Page 416 - Way of Life Encyclopedia of the Bible Christianity. Based on the King James Bible

NEW EVANGELICAL

Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and one-time THE OLD EVANGELICALISM
editor of Christianity Today. Following is how Ockenga Before this, the terms “evangelical” and
defined New Evangelicalism in 1976 when he wrote the “fundamentalist” referred to A STRICT “PROTESTANT”
foreword to Harold Lindsell’s The Battle for the Bible: CHRISTIANITY. Generally speaking (and certainly in
“Neo-evangelicalism was born in 1948 in connection contrast to the mushy Evangelicalism of our day),
with a convocation address which I gave in the Civic Evangelicals of past generations were militant soldiers
Auditorium in Pasadena. While reaffirming the for Christ.
theological view of fundamentalism, this address The term “evangelical” can be traced to the English
REPUDIATED ITS ECCLESIOLOGY AND ITS SOCIAL
THEORY. The ringing call for A REPUDIATION OF revivals of the Wesleys and Whitefield and even to the
SEPARATISM AND THE SUMMONS TO SOCIAL earliest days of the Protestant Reformation. In either
INVOLVEMENT received a hearty response from many case, Evangelicalism of old was dogmatic and militant.
evangelicals. The name caught on and spokesmen such It was old-fashioned Protestantism. Luther was
as Drs. Harold Lindsell, Carl F.H. Henry, Edward excommunicated by the pope; John Wesley and George
Carnell, and Gleason Archer supported this viewpoint. Whitefield were barred from Anglican churches for their
We had no intention of launching a movement, but bold preaching. All of the Protestant denominations
found that the emphasis attracted widespread support once identified Rome as the Revelation 17 whore of
and exercised great influence. Neo-evangelicalism... Babylon. Those men, though we Baptists don’t see eye
DIFFERENT FROM FUNDAMENTALISM IN ITS to eye with them on many important points, stood
REPUDIATION OF SEPARATISM AND ITS
DETERMINATION TO ENGAGE ITSELF IN THE militantly for what they believed. This is exactly what
THEOLOGICAL DIALOGUE OF THE DAY. IT HAD A the New Evangelical does not do (except, as we will see,
NEW EMPHASIS UPON THE APPLICATION OF THE on a few issues that are popular within his circles).
GOSPEL TO THE SOCIOLOGICAL, POLITICAL, AND John Calvin was no New Evangelical when he said:
ECONOMIC AREAS OF LIFE. Neo-evangelicals “Popery is nothing else than a monster formed out of
emphasized the restatement of Christian theology in the innumerable deceptions of Satan, and that which
accordance with the need of the times, the they call the Church is more confused than Babylon.”
REENGAGEMENT IN THE THEOLOGICAL DEBATE, This was typical of the position held by all of the old
T H E R E C A P T U R E O F D E N O M I N AT I O N A L
LEADERSHIP, AND THE REEXAMINATION OF Protestant leaders.
THEOLOGICAL PROBLEMS SUCH AS THE ANTIQUITY Martin Luther was no New Evangelical when in
OF MAN, THE UNIVERSALITY OF THE FLOOD, GOD'S December 1520 he published two tracts in answer to the
METHOD OF CREATION, AND OTHERS” (Harold J. Bull of Leo X, one of which was entitled, “Martin Luther
Ockenga, foreword to Harold Lindsell’s book The Battle against the Execreable Bull of Anti-Christ.” He charged
for the Bible). the Pope and his cardinals of acting “the undoubted part
Regardless of who coined the term “New of the Anti-Christ of the Scriptures.”
Evangelical” (Ockenga’s claim has been disputed), it is William Tyndale, the father of our English Bible, was
certain that it described the new mood of positivism and no New Evangelical when he identified the pope as the
non-militancy that was permeating that generation. Antichrist in his treatise The Practice of Prelates as well
Ockenga and the new generation of Evangelicals, Billy as in the preface to the 1534 edition of his New
Graham figuring most prominently, determined to Testament.
abandon a militant Bible stance. Instead, they would
pursue dialogue, intellectualism, non-judgmentalism, William Latimer, an Anglican Greek scholar who
and appeasement. They refused to leave the modernist- loved the Word of God during the time of Tyndale, was
permeated denominations, determining to change no New Evangelical when he said, “Do you not know
things from within rather than practice separation. The that the Pope is very Antichrist, whom the Scripture
New Evangelical would dialogue with those who teach speaketh of? But beware what you say; for if you shall
error rather than proclaim the Word of God boldly and be perceived to be of that opinion, it will cost you your
without compromise. The New Evangelical would meet life. I have been an officer of his but I have given it up,
the proud humanist and the haughty liberal on their and defy him and all his works” (Christopher Anderson,
own turf with human scholarship rather than follow the Annals of the English Bible, I, pp. 35, 36). Latimer was
humble path of being counted a fool for Christ’s sake by burned at the stake by Queen Mary.
standing simply upon the Bible. New Evangelical leaders In his 1893 work titled Union with Rome, Christopher
also determined to start a “rethinking process” whereby Wordsworth, bishop of Lincoln in the Church of
the old paths were to be continually reassessed in light England, stated the view that prevailed among
of new goals, methods, and ideology. (The Church evangelical Protestants at that time, and it was not a
Growth movement epitomizes this.) New Evangelical position: “… we tremble at the sight,

416 Way of Life Encyclopedia of the Bible & Christianity