4.1 Towards a Definition of Evangelicals and “Evangelicalism”
4.1.2 Defining Evangelicalism
that very little theological attention has been paid to Evangelicals in South Africa. From my review, most literature available on Evangelicals focuses on their role regarding liberation in South Africa, social change and transformation, political involvements and issues of democracy.51 In my view, presently, much scholarly attention is required in relation to Evangelical Christianity and its impact on gender construction and relations, which is still scant.
Understood as a South African form of Christianity, Balcomb (2001:5-8) suggests that there are four types of Evangelicals. The first group are those who consciously locate themselves within an historical and doctrinal Holiness tradition (movement) and deliberately separate themselves from non-Evangelicals who are informed by a dualist category regarding the identity of the church. The second group is the Pentecostal movement traced directly to the Azusa Street tradition. Balcomb (2001) further classifies the Pentecostals into three groups in what he calls the Classical, New (Neo) and Charismatic Pentecostals. The third group consists of Evangelicals commonly called the
“mainline” churches, denominations that are not overtly or historically Evangelical but have Evangelicals in these denominations although not in the majority. The fourth group of Evangelicals belong to the African Independent Churches (AICs). For the purpose of this study therefore, my focus on evangelicalism is concentrated on the second and the third groups—Pentecostal-Charismatic and conservative Evangelicals (from the mainline), which covered the majority of men who attended the MMC. A description of evangelicalism therefore proves vital at this stage.
movement which unites the Evangelicals. Ingersoll (2003:12) notes that evangelicalism developed in the 1940s as an effort to reform fundamentalism.52 Olson understands evangelicalism as:
A loose affiliation (coalition, network, mosaic, patchwork, family) of mostly Protestant Christians of many orthodox (Trinitarian) denominations and independent churches and para-church organisations that affirms a supernatural worldview; the unsurpassable authority of the Bible for all matters of faith and religious practice; Jesus Christ as unique Lord, God, and Saviour; the fallenness of humanity and salvation provided by Jesus Christ through his suffering, death, and resurrection;
the necessity of personal repentance and faith (conversion) for full salvation; the importance of a devotional life and growth in holiness and discipleship; the urgency of the gospel evangelism and social transformation; and the return of Jesus Christ to judge the world and establish the final full rule and reign of God (2007:14).
What is evident from Olson’s definition above is the centrality of a Christocentric theology which understands evangelicalism as an umbrella that pulls together a community of Christians who share certain theological and historical convictions of faith within set religious commitments, values and beliefs. Olson (2007) further stresses that the genius of evangelicalism is its combination of orthodox Protestantism, conservative revivalism, and transdenominational ecumenism. To this McGrath adds:
Evangelicalism is not a religious denomination. Rather, it is as much a theological school of thought as it is a historical movement. There are
“Anglican Evangelicals,” “Lutheran Evangelicals,” “Presbyterian Evangelicals,” “Methodist Evangelicals,” “Catholic Evangelicals,” and more. Obviously then, no one, overarching definition is sufficient for such a massive entity (1995:5).
52 It has been observed that some literature use “fundamentalism,” “Evangelical,” and “conservative evangelicalism” interchangeably as though they mean one and the same thing. Ingersoll (2003) observes that the current usage of the terms “fundamentalist” and “Evangelical” dates from 1920s and 1940s respectively. Fundamentalism of the 1920s was mainly characterised by their emphasis on traditional gender norms, revivalism and the separation from the world. Other characteristics included an emphasis on traditional Christian teachings (the Deity of Christ, the literal truth of miracles recorded in the Bible, the virgin birth, and so forth). Sometimes called “neo-evangelicals,” the 1940s Evangelicals as argued by Ingersoll (2003) held much the same doctrinal views as the fundamentalists, but their understanding of the relationship between the church and the larger culture was different. Rejecting fundamentalist
“separationism,” Evangelicals seek to engage culture and transform it—to evangelise it. Stott (2003:20-24) notes that fundamentalism’s rise at the beginning of the twentieth century was mainly a response to the developments of modernism and growing pluralism. It took its name from the series of pamphlets “The Fundamentals” (see also Ingersoll 2003).
