What does it mean to be an evangelical? It's a hard question to answer even if we confine it to the realm of academic inquiry, where historians, sociologists, theologians, and others dispute how to categorize Christian experience and thought. But it's all the more vexing when the word is regularly used by pollsters and pundits, politicians and pastors — few of whom know the Bebbington Quadrilateral, or its shortcomings. I sometimes wish we could all agree to add the e-word to the long list of terms that have passed out of regular usage in the English language.
But here's (part of the) problem: Many Christians want to be described as evangelical. And not just those who read this Patheos channel.
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