Evangelicalism has always been a politically loaded word – but especially since the turn of the century.
This is especially true of American evangelicalism.
But if we strip away all the nationalistic and political weight, what is evangelicalism? What makes the American strain of evangelicalism particularly unique? How does it compare to other types of evangelicalism?
Meet our guests
Dr. Ed Stetzer is the Dean of Talbot School of Theology at Biola University, and Scholar in Residence and Teaching Pastor at Mariners Church, a massive evangelical church in southern California.
Vaughan Roberts is a returning guest for Undeceptions and currently works as the rector of St. Ebbes Church, Oxford. He’s also the director of The Proclamation Trust, a British evangelical organisation that promotes Biblical preaching both in the UK and abroad.
Finally, Melissa Kruger is the vice president of discipleship programming at the Gospel Coalition, as well as a published author with both theological and children’s books to her name
Links
Special thanks to our season sponsor Zondervan Academic. Get discounts on MasterLectures video courses and exclusive samples of their books at zondervanacademic.com/undeceptions
A transcript of this episode is available here. Please note, that due to software not all exchanges between guests will be completely accurate.
Extras
Check out these helpful links below for more info on what was discussed in this episode.
To Read
- Much of what we talk about in this episode relies on the ‘Bebbington Quadrilateral’ – a handy definition for evangelicalism. Read about it here
- Billy Graham famously mixed religion and politics but said later in life that he regretted it. Read about it here
- American evangelicalism has been the cause of lots of research over the last few decades. Here’s a great Pew Research Centre breakdown of some key numbers
- Does the morality of politicians not matter that much anymore to voters? This study found some interesting answers
- Check out Dean Gilliland’s book The Word Among Us – highly recommended by our guests to help think through some of the issues raised in this episode
To Watch
- Here’s the sermon you heard at the start of the episode of Billy Graham mixing religion and politics – something he later said he regretted doing
- Here’s a fascinating news story on why it seems white evangelicals love Former President Donald Trump – courtesy of MSNBC
- Here’s the excerpt we played from the Louis Theroux episode, where he confronts “America’s most hated family” – the Westboro Baptists
- The HBO Documentary Four Hours at the Capitol offers a sobering look at the realities of unchecked conspiracy theories. Here’s a MSNBC story about it
To Listen
- Our episode with N.T. Wright ‘Political Jesus’ is a great companion episode
- Our episode on The Puritans also provides some helpful historical background to this episode
- JD was once interviewed by Ed Stetzer! Check it out here
- While you’re at it, check out Ed’s own podcast Church Leaders Podcast
- Vaughan Roberts was also one of the very first Undeceptions guests. Here he is way back on episode nine Dominus Illuminato
… and finally
- Ever wondered what QAnon is? Here’s a New York Times article that breaks the entire thing down
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