About fifteen years ago I encouraged a student of mine at Messiah College to pursue an M.A. in American Church History at Wheaton College. After his first semester was complete we exchanged a few e-mails. He commented on how Wheaton was very different from Messiah. I asked him to give me a few examples how these two Christian colleges were different. He responded by saying that the faculty and students at Wheaton were “obsessed” with defining the word “evangelical.”
I thought about this student today when I read Christianity Today‘s editorial, “What Does ‘Evangelical’ Mean?” This is certainly a timely topic in the age of Trump, the court evangelicals, and the 81%. It is also a debate that gets rehashed every 5-10 years or so.
It looks like Daniel Harrell, the new editor at Christianity Today, wants to start off his tenure by revisiting this time-honored conversation. Check out the editorial here. It includes essays by evangelical insiders Mark Galli, Bruce Hindmarsh, Leith Anderson, Ed Stetzer, Ron Sider, Brandon Washington, Craig Keener, Richard Mouw, and Ted Olson.
