THE QUESTION

What is an Evangelical?

Some Christian leaders issued An Evangelical Manifesto last week to depoliticize the term 'evangelical.' "We evangelicals are defined theologically, and not politically, socially or culturally," they said. In your mind, what is the definition of an evangelical?

Posted by Sally Quinn and Jon Meacham on May 14, 2008 5:52 AM
FROM THE PANEL

Reasonable Evangelicals

The revival of Evangelical faith inside the academy (witness the explosive growth of Evangelical colleges and universities) is breaking down old misunderstandings through exposure of both communities to each other.

Posted by John Mark Reynolds, on May 19, 2008 1:09 PM

The New Evangelicalism: "Not to Attack or Exclude"

Accepting the olive branch offered by the manifesto can only be provisional at this point. Looking over the seven points of essential doctrine, each takes a dogmatic position that millions of other Christians don't accept

Posted by Deepak Chopra, on May 19, 2008 9:24 AM

Evangelicals Redefining: It's About Time

Our allegiance is not to any political party or ideology but to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As Evangelicals, we should be careful that we are not used as political puppets of any political parties.

Posted by Gabriel Salguero, on May 19, 2008 8:33 AM

Followers of Jesus, not Labels

I wasn't aware of a demand for an "evangelical manifesto." Everything a follower of Jesus needs is in God's Word. It seems to me to be another attempt to "fit-in" with the world. "Evangelicals" ought to be fitting-in with God and His agenda, which is redemption, not reforming a fallen planet.

Posted by Cal Thomas, on May 19, 2008 7:25 AM

Evangelical Does Not Mean Conservative Voting Bloc

These Evangelical leaders have come to rue the day they were discovered as a voting bloc by Republican strategists. They have been manipulated and “that way faith loses its independence.” All people of faith should heed this warning.

Posted by Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite, on May 19, 2008 6:25 AM

The Good News of Identifying Bad Religion

As a pro-choice evangelical, I was saddened by the violent anti-choice (spun as “pro-life”) language of “an Evangelical Manifesto” on this culture-war issue: we on the other side are guilty of “assaults” on the unborn.

Posted by Willis E. Elliott, on May 16, 2008 3:04 PM

Dog Bites Man Story: Evangelicals Want More Religion in the Public Square

The "Evangelical Manifesto" issued last week in Washington suggests that I may have been wrong in my analysis of the relationship between evangelicalism and fundamentalism.

Posted by Susan Jacoby, on May 16, 2008 2:00 PM

A Follower of Jesus by Any Other Name

Better questions: What tasks is God calling the church to undertake today and tomorrow? What resources are there in the Evangelical traditions which will enable us to carry out those tasks? What resources will we need for those tasks which are NOT normally found in the Evangelical traditions?

Posted by Nicholas T. Wright, on May 16, 2008 12:30 PM

Evangelicals are Not Weird

The most helpful, though not original, feature of the Manifesto is to show that the Evangelicals represented in it are more and other than scrubbed-up and toned-down ex-Fundamentalists.

Posted by Martin Marty, on May 16, 2008 2:49 AM

Good News for Whom?

The good news about this new manifesto is that it uncouples the presumed linkage between this particular faith and a particular set of political policies and prescriptions.

Posted by Brad Hirschfield, on May 15, 2008 11:06 AM

Evangelicals Defined by Discipleship

Though it seeks always to bring Christian truth to bear in all of society, including politics, evangelicalism stands astride the mainstream of the church and apart from and independent of any worldly structure.

Posted by Charles "Chuck" Colson, on May 14, 2008 3:42 AM

FEATURED COMMENTS

daniel: My opinion of this document is unequivocal: it is one of the saddest, conflicted, incoherent documents I have ever read but will no doubt br...

Brent Bullock: "Go and make disciples of all the nations ..." In essence that is the root of what an "evangelical" should be, though the term has clearly ...

mike rucker: one of the things i like about the document is that the authors choose not to say that creationism and inerrancy are non-negotiables. for th...

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