Many people equate evangelical Christianity with conservatism in religion, politics, theology and social attitudes. Some are scandalized by any separation between them. As one evangelical pastor's wife declared to a church group 'We are a conservative people!' In fact, however, evangelicals have not always been conservative; radical stances on doctrines, worship, social norms, politics and church leadership have often marked evangelicalism in the past. The 2007 movie Amazing Grace about William Wilberforce's protracted battle against the slave trade featured a small group of British evangelicals committed to abolition. The same radicalism characterized much of American evangelicalism in the years before the Civil War. In recent years the American media have portrayed the evangelical movement as a conservative force in society sometimes equating it with fundamentalism and puritanism. The missing piece of the story is, however, that both fundamentalism and puritanism contained radical elements that opposed the status quo. This book sets forth evidence that the link between evangelicalism and conservatism has not always been as strong as it is today in the popular mind and it will provide suggestions for contemporary evangelicals who want to remain evangelical (and not become 'post-evangelical') without identifying with conservatism in every way.
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'Roger has put words and theological thinking to exactly what so many of us are feeling. We don't want to abandon our evangelical heritage and theology, but we aren't comfortable with how it is being redefined.' -- Dan Kimball, Author, 'They Like Jesus but Not the Church' <br><br>
About the Author
Roger E. Olson (PhD, Rice University) is professor of theology at George W. Truett Theological Seminary of Baylor University. He is the author of many books, including Questions to All Your Answers: The Journey from Folk Religion to Examined Faith, Reformed and Always Reforming: The Postconservative Approach to Evangelical Theology, and How to Be Evangelical without Being Conservative.
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Roger E. Olson (Ph.D., Rice University) is professor of theology at George W. Truett Theological Seminary of Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He is the author of The Story of Christian Theology: Twenty Centuries of Tradition & Reform, The Mosaic of Christian Belief: Twenty Centuries of Unity & Diversity (both InterVarsity Press) and The Westminster Handbook to Evangelical Theology (Westminster John Knox). He is also coauthor of 20th-Century Theology: God & the World in a Transitional Age and Who Needs Theology? An Invitation to the Study of God (both with Stanley J. Grenz, InterVarsity Press), and of The Trinity (with Christopher A. Hall, Eerdmans).
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Read the First Half... Skip the rest...,
By LNS (OHIO) - See all my reviews
This review is from: How to Be Evangelical without Being Conservative (Hardcover)
How to be Evangelical without being Conservative by Roger Olson starts with great potential, by the end it becomes annoying. The early chapters deliver good analysis and reasoned challenges to the status quo of many American Evangelicals. By the end it feels a lot more like an axe-grinding polemic.
Olson's definition of Evangelical is traditional and accurate - so we're starting from a common point. His definition of Conservative is too much of a caricature - like a caricature it has a basis in fact, but is over-emphasized. His definition is true of a great many who are just afraid of change, yet Olson dismisses, or ignores the fact, that many Conservatives have actually looked at the options and made a rational choice...not just a longing to avoid change. His arguments that Evangelicals should be biblical without orthodoxy as well as build character without moralism are good chapters. His main thesis in the former is that the church is not only reformata - reformed, but should so be semper reformanda - always reforming. Olson eschews what he calls "hardening of the categories" (pg. 33). In his attack on moralism Olson rightly points out that Evangelicals "have specialized in moralism toward society outside the church while neglecting church discipline" (pg. 48). Olson is not afraid to take on some Evangelical sacred cows as he addresses the difference between patriotism vs. nationalism. Many of us can learn from his theses that American is not God's gift to the 20th Century, the "American way" is not tantamount to the Christian way; nor is Democracy or Capitalism any more biblical than other forms of government or economy. We should not "blend free market Capitalism with `God and the American way'" (pg. 131). Though this is where Olson starts to grid his axes. He is right that we should not make Capitalism into some biblical doctrine. His definition of capitalism, though, is a thinly veiled and pejorative attack on the system. It too is a caricature, maybe even a straw man. Olson also uses contradictory methods of applying Scripture; in one place saying that since the New Testaments church did not do "X" why should we? Then latter arguing that even though the Scriptures do not argue for governmental redistribution of wealth - Christian should support it. He makes some good points, but belabors them to the point of near incredulity. He finishes the book with an argument for the role of women in leadership of churches in general and the position of pastor in specific. Here he ignores any biblical passages used by some to limit the position(s) to men. Instead he argues from an appeal to equality (which is poorly defined) and his own experience (even though elsewhere he maintains that experience must be secondary to Scripture). Here Olson relies too heavily on his subjective experience. It would have been much better had he engaged the Scriptures to advance his point. So - after all is said and read I still recommend (the first-half of) the book. Even though the latter chapters become rather mediocre, Olson offers some very good challenges and alternatives to how we "do church" and how we are "Christians."
