Can You Change Evangelicalism’s Spots after Billy Graham?

Last updated on: March 16, 2020 at 3:25 pm by D. G. Hart

Can You Change Evangelicalism’s Spots after Billy Graham? 2020-03-16T15:25:55-04:00 D. G. Hart

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Here is part of my review of Thomas Kidd’s new book Who Is An Evangelical?

When historian Thomas Kidd was likely in diapers (the early 1970s), two books appeared that foreshadowed his own study of evangelicalism, Who Is an Evangelical? Part of a seven-book series called, “Evangelical Perspectives,” and edited by John Warwick Montgomery, the historian, Richard V. Pierard, and the sociologist, David O. Moberg, both complained that evangelicals were so attached to conservative politics and the Republican Party that they were in danger of betraying their faith. Pierard’s title, Uneasy Yoke: Evangelical Christianity and Political Conservatism (1970) gave his argument away. The evangelical church, he lamented, “had tied itself to the status quo of contemporary middle-class America and traded its prophetic ministry for a pottage of public acclaim and economic well-being.” In The Great Reversal: Evangelism versus Social Concern (1972), Moberg asserted that Nixon-era evangelicalism had abandoned social activism for spiritual ministry. Those evangelicals who supported Billy Graham while voting for Republicans had equated conservative theology with conservative politics and economics. As much as that argument seemed self-contradictory – evangelicals were showing social concern, but it was the wrong kind and did not count – Moberg reinforced Pierard’s critique. They may not have invoked race, but evangelicals’ reputation was clearly Republican, and it was, according to the authors, hurting the cause of Christ.

Thomas Kidd’s new book, Who Is An Evangelical?, unknowingly repeats this older gripe that evangelicalism is too Republican. The current version of evangelicalism’s “great reversal” is the about face that has afflicted born-again Protestantism thanks to the 2016 election of Donald Trump (in which according to many estimates eighty-one percent of the evangelical electorate cast votes for the Republican nominee). The Baylor University historian concedes that the dangers of partisan politics have bedeviled evangelicalism since the Cold War and during the Religious Right’s unqualified support for Ronald Reagan. But the crisis of evangelical identity reached fatal levels with support for Trump. The 2016 election has left evangelicalism with little meaning other than white and Republican. Unlike Pierard and Moberg, Kidd is not a critic of political conservatism. He may concede that Trump is not a very good conservative and that evangelicals have had good reasons for supporting previous Republican presidents. His intention is to save contemporary evangelicalism from the Republican Party of Donald Trump by revealing the movement’s demographic diversity. Ironically, if evangelicals heeded Kidd, they might be guilty of another great reversal that prioritized evangelism over social concern.

Key to Kidd’s strategy is definition. He characterizes evangelicals as “born-again Protestants who cherish the Bible as the Word of God and who emphasize a personal relationship with Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit.” [4] Conversion, Scripture, and experience of the Holy Spirit, accordingly, allow Kidd to decide who is part of his story and whom to exclude. It is a curious approach if only because Kidd cites no historical, theological, or ecclesiastical sources for his definition. Nor does it shape the contents of his book since Kidd does not explore doctrines of regeneration, Scripture, or the Holy Spirit, investigation that would have supported his definition. As it stands, Kidd uses his own definition to select his subjects. The trouble with this approach becomes evident when he writes about Barack Obama. The former president claimed that during one service at Chicago’s Trinity United Church of Christ, while kneeling before the cross, “I felt God’s spirit beckoning me” [140]. For Kidd, this qualifies as a conversion, but it was a “mainline” variety, not “an evangelical conversion.” In contrast, he regards George W. Bush’s conversion as evangelical. Although the president avoided the phrase “born-again,” “he made it clear that Jesus had changed his ‘heart’” [136]. Kidd would likely agree that he lacks the capacity to discern a person’s heart. At the same time, the way he defines evangelicalism and selects his subjects reflects Kidd’s control over his material.

Read the rest (if you please).

Image

2016 Presidential Election

Previous Post

March 11, 2020

A Pro-Life Social Imaginary - What To Do with New York City?

Next Post

March 18, 2020 Evangelical Hypocrisy Deepens

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 2016 Presidential Election 2020 Presidential Election Apocalypse Bible in American Life Biblical authority Books and culture Calvinism Church Life Civil Religion Culture Wars Doctrine evangelicalism Gullibility Heaven and Hell Intellectual life Jesus Ministry modernity moralism Nationalism New Testament Old Testament Otherworldiness Otherworldliness Paul Peter Piety Popular culture Protestantism Psalms Puritans Race Roman Catholicism sacred/secular distinction Sex Shameless Self Promotion Sports Ten Commandments U.S. politics Uncategorized vulgarity worship

Select a Month January 2022 October 2021 August 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz