Truett scholar calls for reform of evangelicalism
___By Marv Knox
___Editor
___WACO--Evangelicalism must be reformed, shifting from an emphasis on rigid boundaries to a more inclusive focus on the "strong center" of faith, theologian Roger Olson insisted.
___Olson issued the challenge during his faculty address at Baylor University's Truett Theological Seminary, where he is professor of theology.
___"Reformation is necessary for any movement's vitality and viability," Olson said, noting he "enthusiastically and unapologetically" identifies with the evangelical movement. But "once it stops reforming itself, it dies."
___"Evangelicalism ... was born in the Great Awakening and re-born in the second Great Awakening," he reported, referencing the huge revivals that swept the colonies in the 18th century and spread throughout the frontier of the growing nation almost 100 years later.
___A new form of evangelicalism arose in the 20th century, noted Olson, who twice has received Christianity Today magazine's annual award for writing the best book on theology and biblical studies.
___"The early 20th century witnessed a crisis in American Protestant Christianity, as liberal, modernist theologies swept through the so-called mainstream denominations and their universities and seminaries," he said. "Fundamentalism arose as a sharp reaction against the seemingly sudden rise to dominance of liberal-modernist biblical scholarship and theology."
___But fundamentalism itself soon needed reformation, he said, citing its penchant for "obscurantism, majoring in the minors of doctrine, extreme biblical literalism, maximal social and theological conservatism, and seemingly endless schisms and splits over issues such as the details of biblical prophecy."
___"Fundamentalists needed a litmus test to identify which nominal Christians were truly Christian and which were 'liberal compromisers' of the true biblical faith," he explained. Tests included belief in the virgin birth of Christ and, later, specific interpretations of the book of Revelation.
___"Boundary-marking and boundary-patrolling became obsessions with fundamentalists, and often the boundaries around 'true, authentic, biblical Christianity' were drawn very narrowly, too thickly and guarded too militantly," Olson said.
___In response, a group of "moderate fundamentalist evangelical ministers" arose in the 1940s and 1950s to counter the rigid, exclusive nature of fundamentalism, he described. This group gave rise to what came to be known as evangelicalism in the last half of the 20th century.
___Four "basic, unifying values and commitments" drew and held evangelicalism together, Olson reported.
___"First, the new evangelicalism wished to be centrist with regard to the modern spectrum of Protestant theology," he said, noting it downplayed both fundamentalism's "extremes of maximal conservatism" and liberalism's "accommodation to modernity."
___"It sought to identify and hold firmly to a core--a center--of classical, historic Christian belief, while allowing diversity of interpretation and adjustment to culture among those who stayed close to that center," he observed.
___"Second, evangelicalism wished to focus its energies on mission and evangelism, rather than doctrinal precision and purity, polemical argumentation and accommodationist apologetics," he added.
___"Third, evangelicalism desired to renew Christian higher education ... to avoid anti-intellectual obscurantism so common among fundamentalists and liberal accommodationism so common among mainstream Protestants."
___Finally, "the 'glue' that held this evangelical coalition together for decades was the vast Billy Graham Evangelistic Association," he proposed. "All evangelicals revered Billy Graham as a living saint of evangelism and sound theology."
___However, with the passage of decades and lately the "fading away of Graham's visibility," evangelicalism is being divided along "old tensions that existed like fault lines just beneath the surface," Olson asserted.
___From one side have come accusations of accommodation to American culture, "especially consumerism, individualism, relativism and therapy," he said. Others have expressed concern about resurgent fundamentalism in the movement, particularly "the need to identify evangelicalism's doctrinal boundaries and ... social, political and theological traditionalism."
___"There is a plain old power struggle going on within evangelicalism and evangelical theology," he reported. The struggle pits "conservatives," who primarily are Reformed, or Calvinist, inerrantists, against "progressives," who mostly are Arminian non-inerrantists.
___The conservatives see progressives as "envelope-pushing upstarts," while the progressives view the conservatives as "beady-eyed heresy hunters determined to dominate the popular concept 'evangelical' for their own ultra-conservative agenda," he asserted.
___The conservatives' tendency to build walls of identification--particularly the Evangelical Theological Society's consideration of "evangelical boundaries" and tightened doctrinal requirements--is "extremely ominous for the future of evangelicalism as a broad, irenic, centrist movement and coalition focused primarily on mission and renewal," Olson charged.
