Contemporary Evangelicals: Born-Again and World Affirming

Abstract

Because conservative Protestant activism in the 1970s and 1980s was motivated by moral concerns—a reaction to the further disestablishment of so-called traditional Christian values in American society—and because explanations of church growth have also centered on values and boundary maintenance—the strictchurches-grow thesis—resurgent evangelicalism has come to be understood as a reactionary social movement, that is, as though most evangelicals are fundamentalists. Serious students of religion know this is not the case, but it is easy to confound explanations of the popularity of born-again Christianity and the cultural politics of the new Christian Right. In this article, three features of contemporary American evangelicalism are examined that suggest born-again Christians are becoming more like their fellow Americans in their comfort with popular culture, which is to say they are less culturally conservative. Whether contemporary evangelicalism is understood to be sectarian or world affirming is consequential for explaining the prosperity of born-again Christianity and for discerning its future role in public life.