Evangel

The First Things site has inaugurated a new group blog, Evangel, with contributors from across the Evangelical spectrum — assuming we have any idea what "Evangelical" means, which is what the first series of entries addresses. One of the dozen or so initial responses was by Russell Moore who asks "Is It Wrong that I Don’t Care If I’m an Evangelical?" from which:

It seems to me the question of “evangelical” is similarly amorphous and contextual. I don’t mind saying that I’m an evangelical, and it’s true, but it’s mostly a tag for other Christians to know what kind of Christian I am, not a self-identity.

I’m a catholic (small “c”) Christian. I’m a Protestant Christian. I’m a Baptist Christian. I’m an evangelical Christian. I’m a four-point Calvinist, complementarian, high-view-of-the-sacraments, ecumenism of the trenches kind of Christian. And the definitions can get a whole lot more specific depending on how much context the situation requires.

If I need to know whether or not we can work together on a church plant or an evangelism strategy, the definition of “evangelical” matters to me. The rest of the time, the ambiguousness of the term doesn’t bother me any more than the fact that both Kuyper and Moltmann are “Protestants” (whatever that means).

The First Things site hosts several good blogs by interesting people, any of which can be found by using the "Blogs" menu at the top of their index page.

Evangel | A First Things Blog