Readers will be particularly thankful that the editors elicited a response to these many critiques of Bebbington’s theses from Bebbington himself who demonstrates that he has read these essays carefully and with a readiness to learn from them. With regard to each of seven issues (activism, transcultural missions, the doctrine of assurance, the relationship of that doctrine to the Enlightenment, revival, the Bible, and the place of Methodism), Bebbington ponders ways in which his position might need to be revised or nuanced. He then identifies seven points which he believes can be reaffirmed in light of the conversation offered by this book: (1) there is agreement upon the nature of evangelicalism; (2) the evangelical movement “has been strongly tinctured by its cultural setting” (426); (3) the early evangelicals shared much common ground with the Englightenment, though this would not be accepted by all contributors to this volume; (4) there was both continuity and discontinuity between the evangelical movement and earlier expressions of Protestantism, but there was “a higher degree of continuity with the Puritans than the book of 1988 recognized” (427) and the chronology of the early stages of the movement “needs to be extended in both directions” (428); (5) a substantial shift in churchmanship occurred, which encouraged “an undenominational temper” (429) and made the gospel prior to all other concerns, including churchly issues; (6) early evangelicals and their predecessors had different attitudes to matters of public concern; and (7) evangelicals were passionate about truth and its importance to the propagation of the gospel.
As one would expect, given the obvious expertise of the numerous contributors to this work, the result is a book that will have lasting value to all who are interested in better understanding evangelicalism, its nature and its development. The editors have done the church a significant service. The work has a nice tone, modeling a conversation between scholars who respect one another even when they significantly disagree. This is valuable particularly because it presents evangelicalism in a way that commends the gospel around which we are united. These essays move forward the historical theological conversation about who we evangelicals are and where we came from, demonstrating both the complexity of these issues and the importance of studying them for the health of the movement which is, by nature, dynamic. It is a book to which I expect to return often for its many insights both historical and theological.
Reading the book as a Baptist who has worshipped in a Mennonite congregation for the past 20 years, I was struck by how marginal the Radical Reformation was to the development of the movement we call “Evangelicalism,” despite the fact that so many heirs of this wing of the Reformation are happy to identify themselves as evangelical. But, I have been blessed to read of the many godly and courageous people whom God graciously saved by the good news of the work of Christ and whom he used mightily in the propagation and defense of that gospel; the fruit of their labours is now found around the world.
Terrance L. Tiessen for Didaskalia
Professor Emeritus of Systematic Theology and Ethics
Providence Theological Seminary
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