The past, present, and future of a movement in crisisWhat exactly do we mean when we say “evangelical”? How should we understand this many-sided world religious phenomenon? How do re
The past, present, and future of a movement in crisis
What exactly do we mean when we say “evangelical”? How should we understand this many-sided world religious phenomenon? How do recent American politics change that understanding?
Three scholars have been vital to our understanding of evangelicalism for the last forty years: Mark Noll, whose Scandal of the Evangelical Mind identified an earlier crisis point for American evangelicals; David Bebbington, whose “Bebbington Quadrilateral” remains the standard characterization of evangelicals used worldwide; and George Marsden, author of the groundbreaking Fundamentalism and American Culture: The Shaping of Twentieth-Century Evangelicalism. Now, in Evangelicals, they combine key earlier material concerning the history of evangelicalism with their own new contributions about present controversies and also with fresh insights from other scholars. The result begins as a survey of how evangelicalism has been evaluated, but then leads into a discussion of the movement’s perils and promise today.
Evangelicals provides an illuminating look at who evangelicals are, how evangelicalism has changed over time, and how evangelicalism continues to develop in sometimes surprising ways.
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction: One Word but Three Crises Mark A. Noll
Part I: The History of “Evangelical History”
1. The Evangelical Denomination George Marsden
2. The Nature of Evangelical Religion David Bebbington
3. The Essential Evangelicalism Dialectic: The Historiography of the Early Neo-Evangelical Movement and the Observer-ParticipantDilemma Douglas A. Sweeney
4. Evangelical Constituencies in North America and the World Mark Noll
5. The Evangelical Discovery of History David W. Bebbington
6. Roundtable: Re-examining David Bebbington’s “Quadrilateral Thesis” Charlie Phillips, Kelly Cross Elliott, Thomas S. Kidd, AmandaPorterfield, Darren Dochuk, Mark A. Noll, Molly Worthen, and David W. Bebbington
7. Evangelicals and Unevangelicals: The Contested History of a Word Linford D. Fisher
Part II: The Current Crisis: Looking Back
8. A Strange Love? Or: How White Evangelicals Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Donald Michael S. Hamilton
9. Live by the Polls, Die by the Polls D. G. Hart
10. Donald Trump and Militant Evangelical Masculinity Kristin Kobes Du Mez
11. The “Weird” Fringe Is the Biggest Part of White Evangelicalism Fred Clark
Part III: The Current Crisis: Assessment
12. Is the Term “Evangelical” Redeemable? Thomas S. Kidd
13. Can Evangelicalism Survive Donald Trump? Timothy Keller
14. How to Escape from Roy Moore’s Evangelicalism Molly Worthen
15. Are Black Christians Evangelicals? Jemar Tisby
16. To Be or Not to Be an Evangelical Brian C. Stiller
Part IV: Historians Seeking Perspective
17. On Not Mistaking One Part for the Whole: The Future of American Evangelicalism in a Global PerspectiveGeorge Marsden
18. Evangelicals and Recent Politics in Britain David Bebbington
19. World Cup or World Series? Mark Noll
Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Readers with an interest in Christian evangelical history will find this a valuable collection to study, reflect on, and argue with.”
CHOICE
"The book is vital to conversations about Evangelicalism on the parts of pundits, scholars, Evangelicals themselves, and a growing group of post-Evangelicals. . . . Highly recommended."
Religious Studies Review
“[Essential reading for anyone who wants to have a thoughtful conversation about the meaning of the word evangelical today.”
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Mark A. Noll is Francis A. McAnaney Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Notre Dame. His other books include America's God: From Jonathan Edwards to Abraham Lincoln and Turning Points: Decisive Moments in the History of Christianity.
David W. Bebbington has taught at the University of Stirling since 1976. In 2016 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His publications include Evangelicalism in Modern Britain; and, as editor, Evangelicalism and Fundamentalism in the United Kingdom during the Twentieth Century.
George M. Marsden is also Francis A. McAnaney Profess Emeritus of History at the University of Notre Dame. Among his many books is Jonathan Edwards: A Life, named one of ten "Books of the Year" for 2003 by Atlantic Monthly and winner of the prestigious Bancroft Prize in history (2004) and the Grawemeyer Award in religion (2005).
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