Evangelical Theology

Has something indeed happened to evangelical theology and to evangelical churches? According to David Wells, the evidence indicates that evangelical pastors have abandoned their traditional role as ministers of the Word to become therapists and "managers of the small enterprises we call churches". Along with their parishioners, they have abandoned genuine Christianity and biblical truth in favor of the sort of inner-directed experiential religion that now pervades Western society.

In this concise presentation of evangelical theology - the theology that first received expression in the New Testament writings and was later rediscovered by the Reformation - Barth discusses the place of theology, theological existence, the threat to theology, and theological work.

What must you do to be right with God? The Reformers broke with the Roman Catholic Church when they insisted people are justified by faith alone. But today many Protestants fail to grasp that keystone of faith. In Faith Alone, a Gold Medallion finalist, R. C. Sproul explains why Protestantism and Roman Catholicism split over justification in the first place and why that division remains an uncrossed chasm.

Increasing numbers of conservative evangelicals are denying basic tenets of classical Christian teaching about God, with departures occurring even among those of the Calvinistic persuasion. James Dolezal's All That Is in God provides an exposition of the historic Christian position while engaging with these contemporary deviations. His convincing critique of the newer position he styles "theistic mutualism" is philosophically robust, systematically nuanced, and biblically based.

Apocalyptic millennialism is one of the most powerful strands in evangelical Christianity. It is not a single belief, but across many powerful evangelical groups there is general adhesion to faith in the physical return of Jesus in the Second Coming, the affirmation of a Rapture heavenward of "saved" believers, a millennium of peace under the rule of Jesus and his saints and, eventually, a final judgement and entry into deep eternity. A key figure in this process was John Nelson Darby. 

While Christian faith cannot be reduced to mere superstition, few would deny that Christianity is too easily plagued by superstition. Indeed, many Christian theologians have tried to purify Christianity of magical thinking in favor of genuine piety.

American evangelical Christianity has lost its way. While the witness of the church before a watching world is diminished beyond recognition, congregations are torn apart over Donald Trump, Christian nationalism, racial injustice, sexual predation, disgraced leaders, and covered-up scandals. Left behind are millions of believers who counted on the church to be a place of belonging and hope. As greater and greater numbers of younger Americans bleed out from the church, even the most rooted evangelicals are wondering, “Can American Christianity survive?”

In this provocative and thoughtful book, Gerald McDermott explores the theological concept of revelation and how evangelicals have responded to world religions. He then makes a case for God's having revealed himself outside of Israel and the church.

Should Christians abandon the evangelical label? Michael Reeves argues from a global, scriptural, and historical perspective that, while it’s not necessary to discard the label altogether, Christians must return to the root of the term—the evangel, or “gospel”—in order to understand what it truly means. He identifies the theology of evangelicalism and its essential doctrine—the Father’s revelation in the Bible, the Son’s redemption in the gospel, and the Spirit’s regeneration of the heart—calling believers to stand with integrity as people of the gospel.