"When I Use a Word": Humpty Dumpty on Evangelicalism

Few words have come to be more worthless than the word “evangelical.” The current political climate has leached out any theological meaning the word might have, and replaced it with political content. This makes certain conversations in the Episcopal Church (TEC) difficult. The moment you say “evangelical,” your listener has been led down certain thought paths to other words like “bigot” and “racist.” There are people with evangelical theological convictions who are bigots and racists, and Evangelicals have used the Bible and a twist on theology to support their racism, but there are no necessary connections between those theological convictions and bigotry and racism.

It is the theological convictions that I and others who share them want various parties in TEC to understand. It is hard to shake the notion these convictions are not actually understood by many clergy and lay people in TEC. Perhaps a new word is needed to cover these convictions, but either way, the desire is that decision makers, administrators, preachers — anyone who interacts with those of us who have these convictions — will take them into account, and not run roughshod over them (and us).

David Bebbington’s Quadrilateral remains an excellent starting point to understand these core theological perspectives. The four sides in question are Biblicism, Crucicentrism, Conversionism, and Activism. Naturally, there is a wide range of content these words have across the spectrum of people who share them. It would not be possible to give a definition that would satisfy all, and I have my own sense of the essential content of each. For example, the idea of Biblicism for someone on the Fundamentalist (another unhelpful word) end of the theological spectrum will be very different for someone on the “Progressive evangelical” (two unhelpful words put together) end. The essential point would be the place of the Bible in the whole Christian life — belief and practice. Read More

Antipathy toward Evangelicalism in the Episcopal Church predates this century. It goes back to the second half of the nineteenth century and to the Catholic Revival in the then Protestant Episcopal Church. At one time the Episcopal Church had a vibrant Evangelical wing. The Oxford Movement would spawn the Ritualist Movement and the Ritualist Movement found fertile soil in which it might grow in the Episcopal Church. The church's Evangelical wing and its Ritualist wing would clash over a number of key issues. The Ritualist wing, having gained the ascendancy in General Convention, enacted legislation that imposed its opinions on the Episcopal Church and led to the formation of the Reformed Episcopal Church. By 1900 there were no Evangelicals in the Episcopal Church. The 1970s saw a brief revival of Anglican Evangelicalism in the Episcopal Church, the kind of Evangelicalism that emphasizes the Bible, the cross, conversion, and the use of direct action to achieve desirable ends such as reducing poverty and spreading the gospel, but it was overshadowed by the Charismatic Movement. 

While Episcopalians of other stripes have been openly contemptuous of Anglican Evangelicals, they begrudgingly acknowledge that Evangelicals are better than they are at planting new churches. Anglican Charismatics, cousins to Anglican Evangelicals, share their enthusiasm for starting new congregations. Without these elements the Episcopal Church has floundered  in its church planting efforts. Since the 1980s church planting has seen a precipitous decline in the Episcopal Church. 

In the first two decades of this century a segment of the US population which identifies itself as Evangelical has become deeply involved in politics to the extent that its political views have become its religion. As a consequence Evangelicals who adhere to historic Evangelical emphases have distanced themselves from this brand of American Evangelicalism and explored alternative names for themselves. Unfortunately this brand of Evangelicalism, if it can be called Evangelicalism, has become associated in the public mind with Evangelicalism. What was open contempt for Anglican Evangelicalism in the Episcopal Church  has turned to outright hostility as Episcopalians mistakenly connect Anglican Evangelicalism with this brand of American Evangelicalism in their minds. Americans who claim to stand for Anglican Evangelicalism but show the influence of this brand of American Evangelicalism have contributed to this distorted view of Anglican Evangelicalism.