful that it would simply be a defense of the status quo. Instead, I found a lot of self-criticism. You even get the sense that there is increasing openness to LGBT folks, or at the very least, recognition of the problem of homophobia. They may, for the most part, not be ready to move toward full inclusion, but here and there I saw signs of a slight opening. It is, therefore, worth reading.
August 28, 2018
This is a collection of essays by folks from a variety of (Christian) backgrounds asking whether the label "evangelical" has been hopelessly compromised by its association with the white male politicizing of the church that helped put Donald Trump in the White House. Answers take many forms. One says Luther called himself an evangelical and she stands by the Reformation, so she's still an evangelical. Others say that their experience of evangelicalism is very different from the one portrayed in the news because it is predominantly black, hispanic, Asian so they are fine with their church but would prefer that they be allowed more space on the podiums of "evangelical" conferences, not to fill some quota, but because their expertise and point of view is valued by the white men who currently dominate selection committees. Some point to the "Majority World Church" (in Asia, Latin America, and Africa where the majority of human beings live) as doing more actual evangelism and so deserving much more attention. And some suggest that it's time to look for a new label (as Evangelical was a mid 20th century replacement for Fundamentalist). Shane Claiborne suggests Red Letter Christians. The footnotes alone could easily provide a couple of decades of further reading. There's a lot here. You won't like everything. But these essays will invite you to further reflection.
January 28, 2021
If you are a self-proclaimed evangelical, or a believing Christian of any type, this book is guaranteed to encourage you, challenge you, frustrate you and puzzle you. Written a few years after the 2016 election, this collection of evangelical Christians leaders each take a turn sorting through what has happened to the church since the election. For a book that is so recent, there are places where it feels dated. The reaction to the election of President Trump is so immediate that there are bound to be predictions that do not come true and situations that are unforeseen. No doubt most people will feel persuaded by the authors who are most like themselves. I was struck by Mark Galli's piece about the arrogance and embarrassment that most evangelicals feel toward their brothers and sisters in Christ who disagree with them on both sides of the isle. I was also challenged by Soong-Chan Rah and inspired by Tom Lin. All of the authors are thoughtful and passionate and deserve to be heard.
September 2, 2019
81% of evangelicals voted for Trump. This collection of essays is a cri de coeur from the other 19%. It probably shouldn’t be surprising that the political polarization that has beset the rest of the country can be seen within the evangelical church as well. I don’t agree with all of the ideas expressed here, but I guess that was the point of reading it in the first place. Just like each of the contributors, I think I’m right politically, and the other side is wrong. But we also agree that the most important thing is not being politically right. It is being a faithful disciple of Jesus.
And once again I will rely on Bob for a better review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
And once again I will rely on Bob for a better review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
May 19, 2021
As someone who has been wrestling with my own Christian identity for some time now, I found this collection of essays helpful in exploring the various contours and perspectives on the nature of evangelicalism. The essay I enjoyed the most were by Lisa Sharon Harper, Mark Young, Robert Chao Romero, Soong-Chan Rah (whose chapter overlapped somewhat with his book length Prophetic Lament, written around the same time), Allen Yeh, Shane Claiborne, and Tom Lin.
February 20, 2023
Each chapter offers such a different angle or perspective on the question of evangelicalism. Though it was written in 2018 (and a bizarrely high amount of things have changed in the last five years), the thoughts within still left me with an ache and conviction. The state of American evangelicalism is necessarily changing, and anyone seriously engaged in their Christian faith would do well to read this book, both as a refresher of our heritage and a call to better represent that “good news” root of the word.
May 6, 2022
Labberton’s Introduction:
The basic premise of this essay is to outline Evanglicalism as being ordered, informed, directed and controlled by the evangel - the Good News and how it is not seen in Evangelicalism today. Labberton calls outs elements on the left and the right of the Evangelical political spectrum noting that these ideologies have somehow become more foundational than the Gospel. He does, however, focus more on the wrongs of the Evangelical right than the left, but this may be because the book is borne out of the results of Trump’s election and both the secular and Evangelical reaction to that election.
He surmises a lot about context being the key to whether one is politically left or right Evangelically speaking and I feel this is an oversimplification. He refers to Red and Blue states on numerous occasions which makes the assumption that all Californians, say, would be left leaning Evangelicals which is certainly not my experience of Californian Evangelicals. I would say they are in the minority even there. So I think he gives too much weight to social settings there. The main point of this chapter is that left and right Evangelicals are both not really Evangelicals and so he comes to the question he has titled this book, “Still Evangelical” and claims maybe the question shouldn’t be “still” but “yet”. Which is a strange thing to do to the title of your book in the first chapter. But the point is well made and noted.
Harper - Surrender?
The author of this woman is a black woman. She’s writing about what happened when she became a Christian in the wider Evangelical movement, basically Evangelicalism becoming conservative to keep segregation in schools. She also calls out the racist crap Trump did and she ends with a call for white Evangelicals especially to come before Jesus and surrender.
Prior - Why Evangelical?
This chapter reads part evangelicalism’s greatest hits, part delusions stuck in the past and not seeing what’s in front of you now, and part optimistic hope for the future. The sad part of the latter of those three is that it’s based in the triumphs of the past and the delusions the movement is still like that instead of facing the reality of the present.
Interestingly, the quadrilateral and the Holy Spirit influence which characterize evangelical theology, though not necessarily practice, are what the author holds on to to stay evangelical. But I wonder has the author considered you can believe in the theology labeled evangelical without identifying with the movement that calls itself evangelical. If theology were the only issue this book would not be needed.
