Theology Thursday: Positively evangelical

In 1997, Mark Thompson wrote in Churchman: 'If I am not mistaken there is a concerted attempt being made at present to redefine what it means to be an evangelical Christian. A number of prominent people around the world are trying to broaden the term, to encompass a variety of perspectives which were once quite alien to evangelical thought and practice.'

Well, he wasn’t mistaken. I was recently at an Anglican gathering encompassing representatives from all streams of the Church of England, except, perhaps, the most Catholic. As we went around the circle introducing ourselves, everyone there described him or herself as evangelical. It was usually qualified – ‘largely’ evangelical, or even ‘a little bit’ evangelical – but it was clearly a very common label.

These were people whom, I’m fairly sure, would not subscribe to all the Reformation solas. Many of them did not believe in substitutionary penal atonement, or in the absolute authority – much less infallibility - of Scripture. They were certainly not complementarian. As far as I know, the churches they attended were not characterised by expository preaching or anything like a traditional evangelical ethos. So why would they use the word?

Eventually I was able to discern that by ‘evangelical’ they meant something like ‘I have some familiarity with, and appreciation of, the Bible’. To them, ‘evangelical’ meant, in a vague way, ‘Bible-related’. I suppose I should be grateful that we as evangelicals are associated in people’s minds with the Bible – there are certainly worse things. However it suggested to me that we have lost our grasp on the word ‘evangelical’. Read more