___"True reform in evangelical theology lies not in this kind of hardening of the categories--building up fortress-like walls against diversity and creativity and drawing firm boundaries to exclude all but those who agree completely with every item of some 'received evangelical tradition,'" he said. "True reform in evangelical theology lies in striking the right balance ... between unity and diversity, doctrine and experience, and tradition and innovation."
___Theological boundaries for evangelicalism should be replaced by "a strong center," he suggested.
___"The field of truth--which is always a bit ambiguous as to its exact scope and extent--needs a center but does not have to have a firm and unambiguous circumference," he explained. "I like to think of evangelical Christianity as a field of force with a strong gravitational center rather than as a bounded territory where every individual and group is clearly either 'inside' or 'outside.'"
___Evangelicals then would be determined by their position and relationship to the "center," he said.
___"The center of evangelicalism has always been relatively clear: It consists of conversion to Jesus Christ, commitment to his lordship and deity and development of a personal relationship with him; belief in the triune God of Jesus Christ and the canonical Scriptures as a supernaturally inspired and authoritative witness to him; embrace of the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ as the way of salvation; and passionate dedication to discipling all people into the way of Jesus Christ.
___"The center is both an experience--called conversion to Jesus Christ--and a conviction--called faith in Jesus Christ."
___Of course, "some people who claim to be evangelical are misusing the term--stretching it beyond all meaning merely to gain status in the group," he conceded.
___For example, at least one Unitarian-Universalist who does not regard Jesus as Lord and Savior has claimed to be an evangelical, he noted. On the other hand, he also cited "cranky, unloving, mean-spirited, spiritually cold and dead conservative Baptists" who call themselves evangelicals, he added.
___Building upon his "strong center" definition of evangelicalism, Olson suggested three steps to reform the movement:
___ "Evangelicalism must become comfortable with diversity while maintaining a rough unity," he began.
___"Artificial, imposed uniformity is not the way to reform. It is the path toward the death of a movement," he insisted. "Drawing firm boundaries is one way we humans exclude those who for one reason or another make us uncomfortable by challenging our comfort zones."
___Evangelicals must learn to include Christians of "like experience" despite differences of class, race, gender and "diverse viewpoints on secondary doctrinal matters," he urged.
___"Could it be that some Christians are even closer to the center--the true heart--of evangelical faith by virtue of their love for Jesus Christ and obedience to Scripture than are some theologically correct boundary-patrolling theologians?" he asked. "Let's risk living with fluid, ambiguous, uncertain boundaries and focus on our common center."
___ "Evangelicalism must identify itself as much by experience as by doctrine," Olson maintained.
___"I am not in any way suggesting that evangelical theology elevate some universal form of God-consciousness or even some individual feeling of piety ... to the status of touchstone of truth for defining evangelical faith," he said.
___"Rather, I am suggesting that we evangelicals ... recognize and acknowledge that the transforming work of God through faith in Jesus Christ and reception of the Holy Spirit is part of the core--the center--of what defines authentic evangelicalism and emphasize that as equally important with doctrinal affirmation."
___ "Evangelicalism must value innovation as much as tradition," he declared.
___"We evangelicals ... are so profoundly afraid of being accused of theological liberalism that we have made a habit of going boldly only where we have always gone before," he conceded. "We are surrounded by fellow evangelicals who feel it is their calling from God to hunt for heresy and expose heresy where no one has previously found it."
___He cited vigorous debates among fervent evangelicals over the meaning of the inerrancy of Scripture and the precise nature of God's knowledge and interaction with the free will of humans.
___"Careful, patient, gentle dialogue about biblical materials and about tradition and its importance and defects might benefit all evangelicals," he suggested. "The innovators who remain close to the center ... should be given a fair hearing and not vilified and driven away."
___"Evangelicalism's greatest enemy is fear--a fear of change that causes some of its leaders to guard the status quo and inadvertently drains the dynamic, transforming power out of the movement," he concluded.
___"Let us overcome fear and embrace new ideas, diversity and vital experience while holding fast to that central, defining core that truly identifies and unites all evangelicals."
The Baptist Standard
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