Unending Evangelical Existential Crisis
“Evangelical Imagination” by Karen Prior.
Review by Dr. Gary Straub. Feb 29, 2024
I scrutinized the author’s endorsements, recognizing only 2 of 8; which lowered my expectations in examining Prior’s work. Clearly: Prior has mastered the subject sufficiently to identify, analyze, extrapolate and integrate the particular species of evangelicalism thriving in our native habitat. Given my familiarity w/ all flavors of fundamentalism—she treats evangelical spirituality fairly; but eschews rapture theory. She’d shout a quiet amen to AUGUSTINE’s view of rapture as “not really necessary.” Dr. Prior: now you have my attention!
Let’s gallivant thru my notes on Prior’s 290 pages:
- After WWI, evangelicalism got addicted to odd apocalyptic themes, creating appetite for premillennial dispensational teachings from J.N. Darby and C.I. Schofield, then led to the Hal Lindsey and Tim LaHaye craze; which led to dark End Times teaching. Rapture theory got popularized till no card-carrying fundamental/evangelical dare question. Fluffy, fantasy/prophecy novels iced the cake w/a thick, rich hysteria. Rapture becomes the happy hunting ground for quacks & whacks.
2) The Ginger Mint Conspiracy. Surveillance tape caught a Georgia recount official passing “something” under the table to another worker. A false narrative repeated by #45: The ‘something’ was a USB port, which skewed Georgia election results. Fact: a mom passed her worker/daughter a ginger mint. Herein is proof: if leaders repeat the lie of an unverified incident often enough, an unhealthy conspiracy comes to life!
3)Moody student Warner Sallman’s manly/virile Head of Christ portrait sold 500 million copies, locking in an American imaginative stereotype which froze into an icon.
4) Billy Graham identified as neo-evangelical— an upgrade from his uber fundamentalist background. Few followed when he abandoned the Separatist/Anti-intellectual bias. Billy successfully avoided the Hard Right political take-over, which baptized Republicans into Right Wing Christian Nationalism. (Franklin went Right and stayed staunchly Right!) Billy: Hard Right has no interest in fundamentalism-except to control the narrative!
5) Methodist roots of evangelicalism trace Fundy obsession w/perfection- moral & social. America’s ‘improvement fever; led to Keswick Holiness, which flowered into striving for an alleged attainable perfectibility. Watchman Nee’s Victorious Christian Life is born.
6) Holman Hunt’s painting: “Awakening Conscience”… explains Victorian Christianity.
7) Fundy institutions: more flourished than failed. Not so Moody; with Henry Crowell, Chair of Quaker Oats as 40 yr Board Chair. Hats off to admirable sustainability!
8) “Literal” Scripture interpretation proves a slippery slope because it requires layers of interpretation which imply commitment to an uber-narrow theological point of view.
9) American Christianity growth patterns depend hugely on who’s counting what!
SUM: Insight to how solid evangelicalism collapsed into Militant Fundamentalism!
