Rediscovering an Evangelical Heritage: A Tradition and Trajectory of Integrating Piety and Justice

by Donald W. Dayton

Prior to about 1980, Falwell and the other televangelists had been viewed, and described themselves, as “fundamentalists,” but now they started to refer to themselves as “evangelicals.” By appropriating the evangelical mantle, the former fundamentalists effectively pushed the entire neo-evangelical movement toward the right, at least in the public’s perception. This move also had the effect of causing more socially conscious (but still pietistic) Christians to shy away from referring to themselves as evangelicals. Some wanted to abandon the word and leave it to the conservatives (or, later, added qualifiers, describing themselves as “progressive evangelicals” or “post-evangelicals”).

So interesting

Millennials are passionate regarding God and compassionate regarding the needs of the world. They demand a focus on Jesus and justice—a holistic biblical faith.8 They are impatient with the divisiveness and culture-bashing that they see manifest in the churches of their parents. Young adult evangelicals, according to Mark Tauber, the publisher of HarperOne, are either “having trouble understanding why the traditional lines make sense and/or [are] just outright rejecting those lines.”