Episode 28. The Changing Face of Evangelicalism

SYNOPSIS

The formation of the Evangelical Alliance in London in 1846, during a decade of revolution in Europe and Chartist unrest in England, marked new ground in co-operation between Christian denominations in Great Britain after the theological ruptures of the seventeenth century. This new alliance built on non-sectarian co-operation over anti-slavery legislation and offered self-styled evangelicals the opportunity to collaborate together on issues such as religious freedom in Europe and elsewhere, through personal, church and organizational membership.

Using the historian David Bebbington’s famous quadrilateral, David Hilborn outlines the defining characteristics of evangelicalism. These are the four leading emphases of the Bible, the Cross of Christ, personal Conversion and gospel Activism. To these, David Hilborn (borrowing from John Stackhouse) adds a fifth, trans denominational co-operation. Using the Evangelical Alliance as its focus, the episode explores its history from the 1840s, how it navigated German higher criticism, Darwinism, two world wars, and periods of retreat from and re-engagement with social activism. The face of evangelicalism has changed radically over time. Against popular misconceptions, in the twenty-first century, the “typical” evangelical is a woman living in the global South.

GUEST

Ordained as a United Reformed Church in 1989 and a one-time Minister of The City Temple in Holborn, London (an historic centre of liberal Congregationalism) before becoming an Anglican in 2002, the Reverend Dr David Hilborn is Academic Dean and Senior Lecturer in Theology and Church History at London School of Theology. He was previously the Principal of Moorlands College and before that the Principal of St John’s College, Nottingham. He has also worked as Assistant Dean and Director of Studies at St Mellitus College. David’s association with the Evangelical Alliance grew out of inviting two of its leaders, Clive Calver and Joel Edwards to speak at the City Temple, after which David became the Alliance’s first Head of Theology in 1997. With Ian Randall he is the co-author of One Body in Christ: The History and Significance of the Evangelical Alliance (2001).

David’s interview with Simon Machin was recorded online on 30 March 2023.