The Dividing Line: Understanding and Applying Biblical Separation

Chapter 9
The New Evangelicalism

Endnotes

¹For a brief history of the use of the word evangelical, see Alister McGrath, Evangelicalism and the Future of Christianity (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1995), pp. 19-23. (back to article)

²On the definition of Evangelicalism, see Grant Wacker, Augustus H. Strong and the Dilemma of Historical Consciousness (Macon: Mercer University Press, 1985), p. 17; David Bebbington, Evangelicalism in Modern Britain (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1989), pp. 4-17; and Harold John Ockenga, "Resurgent Evangelical Leadership," Christianity Today, 10 October 1960, p. 11. (back to article)

³John W. Sanderson, "Neo-Evangelicalism and Its Critics," Sunday School Times, 28 January 1961, p. 82. (back to article)

⁴David O. Beale, In Pursuit of Purity: American Fundamentalism Since 1850 (Greenville, S.C.: Unusual Publications, 1986), p. 270. Beale is actually describing with this phrase the popular usage of New Evangelical, but the meaning is the same. (back to article)

⁵Ibid., pp. 261, 267. (back to article)

⁶Joel Carpenter, Revive Us Again: The Reawakening of American Fundamentalism (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), pp. 195-204. We should note that Carpenter uses Wilbur Smith as his example of a reformer who desired to "strengthen" Fundamentalism; however, Smith actually had many sympathies to the "revising" approach. (back to article)

⁷There is no authoritative history of the New Evangelical movement. The closest to an overall history is George Marsden, Reforming Fundamentalism: Fuller Seminary and the New Evangelicalism (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1987); it is obviously narrow in its focus. See also George Marsden, Understanding Fundamentalism and Evangelicalism (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991), pp. 62-82. An early apologetic for the movement, highly critical of Fundamentalism, is Ronald Nash, The New Evangelicalism (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1963). The best of the Fundamentalist critiques of the New Evangelicalism is Ernest Pickering, The Tragedy of Compromise: The Origin and Impact of the New Evangelicalism (Greenville, S.C.: Bob Jones University Press, 1994). Also very useful is John Ashbrook, The New Neutralism II ([Mentor, Ohio]: Here I Stand Books, 1992); it is a sequel to an earlier critique by his father. (back to article)

⁸The points in the following paragraphs, unless otherwise indicated, are from Harold J. Ockenga, "Foreword" to The Battle for the Bible by Harold Lindsell (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1976), pp. 11-12. (back to article)

⁹See "Is Evangelical Theology Changing?" Christian Life, March 1956, p. 19. (back to article)

¹⁰Bob Jones, Cornbread and Caviar: Reminiscences and Reflections (Greenville, S.C.: Bob Jones University Press, 1985), p. 104. (back to article)

¹¹Sanderson, "Neo-Evangelicalism and Its Critics," p. 82. (back to article)

¹²"Harold John Ockenga's Press Release on ‘The New Evangelicalism,’" Appendix B in Fred Moritz, "Be Ye Holy": The Call to Christian Separation (Greenville, S.C.: Bob Jones University Press, 1994), p. 118. (back to article)

¹³Carl F. H. Henry, The Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1947), p. 27. (back to article)

¹⁴Robert Lon Horton, "The Christian's Role in Society," Biblical Viewpoint 15 (1981): 130-37; this article is an abstract of his dissertation. Examples of Evangelical writings that take this approach are Ronald J. Sider, ed., The Chicago Declaration (Carol Stream, Ill.: Creation House, 1974); David O. Moberg, The Great Reversal: Evangelism Versus Social Concern (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1972); and Ronald J. Sider, Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger (New York: Paulist Press, 1977). Senator Mark Hatfield, an Evangelical social activist, says that to preach redemption without a stress on social action is to "preach only half the gospel." Mark Hatfield, Conflict and Conscience (Waco, Tex.: Word, 1971), p. 25. (back to article)

¹⁵"Ockenga Press Release," p. 119. (back to article)

