{"id":74065,"date":"2018-10-03T17:00:48","date_gmt":"2018-10-03T21:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=74065"},"modified":"2018-10-03T19:45:31","modified_gmt":"2018-10-03T23:45:31","slug":"la-review-of-books","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=74065","title":{"rendered":"(LA Review of Books) Christianity and Resistance: An Interview with Alan Jacobs"},"content":{"rendered":"

So, what does \u201cevangelical\u201d mean?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Right now, I have no freaking idea. [Laughs<\/em>.] I couldn\u2019t begin to tell you.<\/p>\n

What is it supposed to mean?<\/strong><\/p>\n

So, the most classic definition is one that was coined by Scottish historian David Bebbington (you can Google the term \u201cBebbington quadrilateral\u201d), and it consists of these four things: evangelicals are people who believe in a conversion experience; they believe in the authority of scripture; they have a theology centered on the cross, and Jesus\u2019s atoning work on the cross; and, as Bebbington puts it, they engage in a theologically informed activism, they get out there and preach the gospel and try to win people over. Some have suggested revisions to that, but that\u2019s the general thing.<\/p>\n

And what we\u2019re looking at now is that many of the people who call themselves \u201cevangelical\u201d in polls are people who actually could not in any meaningful way affirm any of those four things. But that\u2019s not encouraging to me, because what that suggests is that there are all these people who have some kind of\u00a0tribal <\/em>association with the word \u201cevangelical.\u201d And that means that evangelical churches have allowed themselves to degenerate into a kind of tribalism, rather than theologically informed, compassionate activism.<\/p>\n

Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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"[T]hat\u2019s what I try to do \u2014 to promote life wherever it is endangered, wherever it is marginalized, wherever it is demeaned. That\u2019s the kind of Christian I want to be." \u2013 @ayjay<\/a> at @LAReviewofBooks<\/a> today. https:\/\/t.co\/CGfL8BQ7So<\/a><\/p>\n

— Gracy Olmstead (@gracyolmstead) October 3, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n