I am pondering the next sequence of Learning Church talks, which will start up in October, and the theme for the first four or five will be evangelicalism – full title: “Your own Personal Jesus: an outsider’s perspective on evangelicalism”.
This is my initial sketch of what I’m wanting to cover:
Before the Great Awakening
– the historical context of evangelicalism (English enlightenment – John Locke – rationality); the anatomy of evangelicalism; what are the core elements? distinction between evangelicalism and Reformed theology
The great evangelicals
Jonathan Edwards; the Wesleys; John Stott (others? Billy Graham?)
The problem with America
19th century theological drift; arminianism; Charles Finney; 20th century consumer culture; Billy Graham and the altar call? Pentecostalism?
Aspects of contemporary crisis
Wycliffe Hall? Women bishops? Gay bishops? US imperialism? Theological critique continued?
The post-evangelical future
Postmodernism as removing the conditions that led to the rise of evangelicalism, and therefore where evangelicalism is now; ‘deep church’; emerging church; a survey of divisions and the lie of the land.
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To oversimplify drastically I’m going to argue for the following:
– evangelicalism was born out of a reaction to a sterile and non-Christian culture, most specifically English culture after the Glorious Revolution (1688), and it has two great virtues that stand out against that background – i) an insistence on the centrality of Jesus for Christian faith, and ii) an embrace of a more affective understanding of the faith. This is the sense in which ‘personal Jesus’ is very positive, ie a transforming relationship, ‘my Lord and my God’;
– Jonathan Edwards and (especially) the Wesleys as still having vast amounts to teach us about what it is to be a Christian today;
– the corruption of evangelicalism by influences stemming from the United States in the nineteenth century, looking at Finney in particular, leading to Jesus becoming a commodity incorporated into a wider economic system, the consumer model of church – “personal Jesus” as analogous to “personal trainer”, “personal assistant”, “personal shopper”, ie an extension of individual will;
– links between ‘classic’ evangelicalism and the early church – the emerging consensus.
You could say that the Johnny Cash version of the song reflects the first understanding; the Depeche Mode original explores the latter….
This is me thinking out loud. I’m posting it because – as an outsider (smile) – I’m sure there are all sorts of aspects that people out there will know more about than I do, so if anyone sees any big gaps, please do say ‘hey, you haven’t mentioned ______’ – that’s really crucial to understanding evangelicalism!
(NB I will rely on a distinction between evangelicalism and Reformed theology, which I will argue for in the first session)