Bebbington - Evangelicalism In Modern Britain

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Bebbington (Who)

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Prof of history u of Sterling UK

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Bebbington (Thesis)

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Evangelicalism is a broad protestant revival movement that began in 1730s which while having “altered enormously over time in response to the changing assumptions of Western culture” (19) has held onto four constant elements, namely conversionism, activism, biblicism, and crucisentism.

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Bebbington (argument through book)

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Begins with his quadrilateral.

Then beginning in 1720s shows the place of evangelicalism in the greater cultural context showing how the social changes in culture affect evangelicalism in attitude, outlook, and especially doctrine. however, he argues that the quadrilateral unite them and remain throughout their history.

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Bebbington (key thoughts)

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Definition of evangelicalism: the quadrilateral.

Evangelicalism as being allied with the enlightenment and its product. Highlights Romantic thought upon evangelicals.

Sees fundamentalists and liberals as being evangelicals. Inerrancy is not historic, nor necessary for evangelicalism.

Cultural context, not economics or politics, or theology offers the best explanation of evangelicalism

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Bebbington (E. and the Reformation)

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E. discontinuous from the Reformed tradition: 1. Rise in personal piety rather than liturgical piety, 2. Experience over speculation, 3. New emphasis on missions.

This view contra Gasper who sees E. coming out of R. and Tidball who sees E. tied theologically to the R.

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Bebbington (conservatives and liberals)

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Bebbi sees both fundies and liberals in America and liberals and conservatives in Britain as being evangelicals.

The conflicts with Machen and his argument that liberalism is not Christianity.

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Bebbington (holiness late 19th C.)

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holiness teaching impacts evangelicalism 1880s onward. Holiness teaching was in reality “primarily an expression of the spirit of the age. It was a Romantic impulse” (179) “By shifting the fulcrum of Christianity from the head to the heart, it blurred ecclesiastical boundaries and softened the doctrinal inheritance” (179). Keswick was being democratized, everyone had the opportunity to experience victory.

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Bebbington (E. and Enlightenment)

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Enlightenment assumptions in evangelicalism- modern science/importance of experience, limitation to natural cause, optimism, remodeling of Calvinism rejecting strong determinism, pragmatism, and humanitarianism. [aside: It is interesting to think that perhaps they saw themselves as having a better ethic than their forefathers. Just as today the postmodern ethic is thought to be better than the modern. Not what Bebbi says who sees it as an attempt to control social order]