Evangelicals: A Cultural Analysis

Evangelicalism came out of various movements that came in the Protestant church the second Great Awakening” of the 1820s-1840s, resulted in the “Christianization” of young America and the dominance of evangelicalism over the American religious climate ”.The Second Great Awakening marked a fundamental transition in American religious life. Many early American religious groups in the CALVINIST tradition had emphasized the deep depravity of human beings and believed they could only be saved through the grace of God. The new evangelical movement, however, placed greater emphasis on humans' ability to change their situation for the better. By stressing that individuals could assert their "FREE WILL" in choosing to be saved and by suggesting that

The protestant Christianity was divided into two parts in America. They were Mainline and Evangelical. The Mainline were the liberal mainstream and the Evangelical were the conservative evangelical. The Evangelical was the most powerful Religious force in American society during the 20s of the last century. The status of the protestant evangelical as the mainstream had greatly declined once. This change was caused by the impact of the modernization

It is with his first few sentences that author, Nathan Hatch, lets the readers know about the scope and the reason for his book The Democratization of American Christianity. Nathan Hatch, who is currently the president of Wake Forest University in Wake Forest, NC and was previously the dean and provost at Notre Dame, states, “This book is about the cultural and religious history of the early American republic and the enduring structures of American Christianity. It argues both that the theme of democratization is central to understanding the development of American Christianity, and that the years of the early republic are the most crucial in revealing that process.” (3) The freedom and liberty that were experienced by people in America’s infancy bled into all aspects of life: government, family, and religion. It was this freedom that gave many in the church the boldness to either go and start churches, or serve as a leader in the church: things that were not an option during their time in England. A great deal of church growth in early America can be attributed to this freedom and the conversion of the masses to the various denominations that were available to the early Americans, choices that they did not have while in England. In telling the story of the growth of Protestantism in America, Hatch regales the readers with stories and information about a fascinating time in the history of the American Protestantism. It was a time filled with such varied and unique

This semester, as a class, we have peeled away the layers of what evangelicalism and fundamentalism means throughout history, especially in our Western culture. I am intrigued with them both and their very presence in many of our modern-day congregations, as well as the secular parts of our society. After visiting Grace Covenant Church of Austin, Texas, many of the attributes that have been emphasized in books such as Rediscovering an Evangelical Heritage by Donald Dayton and American Apocalypse by Matthew Sutton, I experienced while visiting Grace.

As we have peeled away the layers of what evangelicalism and fundamentalism means throughout history, especially in our Western culture I am intrigued as to both and their very intense presence in many of our modern-day congregations. “Yet, the vast majority of evangelicals around the world today hail from Holiness, Pentecostal, and charismatic congregations”. After visiting Grace Covenant Church of Austin Texas, much of those aforementioned ‘typical’ contributions that have been emphasized in books such as The American Evangelical Story by Douglas Sweeney and American Apocalypse by Matthew Sutton, I experienced ever present at Grace.

While reading this book, the differences between the ideas of Wesleyan belief and Fundamentalism become clear. In the introduction, Al Truesdale lays out the book’s thesis, saying that, “We shall see that differences between fundamentalism and Wesleyan theology are so important that denominations in the Wesleyan tradition cannot adopt fundamentalism without forfeiting essential parts of what it means to be Wesleyan.” (pg.8). Both traditions have high views of scripture, but the main differences that the book describes is that Weslyans, “developed a doctrine of scripture that focused on its role in transforming the believer’s inner being as the ground for reordering behavior. Fundamentalism, developed a doctrine of scripture that tended to focus on reordering behavior in obedience to a body of propositional truths.” (pg. 27). In other words, many of the differences between fundamentalists and Wesleyans are due to their differing views on how the Bible should be viewed. Throughout the book, this viewpoint holds true throughout each topic of

Expressions is a nondenominational Christian faith based church. What makes this particular church nondenominational is Expressions is welcoming and centered around those who identify themselves in the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) community. Expressions was founded in 2007 with the overall mission to become a safe place where all can come to worship Jesus Christ as a family. Expressions church, head pastor is Neill Spurgin Coffman. Pastor Coffman is an openly gay man, who is married to Pastor Dean Coffman.

