Thank for this! And for the link to your longer column about Evangelicalism. I went to seminary in my 40s - Don Dayton was my faculty advisor at Drew. I became a believer in 1972 as a teen who didn't grow up in the church. I was told that what I'd entered was "Evangelical Christianity" but I had no idea until much much later that I'd also beenn "baptized" into an Evangelicalism that created "segregation academies" that it called Christian schools, in the wake of the Civil Rights Act. I think the "Jesus Movement " brought a lot of us into a church whose history we remained ignorant of, and in many ways functionally repudiated as we grew up. I certainly did not know racism was part of "our" faith until we moved to California and met a lot more people who grew up in Southern churches. For this reason I think there is another Evangelicalism that is now trying to find its own new name. We still love Jesus, trust the scriptures, think others should come to Christ and also want to do justice, love mercy and walk humble with God, in society, even politically. Even structurally in society. Certainly as we vote.
Thank for this! And for the link to your longer column about Evangelicalism. I went to seminary in my 40s - Don Dayton was my faculty advisor at Drew. I became a believer in 1972 as a teen who didn't grow up in the church. I was told that what I'd entered was "Evangelical Christianity" but I had no idea until much much later that I'd also beenn "baptized" into an Evangelicalism that created "segregation academies" that it called Christian schools, in the wake of the Civil Rights Act. I think the "Jesus Movement " brought a lot of us into a church whose history we remained ignorant of, and in many ways functionally repudiated as we grew up. I certainly did not know racism was part of "our" faith until we moved to California and met a lot more people who grew up in Southern churches. For this reason I think there is another Evangelicalism that is now trying to find its own new name. We still love Jesus, trust the scriptures, think others should come to Christ and also want to do justice, love mercy and walk humble with God, in society, even politically. Even structurally in society. Certainly as we vote.