Young - Recapturing:
Mark Young writes from a perspective of growing into the evangelical branch of the Christian faith in the 1970s but then leaving the USA to become a missionary to Europe in the early 1980s and only returning in the mid 1990s. It was during this time that a large shift occurred in the movement from his perspective. One from a movement based on theology to one more interested in politics and specifically conservative politics.
This essay is by far one of the better ones so far. It recognizes the historical evangelical movement but also recognizes the change that is occurring in that movement to it becoming more a political movement than a theological one. This essay is full of good insight. Young notes: “Conservatism and control remain dominant social values in fundamentalism and evangelicalism. Denunciation, social shaming and ostracism are powerful tactics used to enforce these values.” (57). I’d never before considered control and social shaming as a tactic evangelicals use. It’s very true and very interesting to just read it in a sentence like that. Because it’s exactly the reality.
Young speaks of the theology of the missional church, the Missio Dei, as one way theologians who hold to a historical view of Evangelicalism as a theological and not a political movement are attempting to redefine Christian identity in order to help people see themselves as something beyond part of a political movement or a nation and to help focus the goal of all we do on the gospel.
“To the degree that evangelicalism continues to define itself by anything other than the gospel, answering [the question “Why are you Evangelical?”] will remain problematic for those of us who care about how the broader culture hears the gospel. If we are not radically and persistently intentional about defining evangelicalism in the terms of the gospel, I see no reason to continue to use a label that now misrepresents our true identity and is counterproductive to our calling as the people of God’s mission. However, if we are willing to refocus our identity and mission on the gospel, we can boldly assert the reason for our identification with evangelicalism. That is my hope and prayer.” (64-5)
4. Romero - Immigration and Latina/o:
The basic premise of this essay is that white, conservative, Republican evangelicals have abandoned and turned their backs on their non-white evangelical brothers and sisters in Christ instead choosing a view of America and evangelicalism that excludes non-white people, especially but not limited to undocumented migrants. The call is to love the stranger, the foreigner, the immigrant, as the Bible would lay down as example for us, and to see migrant believers, documented or not, as brothers and sisters in Christ who are worthy of respect and freedom. He speaks of how about 11 million undocumented workers in the US generate about $420 billion in revenue for US GDP per annum, but they are not granted the rights to live in the country that should come with such economic benefit and in so doing its exploration on a systemic level. He tells personal stories of documented and undocumented immigrants being arrested by ICE, called criminals by other white evangelicals and the hardships they face. He also calls of Evangelicals to make immigration reform, welcoming the foreigner and the Dreamers legislation Obama introduced but didn’t get passed, as priorities for the political evangelical agenda when it comes to relationships with our non-white brothers and sisters in Christ.
5. Soong-Chan Rah. Evangelical Futures:
“New immigrants represent not the de-Christianization of American society but the de-Europeanization of American Christianity.” (Warner, 82)
“To move toward a future evangelicalism marked by an integrated and healthy diversity, the current captivity of American evangelicalism to a Western, white cultural dominance must be overcome.” (82)
Speaks of American Evangelical, white exceptionalism and triumphalism and how suffering is rejected from the Christian narrative. And how this finds it’s roots in the non-Christian ideology of white supremacism. The author also speaks of how Evangelicals see themselves as preserving orthodoxy traced to the early church and through the faithful remnant within Roman Catholicism etc up to today. It’s then noted “The goal of evangelical theology, therefore, could be seen as the preservation and conservation of received doctrine, rather than a healthy engagement with social-cultural reality.” (87)
The author speaks of lament and social Justice as forming two parts of a new evangelical identity that rejects triumphalism and exceptionalism.
“If Evangelicals of color were to depart the larger evangelical movement—leaving it with only a shrinking population of white evangelicals—it would not be for impulsive, prideful reasons. It would be a result of white evangelicals creating a hostile environment for evangelicals of color. It would be a result of white evangelicals so caught up in the cultural assumptions of exceptionalism and triumphalism that they are unable to hear the lament of their brothers and sisters.” (95-6)
This was a great chapter. I’ll be adding more of Soong-Chan Rah’s work to my reading list.
6. Allen Yeh - Theology and Practice in Global Evangelicalism:
The talk here is the balance between practice and theology, or knowledge and actions and how both are the foundations of evangelicalism, but in the West theology is more important and in the Global South it’s the other way around. But both are needed.
The results of the Council of Jerusalem:
“In other words, culture (circumcision) was to be distinguished from truth (there is only one God). In the middle stands theology (human attempts to express God through language); this is the intersection where truth and culture meet. Until we get to heaven, theology—the imperfect human articulation of God—will have to do.” (112)
“Evangelicals are rightfully skittish of relativism, but at the same time we have to acknowledge that we all use our limited culture as our lenses to articulate the infinite God. There is no “absolute” theology, any more than there is an “absolute” culture.” (113-4)
“Duane Elmer, former professor at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, charged Christians to think beyond “right” and “wrong” and acknowledge a third category: “different.”” (118-9)
7. Sandra Maria Van Opstal - Remaining to Reform:
“It’s not that I can’t include myself with evangelicals. Rather, evangelicals have not sought to include me.” (123)
“Sadly, many of us internalize our oppression because we are happy to be asked to participate.” (125)
This author is basically a Latina. And so, with Trump being voted in by 81% of white evangelicals, she feels marginalized and unwelcome in her own faith group by those who should be brothers and sisters in Christ. But she chooses to stay in evangelicalism, believing there to be a faithful remnant who can be engaged, educated and revived.
8. Mark Galli - Unity in Wrong Places:
Basically a call to love people the other side of the political divide because Jesus would and commands us to and had Simon the Zealot and Matthew the tax collector as two of the Twelve.
