...[O]ne of the things that makes an evangelical different from a fundamentalist is that an evangelical is supposed to be willing to wrestle with the evidence. One of the hallmark differences between a fundamentalist and an evangelical is willingness to dialog over the issues. A fundamentalist condemns; an evangelical thinks. A college professor of mine used to say, “The Christian army is the only army in the world that shoots its wounded.” And, as a colleague of mine at Dallas Seminary says, “Some evangelicals in the rear guard are more comfortable taking pot shots at their own front line troops than they are engaging with the enemy.” It is a sad state of affairs for the evangelical church, especially the Reformed branch, when some act more like fundamentalists than evangelicals."
(My take on inerrancy, Daniel B. Wallace , Th.M., Ph.D., Here)
Perhaps we have a thing or two to learn still!
Till next time!
Is it possible to be a fundemental evangelical?
ReplyDeleteI hate labels but if christian askes me do define myself I am a Reformed Charismatic if a non believer asks me I am someone who loves Jesus as my rescuer.
Great Posts BTW
"Fundamentalist" in modern usage has become emptied of theological content and is now a boo-word meaning "someone who makes me uncomfortable by being more certain and vocal about their beliefs than me". "Evangelical" seems to be going the same way - it's often used in the media to mean fundamentalism-lite.
ReplyDeleteThe question is, should evangelical Christians try and recover the word, or do we need to find another term to describe ourselves?
Did the non-christian even know what the work evangelical meant?
ReplyDeleteI doubt it, we quibble over words so much and forget the world does not care!
There is a video on my blog about christiaese and how silly it is http://beatthedrum.wordpress.com/2009/05/14/some-light-relief-christianese/