The Emergence of the Protestant Evangelical Tradition

It has been increasingly recognized that there are substantial differences between evangelicals. This has become focussed in recent years with the strengthening of the evangelical movement within the Church of England; when a group is in a distinct minority there is much greater emphasis on those unifying aspects rather than differences. The recent divisions over the ordination of women to the presbyterate have only served to heighten the tensions. We should not be surprised by such different concerns and emphases among those that call themselves evangelical. They reflect the diversity of the evangelical tradition from its emergence in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. But, as Alister McGrath has said, ‘evangelicals are shockingly ignorant of their own heritage.’1 The purpose of this article is to trace that heritage, and examine how mainstream Protestant evangelicalism emerged. To read more, click here.