But he calls himself an elite evangelical a lot and says the 81% Trump voters mostly aren’t elite (meaning educated and with a voice) aren’t and he sounds up his own hole a lot.
9. Shane Claiborne - Evangelicalism Must Be Born Again:
“while I believe many of the things, I find myself at odds with the things that have come to characterize contemporary evangelicalism… To be frank, my commitment to Jesus has put me at odds with evangelicalism. While I may love what evangelicalism has been in the past, I am grieved by what it has become.” (153)
“Trump seems to better embody the seven deadly sins than the Beatitudes.” (160)
“The Religious Right turns out to be the people the Religious Right warned us about” (Russell Moore, 161)
Basically evangelicalism for Shane is too political and too far gone because of the things white evangelicals have hijacked it to mean. He, instead, calls himself a red letter Christian (though I wouldn’t be comfortable with that either as it favours the red words in Bibles to the black ones and that’s a problem if you believe in the whole counsel of God.
10. Jim Daly - Importance of Listening:
Here’s the voice of the 81%. You know that phrase “read the room” comes to mind a lot with this chapter. Though Daly doesn’t mention the election, Trump, the religious right etc etc he very much sounds like he’s part of it. And his main thesis here is to listen to “the other” good advice of course but funny when it’s a chapter in a book that’s basically full of others.
Has a little bit of James Dobson worship, some really incorrect inferences and observations on the millennial generation that are correct on what he bases it on but a very slim picture, and suffers a little from the same problem as the guy who called himself an “elite” evangelical in an earlier chapter in that it feels like he’s talking down to you and not to you.
11. Tom Lin - Hope:
The chapter is basically about the hope the Majority World and the realities of Evangelicalism there bring for the future.
“So much of what many find distasteful in evangelicals would be cured if we simply clung to the cross.” (191)
The basic premise of this essay is to outline Evanglicalism as being ordered, informed, directed and controlled by the evangel - the Good News and how it is not seen in Evangelicalism today. Labberton calls outs elements on the left and the right of the Evangelical political spectrum noting that these ideologies have somehow become more foundational than the Gospel. He does, however, focus more on the wrongs of the Evangelical right than the left, but this may be because the book is borne out of the results of Trump’s election and both the secular and Evangelical reaction to that election.
He surmises a lot about context being the key to whether one is politically left or right Evangelically speaking and I feel this is an oversimplification. He refers to Red and Blue states on numerous occasions which makes the assumption that all Californians, say, would be left leaning Evangelicals which is certainly not my experience of Californian Evangelicals. I would say they are in the minority even there. So I think he gives too much weight to social settings there. The main point of this chapter is that left and right Evangelicals are both not really Evangelicals and so he comes to the question he has titled this book, “Still Evangelical” and claims maybe the question shouldn’t be “still” but “yet”. Which is a strange thing to do to the title of your book in the first chapter. But the point is well made and noted.
Harper - Surrender?
The author of this woman is a black woman. She’s writing about what happened when she became a Christian in the wider Evangelical movement, basically Evangelicalism becoming conservative to keep segregation in schools. She also calls out the racist crap Trump did and she ends with a call for white Evangelicals especially to come before Jesus and surrender.
Prior - Why Evangelical?
This chapter reads part evangelicalism’s greatest hits, part delusions stuck in the past and not seeing what’s in front of you now, and part optimistic hope for the future. The sad part of the latter of those three is that it’s based in the triumphs of the past and the delusions the movement is still like that instead of facing the reality of the present.
Interestingly, the quadrilateral and the Holy Spirit influence which characterize evangelical theology, though not necessarily practice, are what the author holds on to to stay evangelical. But I wonder has the author considered you can believe in the theology labeled evangelical without identifying with the movement that calls itself evangelical. If theology were the only issue this book would not be needed.
Young - Recapturing:
Mark Young writes from a perspective of growing into the evangelical branch of the Christian faith in the 1970s but then leaving the USA to become a missionary to Europe in the early 1980s and only returning in the mid 1990s. It was during this time that a large shift occurred in the movement from his perspective. One from a movement based on theology to one more interested in politics and specifically conservative politics.
This essay is by far one of the better ones so far. It recognizes the historical evangelical movement but also recognizes the change that is occurring in that movement to it becoming more a political movement than a theological one. This essay is full of good insight. Young notes: “Conservatism and control remain dominant social values in fundamentalism and evangelicalism. Denunciation, social shaming and ostracism are powerful tactics used to enforce these values.” (57). I’d never before considered control and social shaming as a tactic evangelicals use. It’s very true and very interesting to just read it in a sentence like that. Because it’s exactly the reality.
Young speaks of the theology of the missional church, the Missio Dei, as one way theologians who hold to a historical view of Evangelicalism as a theological and not a political movement are attempting to redefine Christian identity in order to help people see themselves as something beyond part of a political movement or a nation and to help focus the goal of all we do on the gospel.
