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