The year was 1950, and evangelicalism was at a crossroads. For the
previous 50 years evangelicals had fought to create an identity. Having
separated from the main-line denominations, evangelicals now were an
mish-mashed group lacking identity. The former generation of
evangelicals was tired, having fought battles for the purity and
proliferation of the movement. Feeling that the gospel’s integrity was
at stake, they had worked to raise up a younger generation of
like-minded evangelicals.
This
new generation realized that their movement lacked identity. They also
noticed that the previous generation had fought battles, some of which
appeared to be little more than shadow-boxing as the former enemies had
receded for the time being. As this new generation looked across the
evangelical landscape, they saw a blank canvass. This new generation
labored to create an identity for their group. Ian Murray, in Evangelicalism Divided, shows the struggles that ensued during the battle for the identity of this second generation.
This is one of those books that every
American Christian needs to read. In fact, I bet many readers of our
blog have already read it, and the rest probably own it. If you have not
cracked it, then dust it off and break it out. Before I moved to
Viriginia, the elders at Grace Church spent much of the year reading
this book together. It was stunning how much of Murray’s details related
directly to present controversy in evangelicalism. Continue at Jesse Johnson
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