The Global Diffusion of Evangelism Critique - Book Report/Review Example

The Global Diffusion of Evangelism “The Global Diffusion of Evangelism” is a powerful book that is well researched and written by Brian Stanley. The book explores the spread of evangelism in the 21st century. Several authors have written about the topic of evangelism, but none of them has explored the issues of evangelism as Stanly. The history of evangelism is one that has a global perspective; it is one that can be told of in different dimensions. One fact stands out: Evangelism has spread to almost every part of the world, thanks to missionaries and evangelical authors (Stanley 43). The author of the book carried out an extensive research whose aim was to explain the phenomenal growth of Christianity in the 21st century. From the 18th century, a new style of Christianity emerged. There was the Methodist revival in Europe, especially England. Then there was the great Pentecostal arousal in North America. Christianity has now spread to all parts of the world, starting in small parts of England and North America (Stanley 55). The author attributes the growth to the relentless efforts of early missionaries who were able to spread evangelism in Asia, Africa and Latin America. The history of evangelism is one that baffles many people. The author delves deep into the spread of evangelism and the factors that accelerated this development. Stanley notes that many authors have accused evangelicalism as being intellectually shallow. Scholars of evangelicalism in the past five decades have attempted to make many people understand the factors that have led to growth of evangelism (Stanley 43). As a result, the author has gained acceptance and has even been rewarded. Stanley uses the works of others and integrates their findings in his work, as well. This way, he makes his observation as accurate as possible. Contributors in this course include the names of evangelical authors J.I. Packer, F.F. Bruce, Francis Schaeffer, Kwame Bediako and Byang H. Kato (Stanley 24). Evangelicals that are non-Western have grown tremendously in the last few decades. The evangelical movements have grown as result of education and liberalism. The contemporary society is more liberal and today accepts different perspectives on evangelism. Perhaps, this explains the growth of Christianity and evangelical work. The non-Western evangelicals have developed new styles of worship. The Lausanne Covenant, for instance, defined the evangelicalism mission to include evangelism and social action. Non-white participants at the convention equally contributed to the changes that the author discusses. A product of Enlightenment, Stanley only ponders about the future of evangelicalism in the post-modern world. He considers the post-evangelicals such as the ones that emerged from church movements in Britain. The apostolic churches seem to have a completely new dimension to Christianity (Stanley 72). They have different interpretations of the bible, too. He looks into the works of great scholars such as Wright who reinterpreted New Testament and Paul. They aimed to emphasize the transformative work of God in the contemporary world. Therefore, the authors contend, growth in education has a major impact in the transformation. Scholars understand the word of God differently, or they have different interpretations. The founders of evangelicalism will perhaps be surprised by the major changes in Christianity today. There is what the authors define as “the Majority World”. The Prosperity Gospel and Pentecostalism have grown alongside the Majority world. As a result, evangelicalism has moved in new directions. What is more, it has taken a new direction that would be unrecognizable to the founders (Stanley 79). Evangelism has been globally diffused. This diffusion makes evangelicalism to cease to fit together as a unique movement that can be defined. The twisted view of the movement touches the lives of millions of people across the world. For instance, there are different and successful fragments of neo-Pentecostalism and the modern worship. There are different perspectives of worship. There are the praise songs and biblical translations adapted from enlightenment. Evangelical writers such as Lesslie Newbigin and C.S. Lewis do not provide solutions to the concerns that the author raises. He wants the readers to ponder about these issues. Evangelical Christianity is now more diverse in terms of cultural orientation and geographical distributions. There is more emphasis on theological perspective than it was, say, some decades back (Stanley 98). The diversity has brought about changes and different interpretations of the bible, worship and practices. These have proved problematic. The essential content of the bible has also been interpreted differently, the author agrees. There is a general call to people to repent and turn to Christ before the supposed end of the world. Many churches preach these messages. In fact, the messages from the bulk of work or lives of the Pentecostals. The author points out to the fact that the evangelicalism is at odds with Christendom. Most institutions take the form of a legal union between the state and the church such as has been witnessed in the United Kingdom. The United States for instance, includes in the constitution, the boundaries between state and the church (Stanley 67). The Protestants insisted that the state recognizes the church. The authors offer an authoritative survey on why the evangelicalism spread so fast especially after the