7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Olson's book gives unique answers,
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This review is from: How to Be Evangelical without Being Conservative (Hardcover)
A couple years ago I had a conversation with a UM pastor who was expressing his frustration with "evangelical" churches. I listened for a while and agreed with him on much of what he had to say...but then reminded him that in our Book of Discipline, the UMC is referred to as an "Evangelical" Church. His concept of "evangelical" had become associated with the far right-wing; anti-woman; literalistic; conservative politically; version of what much of our media labels as "evangelical." I began to wonder, myself, what is the "real definition" of "Evangelical" as understood by our Book of Discipline. I felt it was important that we "re-capture" that term for our denomination and it's original meaning...but didn't quite know how to do it. While I was at the Jurisdictional CORR meeting...I discovered a book on the Cokesbury table entitled: "How to be Evangelical Without Being Conservative" by Roger E. Olson. I bought it...and just finished it. It was an amazingly helpful book in describing our roots as an Evangelical denomination while differentiating us from the far right-wing political agenda which is often associated with the word "evangelical." It is an historical reminder of where the term "Evangelical" came from. It gives the historic 5 characteristics of our original "Evangelical" faith and explains in detail how that differs from what is often described as "evangelical" in today's culture and media. With chapter titles like: "Being Biblical without Orthodoxy"...it gives the original perspective of why Wesley could state that "orthodoxy has little to do with true religion of the heart". Other chapters are entitled "Celebrating America without Nationalism"..."Taking the Bible Seriously Without Literalism"..."Transforming Culture Without Domination"...."Updating Without Trivializing Worship"..."Accepting Without Affirming Flawed People"..."Practicing Equality Without Sacrificing Difference"...."Redistributing Wealth without Socialism" etc. And the conclusion entitled: "Toward a Postconservative Evangelicalism". This book helped to identify, for me, the original meaning of "Evangelical" and re-define where we as United Methodists find our roots. Needless to say...it was very helpful. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to re-discover our "Evangelical" roots and re-capture it's original meaning from the far right-wing political agenda. For instance....in the chapter on "Redistributing Wealth without Socialism" I was reminded how our original Evangelical roots were solidly on the side of "the poor" and how the cries of "socialism" that we hear from the far right against universal healthcare; graduated tax system, etc. are really more a result of far-right, laissez-faire capitalism political agendas rather than having roots in evangelical history. You may not agree with everything that is said.....but it is one of the best books I've read lately. I believe it will help us re-discover our Evangelical heritage in the United Methodist Church. Rev. Gary E. Holdeman Enid District Superintendent The Oklahoma Conference of the United Methodist Church P.O. Box 5024 Enid, OK 73702
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Insightful and Thoughtful book,
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This review is from: How to Be Evangelical without Being Conservative (Hardcover)
The title was enough to get me to buy and read this book, and Olson makes a good case that evangelical need not be equivalent with the ideals of the religious right. I don't agree with everything Olson says, but he does the evangelical movement a service by showing how being evangelical is not the same as being "conservative".
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