Beginning in the last quarter of the 20th century, evangelicals rode their white horses to religious stardom. As Liberal and mainline denominational colleges and seminaries shrunk, evangelical student bodies swelled fat and prosperous. Fame was short-lived, however. While Newsweek proclaimed 1976 as “the year of the evangelical,” church historian Martin E. Marty predicted rough days ahead for evangelicals as early as 1989. Indeed, some theologians now question whether the term “evangelical” has not expended itself completely. For example, >>>
Westminster Theological Seminary professor, D. A. Hart, suggested in his book, Deconstructing Evangelicalism: Conservative Protestantism in the Age of Billy Graham, that the Protestant wing of Christianity must now pursue a robust theology within their own, unique theological traditions rather than settle for a minimalist view of Christian dogma which evangelicalism has obviously become.
It is here Azusa Pacific University Professors Steve Wilkens and Don Thorsen step into the evangelical landfill offering their assessment of the rough terrain evangelicalism has experienced now for the last two decades. Entitled “Everything You Know about Evangelicals is Wrong (Well Almost Everything): An Insider’s Look as Myths & Realities,” the authors attempt an honest appraisal of the movement within which both of them self-confessedly reside—an insiders critique.
After an introduction which includes a short history of the evangelical movement, the authors take the reader through eight, stand-alone chapters, each exploring a conventional myth about evangelicals. Included are “Evangelicals are not all Mean, Stupid, and Dogmatic” (chapter two), “Evangelicals are not all Anti-evolutionists” (chapter four), “Evangelicals are not all Inerrantists” (chapter five), “Evangelicals are not all Calvinists” (chapter seven), and “Evangelicals are not all Republicans” (chapter eight).
Chapter ten constitutes the authors’ conclusion and attempts to put their pulse on a viable definition of evangelicalism (this should give the reader a clue that Wilkens and Thorsen are not convinced it’s time to forfeit the term “evangelical,” even if it is retained in hyphenated form, pp 17-21). After considering David Bebbington’s widely supported definition of evangelicalism (Evangelicalism in Modern Britain), followed by the National Association of Evangelical’s description (NAE statement of faith), the authors take their clue from Billy Graham (196) and simply posit evangelicals are, by and large, “people of the great commission.” Of course, this is but the banner flying overhead. There’s much to be explained underneath (197-201).
I found the book a fascinating read. And, as I mentioned earlier, each chapter is stand-alone, and hence, works well whether you want to read why the authors would suggest all evangelicals are not mean and nasty or why all evangelicals are not Calvinists. Predictably, I found the latter to be highly interesting since Southern Baptists are now being tested by the very groups the authors are convinced are attempting to redefine “evangelicalism” in such a way as to exclude everyone who is not “reformed.” Groups like the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals (124) appear to tighten the screws down so far, all non-Reformed evangelical threads are stripped.
While this book offers no “ground-breaking” perspective, the authors nonetheless give a fair and balanced approach to the evangelical landscape, ditches and all. I highly recommend this volume to pastors and seminarians as well as churchmen and women who are interested in a well rounded look at evangelicalism’s diversity.*
With that, I am…
Peter
Everything You Know about Evangelicals is Wrong (Well Almost Everything): An Insider’s Look as Myths & Realities by Steve Wilkens and Don Thorsen, Baker Books, 2010, $16.99
*Such a recommendation obviously does not come with an endorsement on all the authors' conclusions
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