I don't often write blog posts about my mistakes, but here we go.
At one point in my life, I uncritically and unenthusiastically allowed myself to be identified as an evangelical. I certainly agreed that evangelizing was a good thing, and really didn't go much deeper than that. I honestly don't know if I ever actually claimed to be evangelical in any sort of public sense, but I definitely allowed myself to be lumped in with them.
After a while I learned what the beginnings of evangelicalism were, and how antithetical the movement was to scholarship and education, and how much it focused on personalities and gimmicks. Even though that's changed to some degree, I still see enough of that to be concerned.
What this means for me is that I can now say that I am an exvangelical. Unlike most who've assumed this label, this doesn't mean that I'm rejecting most or all of the things that make Christianity distinctive. Nor does it mean that I'm deconstructing my faith. What it means is that I have no desire to be labeled as an evangelical, no more no less.
As I've always struggled with how to self identify, I'll probably go back to the term I'm most comfortable with and identify myself as Reformed, unless I find something that's a better fit.
This is the first time in my life that I've gotten in on a trend while it was still "cool", I'm not sure if I should be happy about that or not.
10 comments:
I'd be interested in you explaining what it is you've learned about evangelicalism that makes you think it is antithetical to scholarship and education and based on gimmicks and personality. Not necessarily disagreeing with you, just curious about what it is specifically the concerns you. Which beginnings of evangelicalism are you referring to?
I haven't spent too much time trying to figure out which Christian label to apply to myself. I don't care if I'm referred to as an Evangelical, because those who do so do so derisively because they're not as Christian as progressives like they are like to believe. I do acknowledge I'm among those Christians who are conservative, by which I mean NOT PROGRESSIVE, because I actually strive, in my humble, too often half-hearted way to be as close to what Scripture teaches a Christian is as possible.
Speaking of evangelicals, that darling of white evangelicals was preaching his gospel recently. Cited in The Atlantic...
“If we get together, they cannot cancel us all. Okay? They won’t. And this will be contrary to a lot of our beliefs because—I’d love not to have to participate in cancel culture. I’d love that it didn’t exist. But as long as it does, folks, we better be playing the same game. Okay? We’ve been playing T-ball for half a century while they’re playing hardball and cheating. Right? We’ve turned the other cheek, and I understand, sort of, the biblical reference—I understand the mentality—but it’s gotten us nothing. Okay? It’s gotten us nothing while we’ve ceded ground in every major institution in our country.”
Throughout his speech, Don Jr. painted a scenario in which Trump supporters—Americans living in red America—are under relentless attack from a wicked and brutal enemy. He portrayed it as an existential battle between good and evil. One side must prevail; the other must be crushed."
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Boy, those poor oppressed white evangelicals are being clearer than ever that Jesus' good news is for suckered and weaklings.
Art,
Up until recently, I was like you. I just didn't care that much, but it kind of weighed on me, and I decided to think about it, and ended up where I am.
Dan,
What has ended up as Evangelicalism, started from the movement that spawned the tent revival/traveling preacher phenomenon. Most, if not all, of the preachers were untrained folks who had some kind of emotional experience and felt like that qualified them to preach. There was actual hostility from this segment of Christianity toward any strain that held to the importance of education for it's clergy. From there we saw a trend towards using various techniques (not unlike what we've seen in the Toronto Blessing/Brownsville revival more recently) to push people toward an emotional response.
I'm not going to waste a bunch of time going into detail on this because the information is out there.
I'm familiar with the history of Evangelicalism, thank you. I was just curious what about it was a non-starter for you. Thanks.
Dan's projecting again.
Of course you are, you probably read something, somewhere, some time ago, that give you all of the information you could possibly need.
I didn't say I was an authority on evangelicalism and its history, but yes, I am an informed former evangelical. Why the hostility? It was a polite and reasonable question.
Past history I guess.
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