If John Mark is right that an evangelical is “a fundamentalist who watches The Office,” then I’m written out of the definition since I’ve never seen the show. But, still, I think he’s on to something. Here’s an alternative try.
An evangelical is a fundamentalist whose kids dress up for Halloween.
A conservative evangelical is a fundamentalist whose kids dress up for the church’s “Fall Festival.”
A confessional evangelical is a fundamentalist whose kids dress up for “Reformation Day.”
An emerging evangelical is a fundamentalist who has no kids, but who dresses up for Halloween anyway.
A revivalist evangelical is a fundamentalist whose kids dress up as demons for the church’s “Judgment House” community evangelism outreach.
A fundamentalist is a fundamentalist whose kids hand out gospel tracts to all those mentioned above.
October 19th, 2009 | 7:12 pm | #1
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Russell Moore and Nick Laparra, JasonRT. JasonRT said: literally lol when I read this on Halloween: http://bit.ly/O5B87 [...]
October 19th, 2009 | 8:04 pm | #2
We cheerfully celebrate October 31st as reformation day and then buy candy the next day at half-price, being both faithful and frugal.
October 19th, 2009 | 8:23 pm | #3
Thank you for finally helping me to understand… I always wondered about this – really.
October 19th, 2009 | 9:57 pm | #4
Hmm. What do you do with a confessional evangelical whose kids dress(ed) up for Halloween and also watch the office (and like it)?
Seriously, though, what is the difference between a “fundamentalist” and a “confessing evangelical?” Obviously, it has to do with subscription to one of the historic confessions vs. a “no creed but Christ” or “just me and Jesus” theology and Christian living. But more than that. At least historically and culturally, the former tend to have little problem with Christians who “smoke or drink or chew, or hang around with girls that do,” being drinkers and smokers and all that.
And then there is the eschatological issue. For a long time being amillennial would get you exiled from not only the fundamentalist ranks but from the evangelical ranks as well (e.g., TEDS faculty).
Does anyone want to weigh in on this one?
October 19th, 2009 | 11:18 pm | #5
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by drmoore: RDM at First Things: Evangelical Definition and Halloween: http://bit.ly/I8PUW…
October 20th, 2009 | 9:27 am | #6
A pragmatic fundamentalist lets his kids dress up for Halloween, but doesn’t talk about it.
October 21st, 2009 | 6:51 pm | #7
[...] of evangelical are you? Or, what do you do for Halloween? Jump to Comments Russel D. Moore provides these funny (and accurate) definitions of the many types of evangelical: “If John Mark is right [...]
October 21st, 2009 | 10:59 pm | #8
[...] that persistent question: What do we do with the term “evangelical”? My favorite post so far: Russ Moore [...]
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