“To the degree that evangelicalism continues to define itself by anything other than the gospel, answering [the question “Why are you Evangelical?”] will remain problematic for those of us who care about how the broader culture hears the gospel. If we are not radically and persistently intentional about defining evangelicalism in the terms of the gospel, I see no reason to continue to use a label that now misrepresents our true identity and is counterproductive to our calling as the people of God’s mission. However, if we are willing to refocus our identity and mission on the gospel, we can boldly assert the reason for our identification with evangelicalism. That is my hope and prayer.” (64-5)
4. Romero - Immigration and Latina/o:
The basic premise of this essay is that white, conservative, Republican evangelicals have abandoned and turned their backs on their non-white evangelical brothers and sisters in Christ instead choosing a view of America and evangelicalism that excludes non-white people, especially but not limited to undocumented migrants. The call is to love the stranger, the foreigner, the immigrant, as the Bible would lay down as example for us, and to see migrant believers, documented or not, as brothers and sisters in Christ who are worthy of respect and freedom. He speaks of how about 11 million undocumented workers in the US generate about $420 billion in revenue for US GDP per annum, but they are not granted the rights to live in the country that should come with such economic benefit and in so doing its exploration on a systemic level. He tells personal stories of documented and undocumented immigrants being arrested by ICE, called criminals by other white evangelicals and the hardships they face. He also calls of Evangelicals to make immigration reform, welcoming the foreigner and the Dreamers legislation Obama introduced but didn’t get passed, as priorities for the political evangelical agenda when it comes to relationships with our non-white brothers and sisters in Christ.
5. Soong-Chan Rah. Evangelical Futures:
“New immigrants represent not the de-Christianization of American society but the de-Europeanization of American Christianity.” (Warner, 82)
“To move toward a future evangelicalism marked by an integrated and healthy diversity, the current captivity of American evangelicalism to a Western, white cultural dominance must be overcome.” (82)
Speaks of American Evangelical, white exceptionalism and triumphalism and how suffering is rejected from the Christian narrative. And how this finds it’s roots in the non-Christian ideology of white supremacism. The author also speaks of how Evangelicals see themselves as preserving orthodoxy traced to the early church and through the faithful remnant within Roman Catholicism etc up to today. It’s then noted “The goal of evangelical theology, therefore, could be seen as the preservation and conservation of received doctrine, rather than a healthy engagement with social-cultural reality.” (87)
The author speaks of lament and social Justice as forming two parts of a new evangelical identity that rejects triumphalism and exceptionalism.
“If Evangelicals of color were to depart the larger evangelical movement—leaving it with only a shrinking population of white evangelicals—it would not be for impulsive, prideful reasons. It would be a result of white evangelicals creating a hostile environment for evangelicals of color. It would be a result of white evangelicals so caught up in the cultural assumptions of exceptionalism and triumphalism that they are unable to hear the lament of their brothers and sisters.” (95-6)
This was a great chapter. I’ll be adding more of Soong-Chan Rah’s work to my reading list.
6. Allen Yeh - Theology and Practice in Global Evangelicalism:
The talk here is the balance between practice and theology, or knowledge and actions and how both are the foundations of evangelicalism, but in the West theology is more important and in the Global South it’s the other way around. But both are needed.
The results of the Council of Jerusalem:
“In other words, culture (circumcision) was to be distinguished from truth (there is only one God). In the middle stands theology (human attempts to express God through language); this is the intersection where truth and culture meet. Until we get to heaven, theology—the imperfect human articulation of God—will have to do.” (112)
“Evangelicals are rightfully skittish of relativism, but at the same time we have to acknowledge that we all use our limited culture as our lenses to articulate the infinite God. There is no “absolute” theology, any more than there is an “absolute” culture.” (113-4)
“Duane Elmer, former professor at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, charged Christians to think beyond “right” and “wrong” and acknowledge a third category: “different.”” (118-9)
7. Sandra Maria Van Opstal - Remaining to Reform:
“It’s not that I can’t include myself with evangelicals. Rather, evangelicals have not sought to include me.” (123)
“Sadly, many of us internalize our oppression because we are happy to be asked to participate.” (125)
This author is basically a Latina. And so, with Trump being voted in by 81% of white evangelicals, she feels marginalized and unwelcome in her own faith group by those who should be brothers and sisters in Christ. But she chooses to stay in evangelicalism, believing there to be a faithful remnant who can be engaged, educated and revived.
8. Mark Galli - Unity in Wrong Places:
Basically a call to love people the other side of the political divide because Jesus would and commands us to and had Simon the Zealot and Matthew the tax collector as two of the Twelve.
But he calls himself an elite evangelical a lot and says the 81% Trump voters mostly aren’t elite (meaning educated and with a voice) aren’t and he sounds up his own hole a lot.
9. Shane Claiborne - Evangelicalism Must Be Born Again:
“while I believe many of the things, I find myself at odds with the things that have come to characterize contemporary evangelicalism… To be frank, my commitment to Jesus has put me at odds with evangelicalism. While I may love what evangelicalism has been in the past, I am grieved by what it has become.” (153)
“Trump seems to better embody the seven deadly sins than the Beatitudes.” (160)
“The Religious Right turns out to be the people the Religious Right warned us about” (Russell Moore, 161)
Basically evangelicalism for Shane is too political and too far gone because of the things white evangelicals have hijacked it to mean. He, instead, calls himself a red letter Christian (though I wouldn’t be comfortable with that either as it favours the red words in Bibles to the black ones and that’s a problem if you believe in the whole counsel of God.
10. Jim Daly - Importance of Listening:
Here’s the voice of the 81%. You know that phrase “read the room” comes to mind a lot with this chapter. Though Daly doesn’t mention the election, Trump, the religious right etc etc he very much sounds like he’s part of it. And his main thesis here is to listen to “the other” good advice of course but funny when it’s a chapter in a book that’s basically full of others.
Has a little bit of James Dobson worship, some really incorrect inferences and observations on the millennial generation that are correct on what he bases it on but a very slim picture, and suffers a little from the same problem as the guy who called himself an “elite” evangelical in an earlier chapter in that it feels like he’s talking down to you and not to you.
11. Tom Lin - Hope:
The chapter is basically about the hope the Majority World and the realities of Evangelicalism there bring for the future.
