Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 178:712 (Oct 2021)
Article: Book Reviews
Author: Matthew S. DeMoss

BSac 178:712 (October-December 2021) p. 495

Book Reviews

By The Faculty And Staff Of Dallas Theological Seminary

Matthew S. DeMoss

Editor

Evangelicals: Who They Have Been, Are Now, and Could Be. Edited by Mark A. Noll, David W. Bebbington, and George M. Marsden. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2019. xii + 336. $29.99.

The three editors of this volume are well known to evangelicals. All three have contributed major works on the definition and history of evangelicalism. And they have also worked together on several important works. In the introduction, Noll explains the reason and purpose of this work: “The word ‘evangelical’ is in trouble—but for different and compelling reasons. Toward the end of the book, we address at considerable length the contemporary American controversies posing the greatest difficulties for a coherent, factual, and responsible understanding of ‘evangelicalism.’ But before reaching that point, this book charts efforts by historians who since the 1960s have been writing general histories of Protestant evangelical Christianity—first for the United States and Great Britain, but then for Christian movements throughout the world as a whole” (1). Noll concludes, “These two matters—contemporary controversy and the development of a historiographical tradition—stand in tight, intimate, but also perplexing relationship to each other” (1).

The first of the book’s four parts, “The History of ‘Evangelical History,’ ” reprints attempts by American evangelical historians to define the movement. In part 2, “The Current Crisis: Looking Back,” there are four perspectives on the apparent connection between evangelicalism and Republican politics. In “The Current Crisis: Assessment,” part 3, five different perspectives are offered on the value and sustainability of the label “evangelical.” Of particular interest in this section is the essay by Jemar Tisby, “Are Black Christians Evangelical?” His answer reminds readers that it depends how the term is being defined. If the criterion is doctrinal, then most Black Christians are evangelical. If the criterion is those who were converted through the gospel preaching of the revivals, many blacks came to faith through that means. And if one includes within evangelicalism those who identify as such, then the presence of organizations like the National Black Evangelical Association would provide an affirmative answer. Yet, he concludes, “Historians must probe how the intersections of gender and class influenced black Christians in the context of white evangelicalism. Regardless of how one defines ‘evangelical’ or whether black Christians are indeed evangelicals, the answers must include considerations of race as a critical component” (2...