Monday, March 17, 2025

It is the 17th of March 2025. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

A happy Monday to you, baseball season is starting? But not really? Just the Cubs and the bad guys in Japan and then we wait? I pay attention so that I can have hope for a few weeks and then everything falls apart. And thanks for all the Pi related bible verses…

I’ve got a mailbag question from Sarah in Grass Valley, a fine little town in Northern California off the Donner Pass, home to Richard Roundtree, aka Shaft, and Joanna Newsom, the singer who is married to Andy Samberg.

Sarah had a longer question about the term “evangelical,” wondering if it was a denomination, a term of affection, or a pejorative… This has to be one of the most asked questions, and when I went looking for an episode where I talked about this, I couldn’t find it. So, is “evangelical” a denomination, a term of affection, or a pejorative? The answer is yes. And it drives me crazy sometimes.

Once upon a time here at 1517- back in the day- we played with a tagline that was something like “reclaiming the way of the first evangelicals”. In fact, if you go to Germany and look for the “Lutheran” church you will find it called the “evangelisch” church- the Reformers called themselves “evangelical” from the same word we get “evangelist” and “evangelism” which comes from the Greek for “good news”. So “Good news” people. Good. Well we’re done- the last word for…. Wait. I assume you aren’t satisfied because the term can mean so many things (and unfortunately has taken on political connotations for the past few decades, heating up especially since the mid 20-teens).

We have Evangelical Free, Evangelical Lutheran, Evangelical Presbyterians, Evangelical everything- and they can vary so widely it’s really not helpful. There is a group called the National Association of Evangelicals, they represent some 40+ denominations and over 4,000 churches. In a 2023 study, the PRRI saw the percentage of Americans identifying as Evangelical drop from 23% in 2006 to 13%. All numbers of professing Christians is down, but this is amongst the steepest drops (and I assume part of this is the political baggage it has brought with it).

It’s such a great word I hate to see it associated with anything “non-Gospel”- if someone held a butter knife to my neck and asked me if I was an “evangelical” I would say yes… and I cringe when people use it to mean “white conservative middle class buzzkill” but I digress. 

I’m still going to go to the old Bebbington Quadrilateral. Named for British historian David Bebbington and his study from 1989 (the last year the A’s won the World Series), he identified four things: conversionism, Crucicentrism, Biblicism, and activism.

That is: Evangelicals prioritize the transforming nature of the Gospel, the centrality of Jesus’ work on the cross, a high view of Scripture, and an emphasis on missions and social reform. 

We could nit-pick or twist ourselves in a circle, breaking some of those down, but taken as simply and broadly as possible, I think they work. We could probably take generally Protestant groups and give them a 1-10 on each of those and get a better chart of some of the varieties of evangelicals. And I’ll admit that my “varieties of Christian experiences,” which we’ve done, shows on and I tend to speak on when I travel, are a response to Bebbington, whose work was specifically about “evangelicals,” and I was trying to expand on it. Check the show transcript for a link (here: https://www.1517.org/podcast-overview/2023-07-08).

But, Sarah, words are tricky. We need to look for context clues when people use the term. I'm going to do my best to only use it when speaking of Christians who emphasize the cross, conversion, the authority of the Bible, and a zeal to get that word out and live out the faith in the public square. You can do what you’d like, but I’d invite those of us who think church history matters to do the same.

And a note, the 1517.org/chacelebrate page is up, and you can get an awesome tote bag with the podcast art on it, please check it out and get one of those very smart bags. And, send me your questions at danv@1517.org.

The Last word for today comes from the daily lectionary, and an “evangelical” favorite from Romans 4:

What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, discovered in this matter? 2 If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. 3 What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

4 Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation. 5 However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness.

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 17th of March 2025 brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man from Cubs country, now in Brewers country, and I’d like to suggest we send the Brewers back to the American League and give those dumb Astros back to the National- he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a historian who can only hope to have his name appended to a shape some day… like, the van Voorhis rhombus- I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.