“So much of what many find distasteful in evangelicals would be cured if we simply clung to the cross.” (191)
April 17, 2018
I am the son of two immigrants, my father was Polish and my mother is Guatemalan. I grew up in small Latino churches. I am evangelical. I was on staff at an evangelical megachurch. I am a PhD student at a historically significant evangelical institution. I am also a registered Republican. It should go without saying that the entire Trump “event,” from his nomination to his presidency today, has been rather complicated for me.
This is not least because so much of what his presidency has brought to light, both in America and the American church, embodies values which are so contrary to me as an evangelical Christian formed by non-Western influences. So, when I saw various evangelicals, like Mark Labberton, wondered aloud whether the term “Evangelical” is still useful or whether the tribe that identifies with that will be left intact I had mixed feelings: “evangelical” is what I am, yet the term has become tainted. Some of these mixed feelings are very well articulated by numerous authors in Still Evangelical? Insiders Reconsider Political, Social, and Theological Meaning. There is a lot I resonate with in this book.
Robert Chao Romero, in his essay, “Immigration and the Latina/o Community” describes the experiences of Latino/a Christians in the US in light of the “Latino Threat Narrative.” Basically, this is the idea that Latinos are unwilling to integrate into “American” culture and that they are bent on reconquering land that was formerly theirs. Because many have imbibed this false narrative, many evangelicals voted for a president who espouses this same view. Many Latino evangelicals were left confused as to why their Christian brothers and sisters would think so poorly of them and put nation before Kingdom. [This, I should note, is not a universal experience, I know from conversations that numerous Latino evangelicals were ardent Trump supporters.]
Jim Daly, who leads one of the most significant evangelical organization, Focus on the Family, writes about the importance of “listening” in this period. He embodies a more conciliatory approach: “Rather than assuming what ‘those people’ are like, we should get to know them.” (180) This practice of listening goes both ways. Evangelicals who can’t fathom why other evangelicals would support Trump inspired political movements and evangelicals who think that those who refused to fall in line with American Evangelicalism both need to speak to and listen to one another. In an age of “yelling” through social media, this call to be slow and listen almost seems biblical…
Despite the inclusion of numerous well written chapters, the one that resonated the most with me was InterVarsity President Tom Lin’s chapter. He makes the fantastic point:
Any evaluation of the world evangelical or evangelicalism must be done in the context of the global church. The decision of some American evangelicals to abandon the term is insensitive to our overseas sisters and brothers; it reflects the worst impulses of American exceptionalism and self-absorption. (186)
In my opinion, this global perspective changes everything. I grew up in such a way that my self-understanding of what it means to be an evangelical was more shaped by my Latino and European influences than by institutional Anglo-American evangelicalism. [I didn’t start attending an Anglo-American church until I was 19 years old.] To be an Evangelico was never tied to political parties – it was always tied to evangelical faith and practice. It meant we read and took the Bible seriously, we shared the gospel, we believed in salvation by faith through grace alone, and we believed in the importance of being born again. None of this was tied to a particular political party. Sure, some people in our church were democrats and some were republicans, but that was not what defined you as a “good” or “bad” Christian. Yet, it seems, that in circles just outside the ones I grew up in as a Latino evangelical, one’s political affiliation did define whether one was a “good” or “bad” Christian. Because of my social context, that word, “Evangelical” didn’t carry the same meaning as it does for many of my other Christian brothers and sisters. To me, Evangelical, was never a sociological moniker, it was a theological identity. All this to say, I understand why some evangelicals want to abandon the term, but I simply can’t. To be an evangelical, at least from a Latino perspective, just means that I am a Christ follower. And that is an identification I would never want to abandon.
This is not least because so much of what his presidency has brought to light, both in America and the American church, embodies values which are so contrary to me as an evangelical Christian formed by non-Western influences. So, when I saw various evangelicals, like Mark Labberton, wondered aloud whether the term “Evangelical” is still useful or whether the tribe that identifies with that will be left intact I had mixed feelings: “evangelical” is what I am, yet the term has become tainted. Some of these mixed feelings are very well articulated by numerous authors in Still Evangelical? Insiders Reconsider Political, Social, and Theological Meaning. There is a lot I resonate with in this book.
Robert Chao Romero, in his essay, “Immigration and the Latina/o Community” describes the experiences of Latino/a Christians in the US in light of the “Latino Threat Narrative.” Basically, this is the idea that Latinos are unwilling to integrate into “American” culture and that they are bent on reconquering land that was formerly theirs. Because many have imbibed this false narrative, many evangelicals voted for a president who espouses this same view. Many Latino evangelicals were left confused as to why their Christian brothers and sisters would think so poorly of them and put nation before Kingdom. [This, I should note, is not a universal experience, I know from conversations that numerous Latino evangelicals were ardent Trump supporters.]
