What Does It Mean To Be Post-Evangelical?
You’ve heard us say there is a massive groundswell of people who no longer associate with U.S. evangelicalism, but are still very much seeking to follow Jesus and compelled by the historic Christian tradition.
You’ve also heard us say that if we collectively care about the future of the Church, we need to care about this community and create space for them to find healing, belonging and community.
A Slice Of My PhD Research Connected To Journey Home
You’ve heard us say there is a massive groundswell of people who no longer associate with U.S. evangelicalism, but are still very much seeking to follow Jesus and compelled by the historic Christian tradition.
You’ve also heard us say that if we collectively care about the future of the Church, we need to care about this community and create space for them to find healing, belonging and community.
Not only do we identify with this community, one of the primary reasons we started Journey Home was to walk with these wonderful people for the long haul in pursuit of healing soul and society. Finally, my PhD research is focused specifically on a history of evangelical engagement in politics and is seeking to identify a post-evangelical political ethic (Put simply, how does our faith intersect with society in healing ways?).
All this said, it’s time to share a bit more about what I mean when using these terms.
“There is a massive groundswell of people who no longer associate with U.S. evangelicalism, but are still very much seeking to follow Jesus and compelled by the historic Christian tradition.”
First, that’s all they are: terms. Or labels.
Which serve a purpose, but in no way have a corner on the market of Christian orthodoxy. I get that the term "post-evangelical" can be a scary term. Maybe even offensive in that inherent in being a "post" evangelical is that I am no longer evangelical. And, for many of us, being evangelical was synonymous with being Christian.
So, first off, I wish we had a better name for this budding movement as it sounds oriented toward what we are NOT rather than who we ARE. But, it's just a label and for now that's all we've got.
So, if inherent in being a post-evangelical is having been an evangelical, what does evangelical even mean?
In short, it means different things to just about everyone and its definition has evolved over time and takes very different forms depending on one’s context (ex. U.S. evangelicalism is very different from Latin American Evangelicalism).
The term itself comes from the Greek evangelion. Or good news. So, in that sense, that makes evangelicals “good news people.” In the West, the term has been formally and informally defined over the past 100 yrs.
Here is a short version:
Theologically, evangelicalism was most famously defined by David Bebbington’s “Bebbington Quadrilateral.” 1
Biblicism (Authority of the Bible)
Conversionism (Humans need to be converted)
Crucicentrism (Atoning work of Jesus on the cross)
Activism (Gospel needs to be expressed in action)
Culturally, U.S. evangelicalism in the 21st century was most shaped by Billy Graham and the corresponding desire for evangelicalism to take a more palatable form in the wake of early 21st century fundamentalism.
Functionally, evangelicalism in the 40’s-60’s was fundamentalism with more accessible and culturally relevant clothing. Think post-WWII optimism and church boom, alongside growing political influence with Eisenhower (implementing “In God We Trust” on our currency and “Under God” in our Pledge of Allegiance) and big-tent rallies by Billy Graham and other evangelists.2
In fact, when the founders of Christianity Today were discerning how to define “evangelical” as a way to sharpen their target audience, they said an evangelical is “anyone who likes Billy Graham.”3 The implications of that definition can and need to be unpacked much more, but that’ll have to be for anyone bored enough to read my dissertation!
Politically, over the past four decades, evangelicalism has been most prominently associated with the Religious Right who were instrumental in Ronald Reagan’s 1980 defeat of President Carter (a practicing evangelical). In one of Reagan’s most famous campaign speeches to an auditorium filled with evangelicals, he said, “I know you can’t endorse me, but I endorse you.”4
With Jerry Falwell at the helm of the movement in the 80’s and 90’s and now stretching to the 81% of white evangelicals who voted for Donald Trump in 2016, partisan politics has intimately shaped the “definition” of evangelicalism in our context.
To recap: U.S. evangelicalism does not have one tidy definition, but has been defined theologically, culturally and politically by those trying to make sense of its convictions in our context.
The latter - those seeking to follow Jesus beyond the definitions and constructs of US evangelicalism - is not a small number of people.
Research and experience help us understand this is a massive (and growing) community of Jesus followers who are NOT walking away from Jesus or Christianity, but simply shedding the label and inherent associations with U.S. evangelicalism.
In fact, many “post-evangelicals” are far more drawn to the historic Christian tradition and practice (Celtic Christianity, spirituality of the Desert Fathers/Mothers, Indigenous Christianity, Christian mystics, etc) than many who choose the “evangelical” label. While not all post-evangelicals agree with the theology of Bebbington’s Quadrilateral, they have far less issue with the theology than they do the cultural and political expressions of evangelicalism.
In short, post-evangelicals are not walking away from Jesus or Christianity, but the social construct we call U.S. evangelicalism.5,6
For some, that construct works. For others, it doesn’t. Journey Home is walking with those for whom it doesn’t.
And, for all those who care about the future of the Church and our shared witness, walking with these “evangelical refugees” is incredibly important work.
As I said earlier, inherent in being a post-evangelical is having once identified as an evangelical. Many who we walk with have been deeply wounded by evangelicalism and are seeking healing.
While labels are nothing more than very limited descriptions (and we follow a God who transcends any label, doctrine or creed), we use the language of “post-evangelical” because it’s important for our people to know we are also seeking to follow Jesus beyond US evangelicalism.
“Post-evangelicals are not walking away from Jesus or Christianity, but the social construct we call U.S. evangelicalism.
For some, that construct works. For others, it doesn’t. Journey Home is walking with those for whom it doesn’t.
And, for all those who care about the future of the Church and our shared witness, walking with these “evangelical refugees” is incredibly important work.”
As I said earlier, inherent in being a post-evangelical is having once identified as an evangelical. Many who we walk with have been deeply wounded by evangelicalism and are seeking healing.
While labels are nothing more than very limited descriptions (and we follow a God who transcends any label, doctrine or creed), we use the language of “post-evangelical” because it’s important for our people to know we are also seeking to follow Jesus beyond US evangelicalism.
We are creating a safe space for ongoing journey of healing soul and society.
So, with ALL this being said, what and who is a post-evangelical? Can we be defined by more than just what we are no longer? I think so.
But, that’s going to wait for PART 2 in this mini-series asking the question: What is a Post-Evangelical?
If you made it to the end of this somewhat academic endeavor, way to go! If you didn’t, we don’t blame you.
Either way, know you’re loved and we are grateful to be on the journey together.
More soon,
Jon
1 David W. Bebbington, Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A History from the 1730s to the 1980s, 1st ed. (London: Routledge, 1989).
2 Kevin M. Kruse, One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America (New York: Basic Books, n.d.).
3 George Marsden, Understanding Fundamentalism and Evangelicalism (Grand Rapids, Mich: Eerdmans, 1991).
4 Kristen Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation (Liveright Publishing Co., 2020).
5 Josh Packard Ph.D, Ashleigh Hope, and Group Publishing, Church Refugees: Sociologists Reveal Why People Are DONE with Church but Not Their Faith (Loveland, Colorado: Group Publishing, 2015).
6 Ryan Burge, The Nones: Where They Came from, Who They Are, and Where They Are Going (Augsburg Fortress Publishers, 2021).