Can the "E" word be saved?

USA Today featured an article called "Evangelical: Can the 'E-word' be saved?"  I knew within seconds of the Ted Haggard announcement that the word Evangelical (which is a wonderful word rich with history and meaning - and describes my Christian tradition) would be under intense scrutiny. 

Here is an excerpt, "Who's an evangelical? Until last year the answer seemed clear: Evangelical was the label of choice of Christians with conservative views on politics, economics and Biblical morality. Now the word may be losing its moorings, sliding toward the same linguistic demise that 'fundamentalist' met decades ago because it has been misunderstood, misappropriated and maligned." 

Read the whole article here.

Comments

[Dan Gras]

I have never understood the term evangelical, but I know that I am one!

[Mike]

The problem has surfaced that what you believe about yourself as an evangelical will mean something else to our culture. Do we want to embrace a label that creates an unhealthy perspective for us to represent our Lord Jesus Christ in a missional manner to the world we live in? I used to be comfortable calling myself a fundamentalist (decades ago). No one, not even fundamentalist, wants to wear that label today. Well there might be a few crazies who do. Anyway, meanings of words change and we should be engaged in the importance of language as it relates to our calling to be a faithful witness for our Lord Jesus in the culture we live in. Enough, I've gone to rambling...

Peace!

[Charlie]

Evangelical has been such a "big tent" word in the past, but rarely is portrayed as such in popular culture. For example in the film Jesus Camp (great film by the way) which takes a look at fundamentalist Pentecostals but almost always refers to them and their goals as Evangelical. And while they are Evangelical their goals are hardly the norm for all or most Evangelicals.