Tag Archives: evangelicalism

Roots of Evangelical Worship: Charles G. Finney

Roots of Evangelical Worship: Charles G. Finney

Many factors, cultural and theological, converged to form what we might call today “Evangelical Worship,” including Enlightenment philosophy, German Pietism, John and Charles Wesley, American revival and democracy, and rural camp meetings. None, however, had as significant impact as one individual—nineteenth-century Revivalist Charles G. Finney (1792–1875). Influenced by theologian Nathaniel Taylor’s “New Haven Theology,” Finney… Continue Reading

The Fundamentalists and Billy Graham

The Fundamentalists and Billy Graham

Kevin T. Bauder Some of you new students may not understand just exactly why we take the position we take in regard to Billy Graham’s ecumenical evangelism…. Billy Graham and I have been for many years personal friends. This is not a personal difference between my father and Dr. Graham—that is what defenders of Dr.… Continue Reading

Roger, Roger | Part Four: Today’s Situation

Roger, Roger | Part Four: Today’s Situation

A few weeks ago, Roger Olson of Baylor University devoted a blog post to asking “What Is ‘Fundamentalism?’” By way of contrast he was also trying to say how fundamentalism differs from evangelicalism. He used Edward John Carnell’s critique of fundamentalism as the fulcrum of his argument. Olson did not mention that Carnell’s “Exhibit A”… Continue Reading

Roger, Roger | Part Three: Necessary Qualifications

Roger, Roger | Part Three: Necessary Qualifications

Kevin T. Bauder [Editor’s note: A technical difficulty prevented last week’s essay from being emailed. Part Two of this series can be found on Central Seminary’s website.] Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been responding to Roger Olson, who teaches at Truett Seminary (Baylor University). Not long ago Roger blogged about the difference between… Continue Reading

Roger, Roger | Part Two: Fundamentalism and New Evangelicalism

Roger, Roger | Part Two: Fundamentalism and New Evangelicalism

Kevin T. Bauder I am responding to colleague Roger Olson who, in a recent blog post, attempted to articulate the difference between fundamentalism and evangelicalism. His argument relied upon an old critique in which Edward John Carnell labeled fundamentalism as “cultic orthodoxy.” My first step was to flesh out Carnell’s critique by placing it in… Continue Reading

tobyMac and the state of Evangelical piety

tobyMac and the state of Evangelical piety

Paul’s Words to the Ephesians The beginning of Ephesians 5 is striking. Paul writes to former idolaters and fornicators, reminding them of their new life in Christ. He opens with a call to holiness. Believers must “be imitators of God,” walking “in love.” To walk in love means that believers must live making personal sacrifices to build… Continue Reading

Matt Recker and The Gospel Coalition: Part One

Matt Recker and The Gospel Coalition: Part One

For many years, Matt Recker has been a church planter and pastor in New York City. He has started churches in Brooklyn and Queens, and he presently pastors the Heritage Baptist Church in Manhattan. He has written and taught on urban ministry, becoming recognized among fundamentalists as something of an authority in these areas. Recently,… Continue Reading

The Fundamental Baptist Fellowship International

The Fundamental Baptist Fellowship International

From their earliest days, Baptists have erected organizations to assist them in coordinating ministries that are beyond the ability of most individual churches. Among these organizations are both church associations and individual fellowships. Over the past month, I have had the opportunity to attend the meetings of three such organizations, two at the national level… Continue Reading

Intensely audience-conscious and market-driven

Intensely audience-conscious and market-driven

Many conservative evangelical and even fundamentalist churches today have transformed the Christian faith into a kind of pop-culture version of The Way. This change began to become most prominent in the early 20th century, right after the fundamentalist-modernist controversy. Joel Carpenter captures well the shift to pop religion in his important work on the history… Continue Reading

Young, Brazen, and Proud

Young, Brazen, and Proud

Much has been written and posted about being a young man in the landscape of fundamentalism.  I don’t remember anyone defining what “young” means in that context, but I would consider myself to be in that category, even though I am 38 years old.  Perhaps it is those who are in their 20’s-30’s that make… Continue Reading

Relevance is Irrelevant (Part 13)

Relevance is Irrelevant (Part 13)

This entry is part 13 of 14 in the series Relevance is Irrelevant You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 I have been arguing that Paul’s method of ministry deliberately avoided attempts to be (what we would call) relevant. Paul not only says that he himself avoided relevant methods, but compels his successors to do the same. His manner of ministry… Continue Reading

Neglected Battle Fronts

Neglected Battle Fronts

And the most notable era of Scottish preaching was in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, they had great power. In fact, the strongest reformational preaching going on in Europe at that time was in Scotland, the great preaching of the Reformation in Scotland. For two centuries it lasted. And Blakey writing in 1888 points out… Continue Reading

Relevance is irrelevant (Part 4)

Relevance is irrelevant (Part 4)

This entry is part 4 of 14 in the series Relevance is Irrelevant You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 I believe that the first three chapters of 1 Corinthians ought to guide our thinking concerning the relationship of our efforts to minister the grace of Jesus Christ and so-called cultural relevance. This series has been slowly working through those chapters, seeking to understand the words of Paul, and then… Continue Reading

Wrested . . . from churchly control

Wrested . . . from churchly control

Nathan Hatch, in his Democratization of American Christianity, writes concerning the changes in American religion due to the implicit notion of the “Sovereign Audience”: Popular gospel music became a pervasive reality in Jacksonian culture because people wrested singing from churchly control. The music created a spontaneous, moving medium, capable of capturing the identity of plain… Continue Reading

He brought it up

He brought it up

This morning I was rifling through blog posts in Google reader and noticed a familiar looking image on my feed from the Gospel Coalition. The Gospel Coalition post was by Mike Cosper, and he was lauding the evangelical emphasis of late to dispense with all the old hymn tunes. He wants us to keep singing… Continue Reading