Jim Daly, who leads one of the most significant evangelical organization, Focus on the Family, writes about the importance of “listening” in this period. He embodies a more conciliatory approach: “Rather than assuming what ‘those people’ are like, we should get to know them.” (180) This practice of listening goes both ways. Evangelicals who can’t fathom why other evangelicals would support Trump inspired political movements and evangelicals who think that those who refused to fall in line with American Evangelicalism both need to speak to and listen to one another. In an age of “yelling” through social media, this call to be slow and listen almost seems biblical…
Despite the inclusion of numerous well written chapters, the one that resonated the most with me was InterVarsity President Tom Lin’s chapter. He makes the fantastic point:
Any evaluation of the world evangelical or evangelicalism must be done in the context of the global church. The decision of some American evangelicals to abandon the term is insensitive to our overseas sisters and brothers; it reflects the worst impulses of American exceptionalism and self-absorption. (186)
In my opinion, this global perspective changes everything. I grew up in such a way that my self-understanding of what it means to be an evangelical was more shaped by my Latino and European influences than by institutional Anglo-American evangelicalism. [I didn’t start attending an Anglo-American church until I was 19 years old.] To be an Evangelico was never tied to political parties – it was always tied to evangelical faith and practice. It meant we read and took the Bible seriously, we shared the gospel, we believed in salvation by faith through grace alone, and we believed in the importance of being born again. None of this was tied to a particular political party. Sure, some people in our church were democrats and some were republicans, but that was not what defined you as a “good” or “bad” Christian. Yet, it seems, that in circles just outside the ones I grew up in as a Latino evangelical, one’s political affiliation did define whether one was a “good” or “bad” Christian. Because of my social context, that word, “Evangelical” didn’t carry the same meaning as it does for many of my other Christian brothers and sisters. To me, Evangelical, was never a sociological moniker, it was a theological identity. All this to say, I understand why some evangelicals want to abandon the term, but I simply can’t. To be an evangelical, at least from a Latino perspective, just means that I am a Christ follower. And that is an identification I would never want to abandon.
June 21, 2018
Looking back to the past and around at the present, these authors reflect helpfully on what the label "evangelical" has meant, has come to mean, and might mean in the future. They also do a good bit of work in discussing a path forward and illuminating the hard work that evangelicals need to do if their movement is to be faithful to Jesus in the present and in the near future.
June 20, 2018
Challenging reading, hard to hear some of the perspectives of other ethnic voices. But also very interesting to learn history and context of evangelicals
June 9, 2018
I found some of the essays more compelling then others, but the multi-vocal format was perfect for the topic. Hearing from both conservative and liberal writers--all of whom with good thoughts to share—felt like a good spiritual discipline in these times. The review of the history of Evangelicalism, and some of its characteristics by several authors really helped me. I hadn't thought before about the uniquely anti-authoritarian/anti-institutional bent of the Evangelical movement, which means there is no one voice that speaks for it, no institution to corral/discipline. That probably has a large role in the identity crisis (best articulated by Mark Young).
I felt like some of the writers sidestepped the main question, and so their essays read with less urgency for me than I wished for, given the tenor of the conversation we're in. Still, I felt like I understood the divide better after reading this book, and felt clearer on where I feel I am within the Evangelicalism that has played such an important role in my faith. I felt kinship with each of the writers, even when I am not on the same theological page as they are.
I felt like some of the writers sidestepped the main question, and so their essays read with less urgency for me than I wished for, given the tenor of the conversation we're in. Still, I felt like I understood the divide better after reading this book, and felt clearer on where I feel I am within the Evangelicalism that has played such an important role in my faith. I felt kinship with each of the writers, even when I am not on the same theological page as they are.
December 19, 2017
Short Review: Still Evangelical is worth reading. Part of why it is worth reading is that it is well balanced and actually has as many women and minority authors as White males. And for this discussion that matters. I mentioned each of the chapters in my full review, but the best chapters is Allen Yeh's chapter, which while about more than just this, is about the importance of retaining the orthodoxy we have while adopting a greater focus on orthopraxy. Mark Galli's chapter was most frustrating for me, but I think that it was also a necessary chapter as being the most standard critique of the state of Evangelicalism (not paying enough attention to the non-elites and roughly parallel argument for economic and cultural anxiety as the reasons people voted for Trump).
There were many other chapters that were also quite good. Roughly the line of argument throughout the book is that Evangelicalism as a group matters, that it is a worldwide movement and that the critique of the term in the US doesn't listen enough to those outside the US, or the term's history. But that there is a reason for the critique inside the US.
I really was not incredibly interested in this discussion and was planning on skipping the book. But I picked it up mostly because of Karen Swallow Prior talking about it positively. I gave it a chance and it was much better and more helpful than I expected it to be.
My full review is on my blog (about 1500 words) at http://bookwi.se/still-evangelical/
There were many other chapters that were also quite good. Roughly the line of argument throughout the book is that Evangelicalism as a group matters, that it is a worldwide movement and that the critique of the term in the US doesn't listen enough to those outside the US, or the term's history. But that there is a reason for the critique inside the US.
I really was not incredibly interested in this discussion and was planning on skipping the book. But I picked it up mostly because of Karen Swallow Prior talking about it positively. I gave it a chance and it was much better and more helpful than I expected it to be.
My full review is on my blog (about 1500 words) at http://bookwi.se/still-evangelical/
May 3, 2018
Not as one sided as I thought. A few contributors seemed ready to leave behind the label, a few thought that was a bad idea. Other's wanted to fight to reclaim the label, other's took a more global perspective. At times, it got a bit redundant, but certainly gives a good feel for how the evangelical wing of the church is viewed by those who theologically would qualify as evangelical, but are on the outside looking in for various reasons (political, racial, etc).
July 17, 2019
I had some extended time to work my way through "Still Evangelical?" a collection of essays from ten theological "insiders" related to the past, present, and future of evangelicalism and a path forward from the current era here in America where much of evangelicalism has been hijacked for cultural and political purposes.
I was really looking forward to this book, a book that features several authors whose writings I know and at least three whom I've met personally. First off, if you're of the opinion that evangelicalism hasn't, in fact, been hijacked then there's a pretty good chance you're going to find yourself disappointed with this collection. While I won't say that all the authors quite qualify as "progressive" in their theology, for the most part this collection is devoid of anything resembling fundamental and you certainly won't find any balance in terms of getting one of Pres. Trump's theological supporters a voice.