end of the Second World War. Movements of missions, revival and evangelism have been on the rise. Theological stability and coherence are factors that are attributed to the growth of evangelical movements. As more and more people consider it professional to learn the word of God, they are moving into schools of theology. These schools have a liberal view of the bible and Christianity. Different cultures want to integrate their cultural perspectives as well. It is a change that has transcended geographical boundaries. Originally considered a western affair, evangelicalism has grown to include Africans, Latinos and other non-whites. The age of enlightenment, which began in the mid-twentieth century, also seems to have a played a role in the expansion as explained by the author Stanley 101). Different schools of thoughts emerged. As the scholars and evangelicals looked at the issue, they contended that all these views could be integrated into the mission by being more liberal. Most evangelists travel the world easily through air transport (Stanley 113). Evangelicals from North America or Britain-where the evangelicalism originated, can now copy trends that originated from the West. Stanley looks at the contributions that evangelical scholars have made. Special note is made on Scholars who teach in British schools. Scholars such as Francis Schaeffer and Carl Henry are discussed in the book. They made fruitful attempts for people and other evangelicals to understand the fundamentalism of evangelicalism. The author takes a special interest in the famous Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization that took place in 1974. Here, the attendants agreed on a compromise and interpretation of evangelicalism and its role in the 21st century. The author appears to appreciate the works of Billy Graham among other theological voices such as Renee Padilla and Samuel Escobar. The author notes the partnerships between western and non-western church leaders and attributes the growth of evangelism to such works. The vitality of the movements is strengthened by renewed worship life and religious practices such talking in tongues, miracles and healings. Through such beliefs, and the need to lead “apostolic life”, the author illustrates why the growth of evangelicalism was so tremendous. The growth of evangelicalism can also be attributed to the fact that diverse means of transportation such water and air made it possible for the evangelical enthusiasts to reach different destinations easily (Stanley 91). This coupled with the theological schools made it easier for the people from different cultures and geographical backgrounds to appreciate diversity in their religious beliefs. Starting from the mid-twentieth century, a clique of conservative evangelicals took intellectual commitments to biblical and theological studies. Radical movements led to rapid growth of liberal congregations. Modern communications, Church Growth Theory and Anglophone education contributed to the growth of Pentecostalism as pointed out by Brian Stanley. The different strands included conservative evangelicals, evangelicals and fundamentalists. The authors attribute the growth to the “new evangelism” in the US, Billy Graham’s strategy that included generous cooperation, as well as the magazine Christianity today. In the UK, the leadership of Stott, the Church of England Newspaper, Evangelical England congresses and the influences of the Christian Brethren, notably FF Bruce accelerated the growth (Stanley 119). The international revival of ministry of Billy Graham that included missionary activities in many parts of the world led to the growth of evangelism as well. Stanley points out accurately that evangelical biblical scholars have had a significant influence on the growth of evangelism. Expository preaching is encouraged in many ways as were encouraged by Stott and Lloyd-Jones. The movement saw different faiths defended. The author notes that Charismatic and the new Pentecostal movements were encouraged by the works of theology scholars such as Graham and Stott. The concern for gifts, spiritual healing, revival and liberated worship in all parts of the world, led to the spread of evangelism in Asia, South America and Africa. The author discusses how issues of Gender, Hermeneutics and sexual Ethics contributed to growth of evangelism in the 21st century (Stanley 87). The debate on interpretation of the bible is discussed. The author points out the role of the Holy Spirit, today’s women in church, leadership and moral issues such homosexuality. These are some of the current complex issues that the author discusses. He raises issues of global diffusions. Clearly, geographical diffusion has been global. Have there been doctrinal diffusions that render the theological definition incapable or unstable? He reminds readers that such assertions originated from the 1950s. A couple of evangelicals were attracted by more catholic traditions. Others have adopted the phrase “post-evangelical”. The author warns that any assessments on the topic should not focus on academic theological arguments. Rather, the evidence of church life and spirituality should be discussed. Overall, this book offers an insight into the growth of evangelism. It points out factors such as Enlightenment age, improved transportation, renewed interest in theology and great works of Christian scholars that contributed to the phenomenal growth in. Work Cited Stanley, Brian. The Global Diffusion of Evangelicalism: The Age of Billy Graham and John Stott. , 2013. Read More