It was reported a few days ago that more than 50 “pillars of evangelicalism” had been invited to a private gathering at Wheaton College. When asked what the intention of the event was, Doug Birdsall, an organizer of the exclusive meeting, answered somewhat candidly:
“When you Google evangelicals, you get Trump…When people say what does it mean to be an evangelical, people don’t say evangelism or the Gospel. There’s a grotesque caricature of what it means to be an evangelical.”
Another organizer of the assemblage, Darrell Bock (director of “cultural engagement” at Dallas Theological Seminary), described the get-together using much more intentionally ambiguous terminology:
“It is an attempt to try and show how we should be thinking in such a way that our theology is what is the central concern versus our political commitments…We have some people who are going to be doing some presentations about how they see the current situation and we are going to talk about it…The concern is with the church expressing itself clearly about its theological commitment and its theological character in the midst of the environment we are in. Part of the point of the meeting is to have a conversation to see where we are and if there is agreement on how to proceed.” [Emphasis mine.] Continue reading →