So, take that for what it's worth. This collection, despite having ten different voices, has a very clear bent while also for the most part trying to move us away from having any particular direction other than Christ.
If you're looking for anything resembling an entertaining or impassioned read, you're also likely to be disappointed here. While there's some emotion to be found, most especially in Lisa Sharon Harper's essay but also in a couple others, for the most part this is a rather intellectual bordering on dry collection of essays.
In this case, the difference between a 3 and a 4-star rating comes in the fact that a good portion of the book is quite repetitive. This is especially true when considering evangelical history. I was amazed how often I had to re-read information on Bebbington and Quadrilateralism. I mean, sure, both are essential to a review of evangelicalism, but maybe a bit tighter editing so that it didn't all come off as so incredibly repetitive.
However, the key value for me in reading the book may very well be that with my diverse religious background I pretty much finally realized that I don't likely fall within that definition of evangelical. It was a weird feeling when that clicked in my brain - somewhere between grief and relief.
For those who seek a solid understanding of the history and definition of evangelicalism, this is a worthwhile collection. If you appreciate these authors, there's much to appreciate here even if some of it can be found in their other writings. However, if you consider yourself firmly aware of and planted within a knowledge of evangelicalism then this is likely a collection that will leave you dissatisfied and hungering for more.
I was really looking forward to this book, a book that features several authors whose writings I know and at least three whom I've met personally. First off, if you're of the opinion that evangelicalism hasn't, in fact, been hijacked then there's a pretty good chance you're going to find yourself disappointed with this collection. While I won't say that all the authors quite qualify as "progressive" in their theology, for the most part this collection is devoid of anything resembling fundamental and you certainly won't find any balance in terms of getting one of Pres. Trump's theological supporters a voice.
So, take that for what it's worth. This collection, despite having ten different voices, has a very clear bent while also for the most part trying to move us away from having any particular direction other than Christ.
If you're looking for anything resembling an entertaining or impassioned read, you're also likely to be disappointed here. While there's some emotion to be found, most especially in Lisa Sharon Harper's essay but also in a couple others, for the most part this is a rather intellectual bordering on dry collection of essays.
In this case, the difference between a 3 and a 4-star rating comes in the fact that a good portion of the book is quite repetitive. This is especially true when considering evangelical history. I was amazed how often I had to re-read information on Bebbington and Quadrilateralism. I mean, sure, both are essential to a review of evangelicalism, but maybe a bit tighter editing so that it didn't all come off as so incredibly repetitive.
However, the key value for me in reading the book may very well be that with my diverse religious background I pretty much finally realized that I don't likely fall within that definition of evangelical. It was a weird feeling when that clicked in my brain - somewhere between grief and relief.
For those who seek a solid understanding of the history and definition of evangelicalism, this is a worthwhile collection. If you appreciate these authors, there's much to appreciate here even if some of it can be found in their other writings. However, if you consider yourself firmly aware of and planted within a knowledge of evangelicalism then this is likely a collection that will leave you dissatisfied and hungering for more.
December 22, 2021
It seems the editor asked eleven men and women that represent various institutions, levels of theological training, span the spectrum of liberal and conservative politics (though mostly progressive) to explain whether they still wear the label of “evangelical” after Donald Trump’s election in 2016. The frustrating part is that this movement is impossible to define and therefore impossible to critique in a helpful way. Galli gets the problem: “there is no evangelicalism” (139). Many other contributors understand this: Young writes, "“evangelicalism [is] notoriously difficult to define and impossible to direct. As a loosely allied coalition of various denominations, churches, academic institutions, media outlets, mission agencies, and popular leaders, evangelicalism befuddles those who want to compare it to established religious entities” (54). If it is impossible, why did we write the book again?
Nevertheless, several chapters were really helpful. Van Opstal's had some truth bombs. I really appreciated Lisa Harper's perspective. Tom Lin's was hopeful and honest.
The one that made me think the most, however, was Prior's. She owns the label of evangelical for six thoughtful reasons. But the most interesting one (which brings up one of my biggest questions) was number 5 wherein she tells a story of trying to become an Episcopalian but getting “hung up on doctrine” (43) because she’s a Baptist. Question: how much of this whole shindig is a Baptist thing? If you’re a Baptist, you’re congregational. That means you’re not organically connected to the Baptist church in the next town. In fact, you might have different beliefs about the Trinity, atonement, women in ministry, the gifts of the Spirit, and election. But, so long as you agree on congregational government and credo-baptism, you're both Baptist churches. Result? Well the Calvinistic Baptist wants to be a part of a team, so he befriends his Calvinistic Presbyterian and Sovereign Grace friends and starts a conference (@T4G), and they think they’ve identified the “good guys” in the various denominations. If we could just get church connectionalism right, maybe we could all be first a catholic/global Christian, then a member of my denomination where I can influence the regional body, then a local congregation. Why would we need a movement like “evangelicalism” at all?
Nevertheless, several chapters were really helpful. Van Opstal's had some truth bombs. I really appreciated Lisa Harper's perspective. Tom Lin's was hopeful and honest.
