(Following this previous post: https://jotsandscribbles.blog/2023/12/07/an-evangelical-hypothesis/)
In my previous post on this topic, I suggested that evangelicalism is best understood as a protestant renewal movement, and that when evangelicalism is unmoored from its protestant roots, it becomes distorted in various ways. Here, I outline three specific ways this happens.
1) Loss of vocation
One of the great benefits of the reformation was the recovery of the idea that everyone could live a life glorifying God whatever their vocation. You could serve God as a ploughboy, or a mother, or a shoe maker, just as much as by being a pastor. But when evangelicalism is unmoored from its protestant roots, the sacred secular divide can return, with only the spiritual activities of ordinary Christians valued. At its worst, church life can be reduced to a sort of ponzi scheme where the aim is to spend all your time doing evangelism, to have more people who do more evangelism, with everything else considered a distraction.
2) Songs that lack theological depth
It is sometimes said that evangelicals are anti-liturgy. That is not entirely true even at a superficial level, given how many evangelical Anglicans there are. But it would be far more true to say that evangelicals have a sung liturgy- our songs are the things we say together when we gather. This form of liturgy is an example of the popular and middle level teaching that evangelicalism excels at. “And can it be” or “In Christ alone” teach powerfully about Christ’s death and resurrection, and how that affects us as followers of Jesus. But when unmoored from its protestant roots, evangelical songs can come to lack theological depth and rigour. Having some simple songs for children in the mix is great. But if all our songs are essentially saying only “God is big and made everything” or “Jesus loves me and died for me”, our liturgies lack the breadth or depth of the Psalms or historic evangelical hymns.
3) Anti-intellectualism
As a reform movement within Protestantism, evangelicalism could benefit from the intellectual giants of the reformation and puritan era, and filter the best of academic theology, while focusing effort on teaching and popularising the core message of the gospel. Unmoored from protestant roots, evangelicalism tends towards anti-intellectualism. This has sometimes been reasonable, where academic theology has gone down unproductive rabbit holes. But it has also weakened evangelicalism’s ability to respond to changing intellectual and social currents, and sometimes leaves intelligent young evangelicals feeling they need to choose between intellectual rigour and evangelical faith.
Jots and Scribbles 