[...] void in America. This article, written by a Protestant Evangelical spells out the problems The Coming Evangelical Collapse? The Coming Evangelical Collapse? | Parchment and Pen We as a movement decry abortion, yet [...]

[...] John Longhurst considers Canadian evangelicalism. Or is it just evolving? But no, it could be that evangelicalism is doomed on theological grounds, which is a different twist again. Michael Spencer started it, and he suggests the antidote: church [...]

http://www.internetmonk.com/archive/avoiding-death-by-nostalgia-my-denomination-the-sbc-today#more-2966

There are some interesting parallels here with the SBC where many well-trained evangelicals (those taught sola Scriptura especially) are all but leaving their tradition—or being pushed out by those who otherwise demand their ‘circumcision.’

Evangelicalism is not the SBC. And the leaders in question aren’t necessarily leaving evangelicalism in their own eyes. But you can bet the terms missional and emerging (and even reformed) resonate more with their self-definition than the term Evangelical does.

You said:

40% of the individuals sitting in the pews in Evangelical Churches do not cognitively know enough theology even to be saved.

But did not cite this…where is it from?

Thanks
Alex

#16 Truth unites and divides-

I might be imprecise, but I think I do mean formally authoritative tradition. One church disciplines an Evangelical believer. They go to another Evangelical church, and lo and behold, the pastor there interprets, e.g., Jesus’ teaching about divorce differently. A single authoritative tradition would go further than sola Scriptura, which both Pastors adhere to, and give a more unified interpretation.

I read the link to Bahnsen. He makes good points about the difficulties of tradition and conflicting traditions. But how different is this really from the streams of teaching from various famous evangelical teachers? The open theism debate, the lordship salvation debate, and so forth, all produce conflicting divisions, and both sides accuse each other of going beyond what’s been written in the Scripture itself.

So the catch-22 I was trying to point out is this: As I said, I love sola Scriptura, but without a larger body of authoritative tradition (what gives tradition authority in a community? simply people submitting to it), sola Scriptura does not form a cohesive enough basis for an ideology such as Evangelicalism. This doesn’t mean sola Scriptura is unbiblical, it just means that Evangelicalism probably won’t make it as long as it lacks a unifying and binding tradition. Maybe the most orthodox kind of Christianity was never meant to be formalized. If so, then sola Scriptura will continue after Evangelicalism fades away.

If you read closely I wasn’t really arguing that we should add tradition to all of Evangelicalism—as I hinted I don’t think we can at this point. I was just giving the reasoning behind my thinking that Evangelicalism will probably collapse.

The other thing tradition often does, which I didn’t mention, is blunt the arrows of higher criticism.

And you are right Kara. Watch out for those arrogant intellectuals who think that they are the only true people. Why even go to seminary if you could get understanding from God Himself? True people don’t bother with all that “Academia of Theology.” Who needs Barna surveys, books or even brains when you’ve got the Holy Ghost? All this stuff about “anti-intellectualism” is just more fancy talk from people who think they’re better than Jesus.

Dr. Paul Foltz,
You are right, education is just teaching. Conversion is the reality. We must be converted. One thing that bothers me is the arrogance of intellectuals who think they have it all and can be the only true people because they have studied the “Academia of theology”.

There’s been a lot of good people who lived never having been to seminary and they are the ones who have made the most influence because their understanding comes from God Himself.

A knowledge of Theology, or even of the Bible DOES NOT SAVE. Salvation comes by revelation, by the Holy Spirit.
Luke 10;22-24; Matthew 11;23-29.

Education does not save anyone. No one can be saved apart from God’s Holy Spirit, Who quickens the elect sinner, giving him the graces of faith and repentance, which lead to his conversion.

Without Holy Spirit Conversion, bringing a man to the end of himself, there can be no Salvation.

“Evangelical pollster and sociologist George Barna concluded based on numerous surveys that nearly 40% of the individuals sitting in the pews in Evangelical Churches do not cognitively know enough theology even to be saved.”

I’d be curious to know what his criteria were.

The fact is that only a small proportion of people have an interest in formulating a theology, and the rest are content to follow along in the main. The problem is who they are going to follow.

Based on my own experience I left the evangelical/fundamentalist churches because I saw too much superficiality and a separatist mentality that left me disconnected with life in general. I could not integrate my feelings and my experience with what I was being taught, there was always a verse to explain the deeply complex issues that we go through and my queries were never really answered. Instead of the Bible being the basis of my worldview, it was made to be a text book of sorts that had all the answers. Instead of depth and honesty we get gimmicks. Instead of going into the world to spread the gospel we have created our own “sub-world” that keeps us from people but gives us all the entertainment and prevents us from confronting the real challenges we must face.