The one that made me think the most, however, was Prior's. She owns the label of evangelical for six thoughtful reasons. But the most interesting one (which brings up one of my biggest questions) was number 5 wherein she tells a story of trying to become an Episcopalian but getting “hung up on doctrine” (43) because she’s a Baptist. Question: how much of this whole shindig is a Baptist thing? If you’re a Baptist, you’re congregational. That means you’re not organically connected to the Baptist church in the next town. In fact, you might have different beliefs about the Trinity, atonement, women in ministry, the gifts of the Spirit, and election. But, so long as you agree on congregational government and credo-baptism, you're both Baptist churches. Result? Well the Calvinistic Baptist wants to be a part of a team, so he befriends his Calvinistic Presbyterian and Sovereign Grace friends and starts a conference (@T4G), and they think they’ve identified the “good guys” in the various denominations. If we could just get church connectionalism right, maybe we could all be first a catholic/global Christian, then a member of my denomination where I can influence the regional body, then a local congregation. Why would we need a movement like “evangelicalism” at all?
August 14, 2021
Theological evangelicalism is defined by the four crucial points conversionism, crucicentrism, biblicism, and activism. But in the media and among the public it is identified more with a particular race (white) and a particular political group (republican). The question then is, does the term evangelicalism even have meaning when many people who self-identify with it don't even understand the basic religious premises of the label?
It is a subject which many of the people who once proudly called themselves by that name wrestle with now, when it has been so sullied by the popular misconceptions around it that it is no longer identifiable as what it once was. The essays here are all by prominent leaders within the movement who cling to the original interpretation and don't want to lose the nomenclature to the press or the populists. I would argue that that battle was lost years ago and that a new name is in order. Some of the essays here make strong arguments for why that is not the case though. Overall, I don't know that the book is helpful in any particular way but it is well written and thought provoking.
It is a subject which many of the people who once proudly called themselves by that name wrestle with now, when it has been so sullied by the popular misconceptions around it that it is no longer identifiable as what it once was. The essays here are all by prominent leaders within the movement who cling to the original interpretation and don't want to lose the nomenclature to the press or the populists. I would argue that that battle was lost years ago and that a new name is in order. Some of the essays here make strong arguments for why that is not the case though. Overall, I don't know that the book is helpful in any particular way but it is well written and thought provoking.
March 3, 2020
Since 2015, what it means to be "evangelical" in the US has become increasingly politicized, especially along racial lines. The array of perspectives of the writers in this work will challenge the presuppositions of every reader, no matter where you're coming from. If you want to move past the Twitter debates to more substantive discussions of why people view certain issues the way they do, this book is for you. The one downfall of this work is that it is heavily US-centric (with the exception of portions of the sixth chapter). The issues relating to race and politics take on a deeply American flavor, while historically "evangelical" church life is fastest growing in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. That said, this is a helpful and valuable read for evangelicals in the US who want to engage other evangelicals with charity and grace.
June 29, 2019
My answer to the title question is still "No." However, it was encouraging to see that many insiders are grappling with how to move forward today, especially in the area of attempting to achieve a balance of orthodoxy and orthopraxis.
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"When evangelicals truncate the gospel and focus on personal and spiritual transformation without communal, systemic, and public transformation, we find ourselves just where we are: reproducing the same social locations and ideology as when we were 'dead in our trespasses.' We may try to say we have been 'made alive' (Eph 2:1), but whenever we show little or no interest in working out the social implications of this new identify and life in Christ, is it any wonder that our witness is confusing and unconvincing?"
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"When evangelicals truncate the gospel and focus on personal and spiritual transformation without communal, systemic, and public transformation, we find ourselves just where we are: reproducing the same social locations and ideology as when we were 'dead in our trespasses.' We may try to say we have been 'made alive' (Eph 2:1), but whenever we show little or no interest in working out the social implications of this new identify and life in Christ, is it any wonder that our witness is confusing and unconvincing?"
June 1, 2020
Written by a collection of evangelicals of color and white evangelicals who, like me, were a bit shocked and discombobulated by the wholesale enthusiastic support of 81% of white evangelicals for Donald Trump. Some essays are why we are still evangelical, others are pointing out where we've gone wrong and the way to reform. Although there is a lot that I agree with and sympathize with in this book, I only see this book as being helpful to the people who won't read it. The kinds of people (like me) who are reading this book need something else.
(Don't ask me what we need, if I knew what it was, I'd write it)
(Don't ask me what we need, if I knew what it was, I'd write it)
February 16, 2021
One of my favorite things about this work was that it introduced me to several authors who I would otherwise not have known.
I wanted to read it because I really enjoy Claiborne - but was able to walk away with more. Some of the contributors write like they are don't talk to regular people on a daily basis (there are University level English papers and then intelligent dialogue among peers - you could tell who only speaks in professional form...)
By and large it was good and provoking.
I did learn, I might never have been a true blue evangelical Christian.... So much of the theological rhetoric that I didn't know, nor do I care about....
I wanted to read it because I really enjoy Claiborne - but was able to walk away with more. Some of the contributors write like they are don't talk to regular people on a daily basis (there are University level English papers and then intelligent dialogue among peers - you could tell who only speaks in professional form...)
By and large it was good and provoking.
I did learn, I might never have been a true blue evangelical Christian.... So much of the theological rhetoric that I didn't know, nor do I care about....
March 9, 2019
Diverse collection of writers sharing their experiences with Evangelicalism in our current political era. Offers meaningful critiques of American Evangelicalism in its current form. Gives the reader much to ponder, particularly those who may have become disenchanted with the movement or are reconsidering their use of the label itself. Thoughtful read that allows readers to make us their own minds on the title question.
September 16, 2019
I appreciated hearing the perspectives of people from a variety of viewpoints in the Evangelical tradition. It's a good reminder that Evangelicalism is not a monolith. I also got a more clear understanding of the set of beliefs that are considered the markers of Evangelicalism. It was really helpful to be reminded that there are Evangelicals across the globe, and the current crop of Americans are not representative of the global expression of faith. I hope we can redeem the label here.
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