Christian Cyclopedia

1. Those who emphasize the Gospel of salvation by faith in Jesus Christ and, as a result, are committed to presenting that Gospel to all individually or in groups.

2. Followers of M. Luther,* who emphasized the doctrine of justification* by faith.* Many Luth. chs. include the word Evangelical in their name. At times the term was used of Luths. to distinguish them from Ref.

3. Prots. as distinguished from RCs The Prussian* Union created an “Evangelical” Church. Prot. chs. of Ger. organized a fed. 1948 called Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland (see Union Movements, 8–9).

4. Adherents of the Evangelical Revival in Eng. which is traced to activities of J. andC. Wesley* and G. Whitefield.* The movement was never separatist but tried to work within the Ch. of England.* Eng. Evangelicals organized the Church* Miss. Soc. (see also Bible Churchmen's Missionary Society), the Colonial* and Continental Ch. Soc., the Religious Tract Soc. (see Religious Tract Movement), and the Brit. and For. Bible Soc. (see Bible Societies, 3). Opposed Tractarianism.* See also Anglican Evangelical Group Movement.

5. In the US the term has been used for those advocating closer cooperation among denominations adhering to fundamental doctrines. The American* Bd. of Commissioners for For. Miss., Am. Bible Soc. (see Bible Societies, 5), and an Am. branch of the Evangelical* Alliance were organized by Evangelicals. S. S. Schmucker* and P. Schaff* were leaders in the movement.

6. After organization of the Federal* Council of the Chs. of Christ in Am., Evangelicals tended toward fundamentalism* under leadership of such men as J. G. Machen* and B. B. Warfield.* Because fundamentalism often emphasized anti-intellectualism and literalism and took a negative attitude toward sciences, many conservatives preferred to be called Evangelicals. Nat. organizations: Am. Council of Christian Chs. (see Union Movements, 11); Nat. Assoc. of Evangelicals (see Union Movements, 12).

A. C. Zabriskie, Anglican Evangelicalism (Philadelphia, 1943); G. R. Balleine, A History of the Evangelical Party in the Church of England, new ed. (London, 1951); L. E. Elliott-Binns, The Early Evangelicals (London, 1953); R. H. Nash, The New Evangelicalism (Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1963); Contemporary Evangelical Thought, IV: Christian Faith and Modern Theology, ed. C. F. H. Henry (New York, 1964); C. F. H. Henry, Evangelicals at the Brink of Crisis (Waco, Texas, 1967); B. L. Shelley, Evangelicalism in America (Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1967).