It suffices therefore that evangelicalism covers a wide variety of denominations that adhere to Protestant Christianity and orthodoxy. One is bound to find Evangelical Christians in diverse Protestant traditions. As such, evangelicalism cannot be imprisoned denominationally. David Bebbington (1989:1) argues that Evangelical Christianity has found expressions in a variety of institutional forms, a wine that has been poured into many bottles. Broadly understood then, as that brand of Christianity emerging from pietist stream of Reformed Evangelical tradition (RET), Balcomb (2004:146) asserts that the emphasis given by Evangelicals to salvation through the personal encounter with the risen Christ extends this affiliation to include both Pentecostal/Charismatic movements as well as those who do not identify themselves with those movements but who believe in the need for personal salvation and Christian discipleship through adherence to Scripture.
Depending on who is writing and for what purpose they are researching, the term evangelicalism has been used differently in varying contexts by scholars. For instance, Terence Ranger (2008:5) like many other scholars adopts a much broader, generously open and inclusive understanding of evangelicalism. In his edited book: Evangelical Christianity and Democracy in Africa, Ranger (2008:5) struggles whether to regard some denominations such as those within the African Instituted Churches as Evangelical or not. He thus concludes by taking a political position for his wide definition of evangelicalism based on his intention to bring a dialogue between evangelicalism and democracy in Africa. The challenge of adopting such an open ended definition of Evangelical Christianity which lumps together a wide range of denominations and Para- organisations in Africa is the difficulty in establishing what fits within the Evangelical movement and what traditions are not affiliated with evangelicalism. On this matter Tiénou’s (1990:11) observation comes handy when he contends that in Africa, evangelicalism is both wider than some take it to be and narrower than others wish it to be.
To ascertain a working definition for the purpose of this study without watering down the observations of scholars mentioned above, I adopt Bebbington’s (1989) understanding of evangelicalism. This has found considerable acceptance as a working definition of evangelicalism among many scholars despite differences within the Evangelical movement (McGrath 1995; Freston 2001; Balcomb 2004 and Ranger 2008).
Apart from its tradition, Bebbington has argued that no other criterion for defining evangelicalism is satisfactory stating:
There are the four qualities that have been the special marks of Evangelical religion: conversionism, the belief that lives need to be changed;
activism, the expression of the gospel in effort; Biblicism, a particular regard for the Bible; and what may be called crucicentrism, a stress on the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross. Together they form a quadrilateral of priorities that is the basis of Evangelicalism (1989:2).53
These four leading characteristics are accepted as the defining attributes of Evangelical religion/Christianity. As a Charismatic faith preacher/evangelist, Buchan seems to come from a strong Methodist tradition (Buchan et al. 2006) which display theological expressions of Evangelical Christianity and tradition. As such I refer to the MMC as an Evangelical phenomenon which fulfil every aspect of the definition of Evangelical Christianity discussed in the previous sections. Within this scope, it is evident that the MMC display expressions of Charismatic and Pentecostalism and conservative forms of evangelicalism in spirituality and theology. Despite the variety of expressions within the Evangelical movement, for the purpose of this study Evangelical Christianity is used to refer to these three varied Christian traditions which adhere to the above four mentioned characteristics. Rather than using evangelicalism based on church denominations, I have used theological traditions and belief systems to characterise what I categorise as
‘Charismatic Evangelical Christianity’ because evangelicalism is a theological school of thought that was observed to cut across several denominations which attended the MMC.
In this case, the word “Evangelical” is therefore not strictly employed to refer to specific denominations (for instance, Pentecostals or Charismatics or any of the mainline denominations) as used by Paul Gifford (1998:57-110; 2008:225-230),54 but is used to describe the MMC phenomena as a Protestant Christian men’s movement. This is based on the movement’s emphasis on the theological beliefs outlined by Bebbington’s criteria
53 See Bebbington (1989) for a detailed explanation of these four characteristics.
54 Gifford problematises the term “Evangelical” and argues that it may be that it is one of those words not immediately applicable outside the West. He opts for a less theological and perhaps more organisational definition (2008:226). However, I concur with Freston who rejects the explicit use of “Evangelical” as a denominational category distinct from “mainline,” as in some of Gifford’s work on Africa, which tend to imprison “Evangelicalism” not only denominationally but even politically (2001:3).
of conversionism, activism, Biblicism, and cruci-centrism.55 It is within this scope that I examine faith discourses about Charismatic Evangelical pursuit towards recreating “godly manhood” as a process towards restoring masculinities. In the section that follows, I highlight, although not in its historical detail, the tenets of Charismatic Evangelical Christianity as portrayed by the MMC.