Evangelicals: Who They Have Been, Are Now, And Could Be

by David W. Bebbington (Editor), Mark A. Noll (Editor), George M. Marsden (Editor)

The past, present, and future of a movement in crisis

What exactly do we mean when we say “evangelical”?  How should we understand this many-sided world religious phenomenon? How do recent American politics change that understanding?

Three scholars have been vital to our understanding of evangelicalism for the last forty years: Mark Noll, whose Scandal of the Evangelical Mind identified an earlier crisis point for American evangelicals; David Bebbington, whose “Bebbington Quadrilateral” remains the standard characterization of evangelicals used worldwide; and George Marsden, author of the groundbreaking Fundamentalism and American Culture: The Shaping of Twentieth-Century Evangelicalism. Now, in Evangelicals, they combine key earlier material concerning the history of evangelicalism with their own new contributions about present controversies and also with fresh insights from other scholars. The result begins as a survey of how evangelicalism has been evaluated, but then leads into a discussion of the movement’s perils and promise today. 

Evangelicals provides an illuminating look at who evangelicals are, how evangelicalism has changed over time, and how evangelicalism continues to develop in sometimes surprising ways.

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction: One Word but Three Crises Mark A. Noll

Part I: The History of “Evangelical History”

1. The Evangelical Denomination George Marsden

2. The Nature of Evangelical Religion David Bebbington

3. The Essential Evangelicalism Dialectic: The Historiography of the Early Neo-Evangelical Movement and the Observer-ParticipantDilemma Douglas A. Sweeney

4. Evangelical Constituencies in North America and the World Mark Noll

5. The Evangelical Discovery of History David W. Bebbington

6. Roundtable: Re-examining David Bebbington’s “Quadrilateral Thesis” Charlie Phillips, Kelly Cross Elliott, Thomas S. Kidd, AmandaPorterfield, Darren Dochuk, Mark A. Noll, Molly Worthen, and David W. Bebbington

7. Evangelicals and Unevangelicals: The Contested History of a Word Linford D. Fisher

Part II: The Current Crisis: Looking Back

8. A Strange Love? Or: How White Evangelicals Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Donald Michael S. Hamilton

9. Live by the Polls, Die by the Polls D. G. Hart

10. Donald Trump and Militant Evangelical Masculinity Kristin Kobes Du Mez

11. The “Weird” Fringe Is the Biggest Part of White Evangelicalism Fred Clark

Part III: The Current Crisis: Assessment

12. Is the Term “Evangelical” Redeemable? Thomas S. Kidd

13. Can Evangelicalism Survive Donald Trump? Timothy Keller

14. How to Escape from Roy Moore’s Evangelicalism Molly Worthen

15. Are Black Christians Evangelicals? Jemar Tisby

16. To Be or Not to Be an Evangelical Brian C. Stiller

Part IV: Historians Seeking Perspective

17. On Not Mistaking One Part for the Whole: The Future of American Evangelicalism in a Global PerspectiveGeorge Marsden

18. Evangelicals and Recent Politics in Britain David Bebbington

19. World Cup or World Series? Mark Noll

Genres: Religion, History, Christian History, Church History, Nonfiction

348 pages, Paperback

Published November 25, 2019

About the author

David W. Bebbington is a historian who is Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Stirling in Scotland and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. An undergraduate at Jesus College, Cambridge (1968–71), Bebbington began his doctoral studies there (1971–73) before becoming a research fellow of Fitzwilliam College (1973–76). Since 1976 he has taught at the University of Stirling, where since 1999 he has been Professor of History. His principal research interests are in the history of politics, religion, and society in Great Britain from the eighteenth to the twentieth century, and in the history of the global evangelical movement.

Reviews

[Jeremy Reynolds · Rating 4 out of 5]

Collection of essays, excerpts and articles from thoughtful historians' and authors' various attempts to try to define evangelicalism. My limited understanding of evangelical Christian church history made the first half of the book difficult to comprehend at times and I plan to re-read at some point in the future. But the second half, that dealt with more contemporary times, was a page-turner even for a layman. Really appreciated this work as my personal introduction to what seems like a broad, amorphous subject.

[Jordan J. Andlovec · Rating 4 out of 5]

In my unending and sometimes desperate search for understanding the people from which I was spiritually born I came across this delightful (and yet sometimes repetitive) collection of essays from the giants of the field. This helped me immensely in understanding the constellation of influences, motivations, and peculiarities that define the Evangelical movement, especially in regards to its strengths (pliability and energy) and weaknesses (lack of groundedness and power-hungry).

[Joel Wentz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essay collections are hit or miss for me, but I thought this was astounding. I absolutely love that the first section of the book is a curated collection of primary writings from some of the all-stars of American religious historiography, so the reader gets Bebbington's original proposal of his "four-fold" identification of Evangelicalism, for example. The inclusion of these wonderful essays sets the groundwork for the thoughtful discussion throughout the remainder of the book, some of which was written just for this publication, some of which was drawn from prior publications. The result is a manifold discussion of many, many issues related to the thorny question of "Who is an evangelical today?" and maybe more to the point, "Does it even matter anymore??" Every contributor is a top-notch scholar, and the result of reading through this entire book is a masterclass education in what is at stake in the effort to define and identify this modern religious phenomena. Essential reading for anyone wrestling through these issues.

[Zachary · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is both a useful compilation of primary sources and a wonderful collection of commentaries on those primary sources in the longstanding debate over definitions of evangelicalism. For anyone familiar with the territory, there may not be a ton of new stuff here, but it's fascinating to see a collection of world-renowned scholarships reckoning with the onslaughts and discrepancies of evangelical culture so late in the Trump era, with Trump himself as the acknowledged starting point for the controversies they're engaging over definition. As such, the collection reads like a timely take on an issue that has only become more controversial since the volume's publication. Even still, there is a lot to love about the book and the voices it brings together, which set the stage for what will surely be many future examinations of these same questions in the next several years. I enjoyed my time with this book, and was surprised to find it as readable as I did.

[Landon Coleman · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is devoted to the definition of and the history of the definition of the term "evangelical." Is this an adjective or a noun? Does it describe non-Catholics, an American voting bloc, or a group of like minded Christians? Is it a useful term or beyond redemption in our current political climate? These are all questions on the table in this book. As a person who falls into just about any definition of evangelical you might select, I care about the term. Nevertheless, this book felt overly introspective, self-indulgent, and even a bit neurotic with respect to Donald Trump. This mash-up-collection of essays felt like a book cobbled together and published to sooth the troubled minds of a group of evangelical elites who were trying to come to grips with political developments in the United States.

[Jondmackey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Should the term Evangelical be thrown away? This is the question this book seeks to answer. With insight from notable historians, theologians and pastors ‘Evangelicals’ does not give an easy answer. In fact, It makes the answer more difficult to make. However, in doing so, it helps us walk away from the political milieu of our cultural moment, and instead, invites American readers to ask, what does it look like to be a Jesus follower in the context of a larger history and world?

[Houston · Rating 5 out of 5]

so helpful and illuminating! There are more than just white evangelicals.

[Grace VanOort · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5-4. a good collection of essays and stuff. definitely made my personal definition of evangelicalism 10x more complicated but i guess that’s the point!