¹⁶The standard biography of Graham is William C. Martin, Prophet with Honor: The Billy Graham Story (New York: Morrow, 1991). Also interesting, though obviously very favorable, is Billy Graham, Just As I Am: The Autobiography of Billy Graham (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1997). (back to article)

¹⁷"Ockenga Press Release," p. 119. (back to article)

¹⁸Millard Erickson, The New Evangelical Theology (Westwood, N.J.: Revell, 1968), p. 212. (back to article)

¹⁹Robert O. Ferm, Cooperative Evangelism: Is Billy Graham Right or Wrong? (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1958). For responses to Ferm's work, see Gary G. Cohen, Biblical Separation Defended: A Biblical Critique of Ten New Evangelical Arguments (Philadelphia: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1966); and John R. Rice, Earnestly Contending for the Faith (Murfreesboro, Tenn.: Sword of the Lord, 1965), pp. 249-309. (back to article)

²⁰Erickson, pp. 198-99. (back to article)

²¹"Is Evangelical Theology Changing?" pp. 18-19. (back to article)

²²Lindsell, pp. 106-21. (back to article)

²³Richard Quebedeaux, The Young Evangelicals: Revolution in Orthodoxy (New York: Harper and Row, 1974); and The Worldly Evangelicals (New York: Harper and Row, 1978). (back to article)

²⁴See The Young Evangelicals, pp. 37, 39; and The Worldly Evangelicals, p. 100. (back to article)

²⁵See The Young Evangelicals, p. 106; and The Worldly Evangelicals, pp. 16, 17, 119, 128-30. (back to article)

²⁶James Davison Hunter, Evangelicalism: The Coming Generation (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987). He lists the sixteen participating schools on p. 9. (back to article)

²⁷Ibid., p. 24. (back to article)

²⁸Ibid., p. 36. (back to article)

²⁹Ibid., p. 59. (back to article)

³⁰Ibid., pp. 174-75. (back to article)

³¹See "Passing It On: Will Our Kids Recognize Our Faith?" World, 11 March 1989, pp. 5-6. (back to article)

³²See Clark H. Pinnock, A Defense of Biblical Infallibility (Philadelphia: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1967); and Biblical Revelation: The Foundation of Christian Theology (Chicago: Moody, 1971). (back to article)

³³See Rex A. Koivisto, "Clark Pinnock and Inerrancy: A Change in Truth Theory?" Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 24 (1981): 139-51. Pinnock replied to this article but admitted many of the charges. Clark Pinnock, "A Response to Rex A. Koivisto," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 24 (1981): 153-55. (back to article)

³⁴Clark H. Pinnock, "The Destruction of the Finally Impenitent," Criswell Theological Review 4 (1990): 243-59. (back to article)

³⁵Millard Erickson, The Evangelical Left: Encountering Postconservative Evangelical Theology (Grand Rapids: Baker 1997), pp. 101-2. (back to article)

³⁶Quoted in Robert E. Kofahl, "Billy Graham Believes Catholic Doctrine of Salvation Without Bible, Gospel, or Name of Christ," Foundation, May-June 1997, p. 22. For further discussion of the growth of this teaching among Evangelicals, see Dennis Okholm and Timothy Phillips, ed., More Than One Way?: Four Views on Salvation in a Pluralistic World (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995). (back to article)

³⁷Douglas Sweeney notes how the early New Evangelicals were similar to the Fundamentalists in doctrine and outlook, arguing in part that they were more separatist than later Evangelicals. See Douglas Sweeney, "Fundamentalism and the Neo-Evangelicals": Fides et Historia 24, No. 1 (1992): 81-96). (back to article)

³⁸Earle Cairns, Christianity Through the Centuries, 3^rd ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996), p. 485. (back to article)

³⁹Bob Jones, "Pseudo-Fundamentalists: The New Breed in Sheep's Clothing," Faith for the Family, January 1978, pp. 7, 16. Jones says that the term Pseudo-Fundamentalism was apparently coined by Virginia Fundamentalist Rod Bell. (back to article)

