Neo-Evangelicalism
Read about the rise of rise of the Neo-Evangelical movement after World War II (section 5.2.2 and 2.3) from pages 308 to 309.
Write 300 words about Billy Graham and on the context, causes and characteristics of the post WWII neo-Evangelical movement. What were the primary ways that neo-Evangelicalism differed from the older fundamentalist movement? How do is modern Evangelicalism engaged with mainstream culture and politics?
Give a brief overview or summary of the key figures and developments of neo-Evangelicalism (covered on pages 308 to 309).
Give your own reaction to Evangelicalism drawing a line contrast between it and Protestant fundamentalism.
How do you see the involvement of Evangelicalism in politics and culture wars affecting its mission and evangelistic outreach to mainstream U.S. society?
In your post, consider some of Billy Graham’s reason for leaving the fundamentalists and calling himself an Evangelical?
Billy Graham (1918-2018) was an American Christian evangelist and one of the most influential figures in the post World War II neo-Evangelical movement. He is credited with popularizing Protestantism in America and his ministry is said to have had a profound impact on American religion, culture and politics (Chapman et al., 2017). The causes of this movement were complex but largely emerged out of dissatisfaction among some Protestants over their perceived marginalization within mainline denominational structure following the war (Bryson, 2018). Consequently, new independent evangelical denominations sought to assert themselves among existing Protestant churches. The characteristics that defined these new movements included strong emphasis on personal conversion experience; non-denominational nature; a focus on biblical literalism; active engagement with political issues such as abortion rights and civil rights protection; greater acceptance of modernity including technology, media and market principles (Crossley & Bochove, 2020).
