Re: Competing for the Evangelical Mind

Murphy (gmurphy@imperium.net)
Wed, 02 Apr 1997 22:40:49 -0500

Robert L. Miller wrote:

> I think an evangelical is one who has accepted Jesus Christ as his savior
> from sin through an act of repentance and subsequent obedience. Acts
> 2:37,38; 16:30,31; Rom 10:9,10
>
> Many things could be added to flesh out the definition, but I think this is
> the core that differentiates the evangelical. It goes without saying that
> evangelicals are found in every kind of church, for instance Catholic or
> Lutheran, but not all members of churches are evangelical (or even Christian
> for that matter).

In the most basic sense, an evangelical is someone who believes
the evangel, the gospel, that salvation is given freely in Jesus Christ.
I'm quite happy to describe myself as an evangelical catholic. The
point I wanted to make, though, was that most of the discussions here
about science-theology issues, the influence of Johnson, &c treat "the
evangelical church" in the sense that it's popularly used in American
Christianity - which does not include Roman Catholics, Orthodox, many
Lutherans, Anglicans, &c - as if it were the whole of genuine
Christianity. It isn't.
George Murphy