⁴⁰See George Marsden, Understanding Fundamentalism and Evangelicalism (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991), pp. 76-81; and C. T. McIntire, "Fundamentalism" in Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, ed. Walter Elwell (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1984), pp. 433-36. The terminology is not always exact. Jack Van Impe, for example, accuses the militant Fundamentalists of being "neo-fundamentalist" because they represent, he claims, a change from historic Fundamentalism. Jack Van Impe, Heart Disease in Christ's Body (Royal Oak, Mich.: Jack Van Impe Ministries, 1984), pp. 25-26. When Fundamentalists began to use the term Pseudo-Fundamentalism, some of the Neo-Fundamentalists retorted that the militants were the "Pseudo-Fundamentalists." See Ed Dobson and Ed Hindson, "Who Are the ‘Real’ Pseudo-Fundamentalists?" Fundamentalist Journal, June 1983, pp. 10-11; and Daniel R. Mitchell, "The Siege-Mentality of Pseudo-Fundamentalism," Fundamentalist Journal, February 1987, pp. 59. (back to article)

⁴¹The basic position of Neo-Fundamentalism is set out in Jerry Falwell, Ed Dobson, and Ed Hindson, The Fundamentalist Phenomenon: The Resurgence of Conservative Christianity (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday-Galilee, 1981); and Edward Dobson, In Search of Unity: An Appeal to Fundamentalists and Evangelicals (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1985). Also numerous articles in Falwell's periodical The Fundamentalist Journal (published 1982-89) set forth the Neo-Fundamentalist position. (back to article)

⁴²Falwell, et al., The Fundamentalist Phenomenon, pp. 24-25. (back to article)

⁴³Ibid., pp. 139-40, 158-59; Dobson, In Search of Unity, pp. 63-64. (back to article)

⁴⁴Falwell, et al., The Fundamentalist Phenomenon, pp. 167-72, 221-23; Dobson, In Search of Unity, pp. 136-39. (back to article)

⁴⁵For a sample of Fundamentalist objections to the Moral Majority, see Bob Jones III, "The Moral Majority," Faith for the Family, September 1980, pp. 3, 27-28. (back to article)

⁴⁶Bob Jones III, "The Ultimate Ecumenism," Faith for the Family, September 1985, pp. 3, 9-10. (back to article)

⁴⁷Falwell states his opposition to the Charismatic movement and to having Charismatic students at Liberty in "Open Letter from Jerry Falwell," Journal Champion, 18 August 1978, p. 2. (back to article)

⁴⁸Fundamentalist reports of Van Impe's sympathy to Catholicism are found in "The Capitulation of Dr. Jack Van Impe to Roman Catholicism and the One World Ecumenical Movement," Fundamentalist Digest, July-August 1995, pp. 7-17; and Frank McClelland, "Van Impe's TV Attack on Dr. Paisley," Revivalist, November 1995, pp. 3-4. (back to article)

⁴⁹McIntire, p. 435. (back to article)

⁵⁰Francis A. Schaeffer, The Great Evangelical Disaster (Westchester, Ill.: Crossway, 1984); John MacArthur, Ashamed of the Gospel: When the Church Becomes Like the World (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway, 1993); David F. Wells, No Place for Truth, or, Whatever Happened to Evangelical Theology? (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1992); David F. Wells, God in the Wasteland: The Reality of Truth in a World of Fading Dreams (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994). (back to article)

⁵¹For criticism of the Charismatic movement, see John MacArthur, Charismatic Chaos (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1992). For protests against accommodation to Catholicism, see John MacArthur, Reckless Faith: When the Church Loses Its Will to Discern (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway, 1994), pp. 119-52; and R. C. Sproul, Faith Alone: The Evangelical Doctrine of Justification (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1995). (back to article)

⁵²John W. Sanderson, "Purity of Testimony—or Opportunity?" Sunday School Times, 11 February 1961, p. 111. (back to article)

⁵³Jerry Huffman, "Separation—The Big ‘S’ Word," Frontline, January-February 1992, p. 5. (back to article)