Over the last couple of years, I have realized something: I simply do not understand Evangelical Protestantism. Oh, I know the history of Evangelicalism, especially in the United States, but I don't really understand the culture, or even the ethos. They just seem to elude me, and I know that this causes me to have a "disconnect" when interacting with folks from evangelical churches and backgrounds. What are the underlying concepts and concerns that drive Evangelicals? Not the outward issues, but the inner ones--the real meat, so to speak.
Does this make sense, or am I too vague?
Besides Randall Balmer's Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory (I just ordered it), are there any books y'all can recommend that might help? Or perhaps a website? Maybe some personal experience?
Thursday, May 20, 2010
It is a puzzlement...
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3 comments:
Most of my reading of late has been on fundamentalism, not on wider evangelicalism, as that (fundamentalism) is more my background. (However, here are a few books and sties you may find helpful:
- The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner's Semester at America's Holiest University by Kevin Roose. Roose, a liberal Quaker, decided to spend a semester at Liberty University in an attempt to understand evangelical belief and culture and wrote about his experience there. Excellent book.
- Rapture Ready!: Adventures in the Parallel Universe of Christian Pop Culture by Daniel Radosh
- Stuff Christians Like by Jonathan Acuff. The book is a satirical look at evangelical culture. He also has a blog: http://stuffchristianslike.net/
- If you want to understand the why and the how, read George Marsden. Fundamentalism and American Culture is a must-read if you want to understand how fundamentalism developed the way it did, and I'm told that Understanding Fundamentalism and Evangelicalism is equally good (though I have not read it yet).
Personally I'm inclined to say that evangelical culture is a combination of revivalism, a desire to see people "saved" at all costs, and American pragmatism (Marsden does a much better job of explaining it). Hope that helps!
One fun read on this topic is Frank Schafer's novel Portofino. My hubs and I grew up Evangelical -- and on a steady diet of Francis Shafer Sr's books. So this _supposedly_ non-autobiographical novel totally cracked us up. Man, could we relate!
Your Recovering Evangelical Friend,
Rachelle (Magpie Girl)
Yes, Interesting point. I grew up in that culture. While it kept me form doing bad things, looking back the whole thing was sorta comical. It was like Wal-Mart and McD's marketing gurus got together and made a religion that would be suitable for everyone and convenient, and ya know...easy.
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