There's No Such Thing as Evangelicalism
Timothy Beal, in the Chronicle of Higher Education, reviews a series of new studies of the evangelical movement--notable, it seems, above all for the researchers' discovery that the movement isn't as simple as you might think:
It appears that American evangelicalism is finally coming into its own as a subject of social research and academic attention well beyond the scope of those who identify with it as insiders. It seems we now realize there is more to know than what we learned from the Simpsons' neighbor Ned Flanders.
Yet as soon as evangelicalism becomes a subject, it splinters and splits. Indeed, taken together, recent studies by more-or-less outsiders show there is no such thing as evangelicalism.
Rule of thumb: Any time you seriously study anything--anything--you will discover that it is more complicated than you first imagined. If it involves religion, it will be three times as complicated as you first imagined.
If it involves Americans, it will be thirty percent less complicated, however, because at least the source documents are in English.
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Comments :
Jul '10
Re: There's No Such Thing as Evangelicalism
Hasn't the left told us everything we need to know about evangelists, including the rosy hue of their necks and their penchant for mobile domiciles?
Aug '10
Re: There's No Such Thing as Evangelicalism
I thought the article was pretty illuminating as far as the strength of the movement and the continuing importance that religion plays in the USA. I watch the old churches in our town slowly fade with their aging flocks as the new, mega churches in the suburbs grow exponentially when compared to the traditional ones. Christmas Eve there were hardly 100 people in my in-laws church for the 9pm service. Yet on the outskirts of town, there were probably 1500 in the evangelical church with the built in television studio, rock bands, faux Starbucks, and Armani-clad preacher.
When the source documents are in Turkish, I assume it's a bit more involved ?
Have you done any research into religious movements ,splinters, etc. in Turkish history ? They were the earliest organized Christians weren't they ? Where did the sufi and dervishes spring from ?
Or do religions in monarchial societies usually exist in the dark, unless they are the religion of the king ?
And a question to "Your Grace", where do the liberals worship ?
Jul '10
Re: There's No Such Thing as Evangelicalism
flownover: I thought the article was pretty illuminating as far as the strength of the movement and the continuing importance that religion plays in the USA. I watch the old churches in our town slowly fade with their aging flocks as the new, mega churches in the suburbs grow exponentially when compared to the traditional ones. Christmas Eve there were hardly 100 people in my in-laws church for the 9pm service. Yet on the outskirts of town, there were probably 1500 in the evangelical church with the built in television studio, rock bands, faux Starbucks, and Armani-clad preacher.
When the source documents are in Turkish, I assume it's a bit more involved ?
Have you done any research into religious movements ,splinters, etc. in Turkish history ? They were the earliest organized Christians weren't they ? Where did the sufi and dervishes spring from ?
Or do religions in monarchial societies usually exist in the dark, unless they are the religion of the king ?
And a question to "Your Grace", where do the liberals worship ? · Dec 31 at 6:47am
At the altar of Obama.
Nov '10
Re: There's No Such Thing as Evangelicalism
As an orthodox Anglican, I consider myself to live in the periphery of the evangelical world--a lot of the members of my current church as well as our rector are converts to Anglicanism from more squarely evangelical churches (many came to our church from something called The Chapel Hill Bible Church.) Any way, I have observed that while evangelicalism is completely consistent with political conservatism, the two frequently don't coincide. My rector guessed that the majority of members of our church, in fact, voted for Obama.
I see this as a sort of late, negative, indirect effect of the Moral Majority and the political activism of people like Falwell: Lots of people are desperate not to be associated with the Religious Right. If you're an intelligent, educated political conservative, you may distance yourself from evangelicalism and fundamentalism (which you see as interchangeable categories of Neanderthal). And if you're an intelligent, educated evangelical, you tend to adopt liberal politics as a way of distancing yourself from this same group of people.
Dec '10
Re: There's No Such Thing as Evangelicalism
Gee, a movement that has been part of the American intellectual experience since the founding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony finally being a subject worthy of academic study. Who da thunk?
Re: There's No Such Thing as Evangelicalism
Speaking as the non-evangelical product of an extensive evangelical education, it's refreshing to see a few fissures in the stereotype. I have very little theological truck with the movement, but am consistently dismayed at how a group that -- at the grassroots level, anyway -- contains some of the most decent people you'd ever wish to meet is so routinely villified.
As for the political discussion, my time in the field tells me that -- to the extent their religion informs politics -- evangelicals are populists first, and conservatives second (an under-reported angle to Mike Huckabee's success in 2008). Most that I know would be far more comfortable with a social justice liberal than a scorched earth libertarian.
Dec '10
Re: There's No Such Thing as Evangelicalism
I consider myself a New Testament Christian as opposed to an Evangelical. However, I find the more the left goes after "Them", the less I mind (theologically) being thought of as one of "Them". I was distressed during the 2008 election cycle how many of my evangelical acquaintances indicated they were sympathetic with Obama and were giving serious consideration to voting for him. I proudly vote right-to-life as my primary issue. My faith dictates that. Most evangelicals I know would say the same. How any of them could give serious consideration to Obama in light of clear biblical teaching on the value God places on a single human life (Psalms 139:13 anyone?) is beyond me. Interesting angle about them being "populists" first there, Mr. Senik. Have to give that some thought, too.