Somewhere along the way, though, people came to regard “evangelical” as synonymous with “conservative” and even with “fundamentalist.” Some folks think it’s not possible to be a “liberal evangelical.” Actually, one could make an excellent case that many liberal evangelicals reflect more of the way of Jesus in their ways of thinking, talking, and acting than do many conservative evangelicals.

Evangelical Christians believe inspiration of scripture comes from God. Scripture declares that, All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be (2 Timothy 3:16-17). In addition, inerrancy declares that scripture remains truthful incessantly. Book of John states “If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be broken (John 10:35). Furthermore, the bible maintains authority because it’s from God. Scripture claims” Because the Bible is what it is, it can do what it does (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Additionally, inspiration comes from God, which makes the scripture truth, whiling obtain authority.

"I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

“Dayton’s specific contribution to American religious historiography: popularizing and making accessible a tradition of evangelical social activism” (Dayton and Strong 19).The authors had discovered an evangelical social activism that had been buried and largely forgotten. “Indeed, this social-reform heritage represented the natural fruit of evangelical piety while the now-dominant post-fundamentalist forms of (neo-) evangelicalism represent a deflection from (and perhaps a hijacking of) authentic evangelical identity” (Dayton and Strong 20). Therefore, contemporary American evangelicalism were often portrayed as right wing and socially conservative. What surprise me in this book is that Dayton examines include: Jonathan Blanchard, Charles Finney, Theodore Weld, Arthur and Lewis Taipan, Orange Scott and Luther Lee. They are all from the Arminian end of the evangelical spectrum. If Jonathan Edwards and Charles Finney can both be regarded as evangelicals - it raises the question as to how effective and/ or appropriate is the evangelical label? On the other hand, we can see the pattern of reform by Graham by saying, that, “I am convinced that God has called me to be a New Testament evangelist, not an Old Testament

Campolo believed that “evangelical Christianity had been hijacked because it had seemingly become anti-gay, anti-feminist, anti-muslim, and pro-war. According to Campolo, the Religious Right hijacked it because they believed to be evangelical you had to be a radical conservative and hate everything you don’t believe in, rather than respecting them.

The next piece of Hawthorne’s works that is important to analyze to understand his feelings toward Christianity in America is the story called The Minister’s Black Veil. This work is interesting to study Hawthorne’s thoughts on Christianity because it focuses on both negative and positive aspects of Christianity in America. In this piece a parson in a Puritan community suspiciously emerges from his home one morning adorning a black veil. The community is both curious and frightened by the dark piece of clothing seen on the preacher’s head. Hawthorne writes that the Parson Hooper was a good preacher but with the adornment of the veil, his audience became overwhelmed by the words he was preaching. Hawthorne states, “But there was something,

Growing up in a Conservative Christian family, I don’t remember labeling my parents as strict, legalistic, or severely pious. Like any other Western child, I played at parks, went swimming, went to ballet school, took piano lessons, and tried theatre. In other words, I didn’t feel cut off from the world as a Christian. As long as we were not Mormon, Amish, or one of those homeschool kids who wore skirts to their ankles, we were the average American family. At least this homeschool family wore jeans.

“American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us,” by Robert D. Putnam and David E. Campbell, and “America and the Challenges of Religious Diversity,” by Robert Wuthnow, give different thoughts to religion and politics in the United States. Putnam and Campbell utilize the concepts of shocks and aftershocks to highlight religious changes in the United States. On the other hand, Wuthnow uses observations to focus on the encounters of religious diversity in the United States. Wuthnow compares American Christianity with other popular religions in America and how Christianity has affected the perception of religion. Putnam and Campbell’s “American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us” is a more persuasive assessment of American religion and politics.