A Short History of Global Evangelicalism by Mark Hutchinson and John Wolffe Cambridge, CUP 2012.
This is a very fine history of global evangelicalism. It takes evangelicalism not to be a recent anti-modernist movement but true apostolic Christianity (e.g p294). Evangelicalism is viewed broadly, including for instance the Pentecostal tradition that one of the authors stands in as “charismatic evangelicals” (p259). Attempts of some within evangelicalism to limit the movement in a sectarian manner to their own circle of associates are firmly rejected - instead the movement is seen as a “porous and ever changing space of mutual recognition” (p274). The closest the authors come to sectarianism is coldness towards the some at the Reformed end of Evangelicalism (p202).
The book has many virtues. It is a comprehensive overview, while avoiding the dullness and superficially of many overviews. Vivid illustrations and probes into the real-life spirituality of evangelicals, such as the final section of chapter 2 on the appeal of Evangelicalism add interest and depth to the book. Another virtue is the extensive treatment of evangelicalism in the global South - the reader certainly gets more than a tour of well trodden paths through British and North American church history. With the changing centre of gravity of world Christianity sticking to such well trodden paths would seriously mislead. Still another virtue is the analysis of the changing relationship between evangelicals and the universities, and high intellectual culture more generally. The rise of evangelical scholarship is connected with the roots of the movement; it is not a chance development, nor merely a grab for power and prestige. The Jesus Christ of popular evangelical devotion is the creator and sustainer of the universe, and good scholarship brings glory to his name. While the book is engagingly written the hard facts are not neglected – especially chapter 8 – “the actual arithmetic”. I was well and truly drawn in by the authors, and found it hard to put down despite lots of other pressing reading on the shelf.
There is some discussion of recent alignments of Evangelicalism and Roman Catholicism, referring to the work of Mark Noll, but I would have liked to have read more on this. The Roman church was recognised by one-time evangelical John Henry Newman as having a legitimate claim be true apostolic Christianity – and so it cannot be a surprise that its paths will cross those of the Evangelicalism that the authors claim is also true apostolic Christianity. Roman Catholicism and Evangelicalism (including Pentecostalism) seem the best placed Christian traditions to survive in the contemporary world.
The story is told up to 2010, and the authors include some speculations in chapter 9 on the future shape of evangelicalism. Such speculations are brave, and no doubt some will be accurate, and others off the mark. The is to engage the reader in thinking about the present and future, surely legitimate for the historian, and worth the risk.
It is significant that one of the authors has in the past been affiliated with Alphacrucis, Sydney’s Pentecostal College. The wisdom and scholarship evidenced by this book is going to be of great value to the College as it matures and takes an increasingly important place in the Australian higher education system, and as Pentecostalism takes its place in Australian society. It is a book which the authors and those in the tradition should be proud.