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 PrintableVersion American Evangelical Christianity: an introductionTransatlantic faithAMERICAN EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANITY Why should a British Christian spend precious reading time on a book about evangelicalism in the United States? And as an American evangelical living in the UK, do I not at times share a certain embarrassment with what 'my people' seem to be doing, an embarrassment that tries to minimise my connection with so much of what we hear from 'across the pond'? The answer, of course, is that evangelicalism in Britain and the USA have always shared a relationship in which their scholarship, experiences, resources and people influence one another. It is a religious analogy to 'the special relationship' known in the 20th century as diplomatic and military allies. Even those churchmen most ardent in remaining aloof from the American religious experience must admit that it is folly to pretend that their own secular neighbours are not affected in their attitudes toward Christianity by its American manifestations. Billy GrahamAs evidence of this, Professor Noll from Wheaton College, in his own careful definition of the troubling term 'evangelical', relies on the work of the British historian David Bebbington; and, as Noll looks for an example improving upon the political record of US evangelicals, he turns to the experience of the Canadian churches, which is somewhat mid-Atlantic in its tone and motivation. If a chapter on the career of Billy Graham seems excessive, I must remind myself that on a tour of England and Scotland I once made as a missionary on furlough, every household in which I stayed owed a debt of thanks to his crusades held over the decades. It is critical that British Christians learn from the experience of the American churches for, although the British mind and context are different, and the British history longer, many of the tensions and challenges at the interface between culture and religion coming to parishes on this wee island have already been encountered and reacted to - for good or ill - in North America. Noll is himself an evangelical scholar with gifts so great and knowledge so encyclopaedic that he is respected by his colleagues in the historical guild, whatever their own religious opinions may be. The work both benefits and suffers from his gifts and relatedness to his subject matter. The book improves as the chapters go by because, in its eagerness to be sociologically unassailable, it proves itself with charts, poll results and percentages which the general reader would be more interested to examine following his analysis by the topics of Gender, Science, and Politics. Likewise, eager to show himself an objective student of the subject, Noll is more likely to debunk myths believed by American evangelicals about themselves and their origins, or to criticise them when their cultural beliefs get confused for the biblical gospel, than he is to affirm the movement's strengths and contributions. FlashpointsHe is fair, however, and the book is a good starting point on its subject, full as it is of suggested further reading on a number of contemporary flash points of opinion - for example, the story of recent efforts at conservative ecumenism between evangelicals and Roman Catholics. Scholars, by the rules of their game, may be critical of their own sub-cultures, but are not allowed to be advocates of them. The work, however, manages not to tumble into the slough of 'practical atheism' in its sociological method, but the reader does feel a strange, uncomfortable sensation seeing the 'invisible' church dissected on the table in public by one of our own, but it is an experience that I believe is worthwhile. Wade Bradshaw, L'Abri Fellowship© Evangelicals Now - August 2001 |
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