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Who Is an “Evangelical” and Who Gets to Decide?

By Jim on Sun, 11/18/18
Fundamentalism & Evangelicalism
Evangelicalism

… a non-evangelical Lutheran theologian who has studied evangelicals a lot and even published one major book about evangelicalism stood up at the back of the room and said “I suggest that an evangelical is anyone who loves Billy Graham.” The whole room broke out in applause. Of course, I don’t believe everyone in the room necessarily agreed, but finally someone had said something meaningful TOWARD some kind of possible consensus. I think what he meant was that fundamentalists (then) didn’t like Billy Graham and liberal Christians didn’t like Billy Graham and the vast majority of people who called themselves “evangelical Christians” then (1980s) loved Billy Graham.

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Jim

NewTerms like ...

Sun, 11/18/18

Terms like “evangelical”, “fundamentalist”, and more are somewhat amorphous.

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pvawter

NewWhy would Olson care? I

Mon, 11/19/18

Why would Olson care? I thought evangelicals were inclusive by design. He sounds quite a bit like a fundamentalist with all that talk about separation on theological grounds.

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Bert Perry

NewQuietly brilliant, IMO

Mon, 11/19/18

And that’s a shame. Olson illustrates a very significant theological tragedy of our day; that the very word “evangelical” does indeed have a wide variety of meanings, to the point that it’s semi-plausible to believe that it simply means one loves the late Rev. Graham. Really, in a different way, the word “fundamentalist” has the same problems.

And my response, I hope, is simply to say that when I refer to myself as a “fundagelical”, that means I affirm the five Fundamentals, but am ambivalent about much of the cultural baggage. I do so realizing fully that this means I’m not welcome in some peoples’ clubhouses. And that’s OK.

Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.

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Ron Bean

NewWho Gets to Be Noah Webster?

Mon, 11/19/18

I am weary of labels, especially when it seems everyone has a different dictionary.

I know what I am and I really am not that concerned with whether other people think I am.

I think ____ is a fundamentalist. I think ______ is an evangelical. My friends, and even those who aren’t my friends, are free to disagree with me.

"Some things are of that nature as to make one's fancy chuckle, while his heart doth ache." John Bunyan

Related . . .

Topics: Evangelicalism, Fundamentalism, Book Reviews, Separatism, Secondary Separation
  • Evangelical Spectrum: Four Views or Two Views?
  • BreakPoint: The Evangelical Fracture
  • Roger Olson Is Feeling Some Nostalgia for Fundamentalism
  • Tony Campolo: Don't Call Us Evangelicals
  • "While Dobson will remain a force through his continued radio broadcast and political activism, it is clear that the movement has no apparent heir, no entrepreneurial leader, no charismatic preacher."

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​A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, but he who is slow to anger quiets contention.

(ESV, Proverbs 15:18)

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