Talk:Conservative Evangelicalism

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[edit] New page

I've created it with some basic information. New editors welcome! One thing I'm not sure about is if the term "conservative evangelical" is only used in the UK. I'm afraid I don't know much about it in other countries and all the content is currently UK-centric. Makes a change from the normal US bias on Wikipedia! I've put the globalize tag on. Sidefall (talk) 15:49, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

I've added the Christianity project tag. Anyone out there to do some more editing? Sidefall (talk) 07:08, 6 May 2008 (UTC)

You'll want to provide some reliable sources defining the titular term as you do here, or the article will probably be deleted as original research. --Flex (talk/contribs) 13:18, 7 May 2008 (UTC)

Have added a few references giving relevant infomation, but don't have the time to make them inline. I'm not familiar with published work on this topic so would appreciate help. Sidefall (talk) 20:47, 7 May 2008 (UTC)

Hopefully the fact that it's now been independently rated as high importance else will encourage some more quality content and reduce the chance of it getting AfD'd. Sidefall (talk) 23:22, 7 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Article Rating

It needs to include more of an international scope and include more of the variety in conservative evangelicalism. For example, in the US many Pentecostals and charismatics also consider themselves conservative evangelicals, as seen in the fact that many Pentecostal denominations are members of the National Association of Evangelicals. You may want to redefine your distinctives section as many conservative evangelicals also practice contemporary worship.

Thanks for the rating, and I couldn't agree more with your points. My knowledge in this field is rather limited and I was completely unaware of the different use of the term in the US. Over here, conservative evangelical nearly always means non-pentecostal/charismatic and generally resistant to contemporary worship. I also agree with your rating and was quite amazed that, given the high importance of the article, no-one else had previously created it. I'm honored to have started the ball rolling, but can't take it much further on my own. Sidefall (talk) 23:13, 7 May 2008 (UTC)

I would suggest that these two points are not true - from my experience, many conservative evangelicals are Arminians and the majority of htem are creationists. --Philosopher ^{Let us reason together.} 14:35, 13 May 2008 (UTC)

Fundamentalists may hold Calvinist or Arminian soteriology whereas conservative evangelicals are generally Calvinist

Fundamentalists are generally creationist whereas conservative evangelicals accept a range of views including theistic evolution

Each of the points of definition need sources, but the one on soteriology doubly so (I have my doubts about it as well). As far as creation, theistic evolution is a form of creationism, so there's no conflict there. Consider the Presbyterian Church in America, which I think qualifies as a relatively large Conservative Evangelical denomination and which issued a report on creation allowing ministers to hold various views, including theistic evolution.

Sidefall, you might want to check out the Evangelical Manifesto for help in defining things more precisely. --Flex (talk/contribs) 17:23, 14 May 2008 (UTC)

Funny - the Evangelical Manifesto was, if anything, published by members of Liberal Evangelicalism, not Conservative Evangelicism. See here for a take on the Manifesto - and the identity of Conservative Evangelicals - by Dr. Albert Mohler, the president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and a prominent conservative evangelical. --Philosopher ^{Let us reason together.} 22:13, 17 May 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for the link. I would be hard pressed to call Os Guinness et al. "liberal." Indeed the labels conservative and liberal are tossed around so much in the States, that I think it would be hard to come up with a definition of liberal and conservative evangelicals that is widely accepted. (Here are evaluations of the Manifesto from various authors, Christian and otherwise, several of whom try to define "evangelical". I think Chuck Colson would qualify as a "conservative evangelical" by nearly any definition, so his approving piece may be particularly informative, as would N. T. Wright's view from the UK.) So, the question is: Is there really a verifiable definition of "conservative evangelicalism"? If not, this article is in trouble. Perhaps it is more clearly defined in the UK (though Wright seems to think not). --Flex (talk/contribs) 21:18, 19 May 2008 (UTC)

I've really reached the limit of my knowledge here. I certainly cannot write anything on the different groupings within US evangelicalism, although I would tend to agree with Philosopher that the Evangelical Manifesto came from the more liberal (or open) wing of the evangelical movement. It seems to me that "conservative evangelical" does have different connotations in the US to the UK, and the US situation may well be more complex (not least because it's much larger) than the UK. Sidefall (talk) 08:09, 18 May 2008 (UTC)