I was at a small group meeting of Christian men. I read an excerpt from a statement by Evangelicals and Catholics Together. We were discussing it when someone (Grant Steer) asked me, what is an Evangelical? I did my best to give an on the spot answer. However, I wanted to deal with that question more fully in this blog. This part will speak to some of the difficulties about such an answer.
Evangelicals often get discussed without clarifying who or what they are. This can get confusing at times since many
counterpoise Evangelicals and Catholics, and yet there are Evangelical Catholics. Meanwhile, many equate Evangelicals with Protestants, and yet there are many Protestants who are not Evangelicals. Yet, at the same time, Evangelicals can be found in all Protestant denominations and many non-denominational associations and independent churches. Evangelicals can also be found in Eastern Orthodoxy, and other branches of Christianity.
To compound the problem, there is no unifying definition of Evangelicals, and no uniform statement of beliefs or even agreed upon collection of features or characteristics, though there are common features and characteristics. There is no agreed upon leader or office of leadership, though various organizations represent member Evangelicals.
In addition, there is no agreed time period for the Evangelical movement, nor even an agreed upon time when it began, though there is a definite history of the Evangelical movement that can be studied.
With this in mind, I will try my best to explain in the next few parts - who (or what) is an Evangelical?
4 comments:
I think my head is going to explode. Maybe it is easier just to say it is merely a matter of someone's opinion if someone is an Evangelical or not. Then we can ask if it matters or not. Then maybe we can all get back to doing God's work if we can determine for ourselves what that work be. I'll look at the Time's article.
Well, just because a word may encounter some problems in reaching a simple definition does not mean it automatically becomes a matter of a completely subjective definition. I simply pointed out some of the problems of quickly reaching an over-simplistic understanding of the term evangelical, and then go on to explore in the other parts how that word has been used over time to help reach a richer understanding of it.
I had not left a link to the Time article, only a link to a photo of the cover. So here is a link to that Time issue, which actually had several articles about Evangelicals. http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/0,28757,1993235,00.html
Who (or What) is an Evangelical matters because millions of Christians describe themselves by that term, or are described by others with that term. It's important to understand what they mean, or not mean, when they describe themselves as Evangelicals, as well as to understand what others mean when they describe other Christians as Evangelicals. Beyond a religious description, and what Evangelicals do in our society, and how they affect and impact it, they tend to represent an important voting bloc in the United States who tend to have an impact upon elections.
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