“This is the old Puritan Teaching”
What does the word Evangelical mean? The Evangelical emphasis on the Bible, the cross and conversion we may also find in the Reformers and the Puritans. Yet there is a different tone.
The one who wants to know what Evangelical means cannot ignore the 1989 work of David Bebbington, professor of history at the University of Stirling, Scotland, “Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A History from the 1730s to the 1980s”. This study drew immediate attention after its appearance and now functions as a standard and landmark. Bebbington cites four characteristics for Evangelicalism: the focus on the Bible, the meaning of the cross of Christ, repentance and the active character of Evangelicalism. In his estimation, there was in Evangelicalism something new compared to the Protestantism from which it arose. That something new was associated with the newly emerging Enlightenment. With the Enlightenment Evangelicalism shared an emphasis on clarity and simplicity. While Puritanism believed that assurance of salvation was for the few, the eighteenth-century Evangelical, as depicted by Bebbington, expected that faith would regularly be accompanied by assurance.
The analysis of Bebbington is not endorsed (in this volume). The key objection which has emerged is that he has found too little continuity between Evangelical Protestantism and earlier Protestantism. In 2005, a number of researchers gathered together under the auspices of the Evangelical Theological Society to discuss their objections. The result is a collection of essays with the title “The Emergence of Evangelicalism: Exploring Historical Continuities.”
The regular emphasis in each contribution is that we also find three of the four characteristics: the Bible, the cross and conversion in the Reformers and the Puritans. Apart from the Wesleyan Methodists, who stand in greater discontinuity, we see that other Evangelicals understand themselves to be the theological and spiritual heirs of the theology and piety of the Reformation and Puritanism. Not discontinuity but the continuity was their conception. Not for nothing did they speak of an “Evangelical revival”. It was a revival of what was still present in germ and had earlier been such a force. It was also experienced by others. A hearer of George Whitefield said of the content of his preaching: “This is the old Puritan teaching of the covenant of grace.”
Regarding the assurance of faith, we do Puritanism an injustice if we only stress their distinction between faith and the assurance of faith. They also knew of a close relationship between the two. Moreover, not every Puritan had exactly the same emphasis. The latter qualification applies even more for the eighteenth-century Evangelicals. They knew both that assurance of faith is a possession which is subject to variation and that there is also an assurance that is a false assurance. The mature Jonathan Edwards who expressed critical judgment on purely emotional experience believed in immediate assurance. He explains this in his work “On the Religious Affections”. The Wesleyan Methodists were less critical on this point.
With regard to the activist character of Evangelicalism there is also continuity with the past. We need only think of the great attention Puritans gave to pastoral care. Bebbington proposes that the missionary movement should be seen as characteristic of Evangelicalism. That is not wrong. But it should be noted that in the thirties of the eighteenth century this was not the case. The strong mission sending consciousness is really only reflected at the end of this century.
Nevertheless it remains the case that with all the continuity between Evangelicalism and the earlier Reformation and Puritanism, even where the theology is similar, yet there is a different tone. That has to do with the strong international character of the Evangelicalism. In many ways there were contacts across national boundaries. While the Reformation and the Puritans strongly believed in a Christian society and a Christian government, we see that the eighteenth-century Evangelicals valued individual initiative and looked to individuals to exercise their Christian calling. The genesis of the many religious societies comes about at the end of the process. Much more influential than for earlier Protestants was the acceptance by the Evangelicals of the pluriformity of the Church; they looked for cooperation across denominational boundaries. Very clearly, this attitude is displayed in George Whitefield. This Anglican preacher had ties with as many Dissenters as with Anglicans.
Theologically, the Evangelicals were self-consciously Calvinist (with the exception of the Wesleyan Methodists). Their Calvinism ranged from severe to moderate. There was less interest in theology and science among the Evangelicals than among the Puritans and Reformers. The theology was more heavily focused than previously on leading sinners to Christ. At the same time, there was a reduced sense of continuity with the church before the Reformation. The Evangelical movement looked forward and not backwards. Time and again, however, when it comes to generalizations, exceptions are not hard to find. What is certain is that Evangelicalism to this day largely shapes world Protestantism; Evangelicalism also can never be understood without attention to its roots in the Reformation of the sixteenth and the Puritanism of the seventeenth century.
Reformatorische Dagblad 05-11-2008 | | Dr. P. de Vries
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