Defining Evangelicalism as uniquely expressed in the context of North America presents an elusive task. The label applies varyingly in different settings as a political, social, ecclesial or theological term. North American Evangelicalism does not follow the typical rules of an institution with clear boundaries of membership, leadership and structure. However, despite the movement's amorphous nature, general agreement may be determined regarding key characteristics of Evangelicalism in North America, particularly in its US iteration. These characteristics have produced a vital movement and a self-conscious tradition but also provided a problematic label for application and study in the twenty-first century.

This essay offers a snapshot of the unique expression of the current iteration of US Evangelicalism (and its larger formation and impact in North America) that emerged in the latter part of the twentieth century. The early expressions of North American Evangelicalism stressed theological distinctives. However, the identity of the US Evangelical became more aligned with sociological categories than theological boundaries. The shift in more recent years has been the identification of US Evangelical as almost exclusively a political designation, moving beyond even the sociological categories. In this essay, I use the term ‘Evangelicalism’ with a capital ‘E’ to distinguish the particular and specific expression of Protestant Christianity that becomes a distinct movement in the latter part of the twentieth century in the USA from a small ‘e’ evangelicalism that defines a larger movement of theologically conservative Protestantism that spans several centuries.

Theological Boundaries

Evangelicals perceive themselves in the line of orthodoxy that traces back to biblical times. Evangelicals are the inheritors of orthodox Christianity from the chosen line evident in Genesis (Adam, Abel, Seth, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob), to the chosen nation of Israel (Moses, Joshua, David and the faithful prophets), to the new covenant community (the New Testament church) birthed in Acts 2, to the missionary efforts of the Apostle Paul, to the early church and its martyrs, to the empowered missionary activist church that succeeds the early church, to the faithful remnant in the context of the Roman captivity of the church, to the great Protestant Reformers proclaiming sola fide and sola Scriptura, to those who seek a pure faith on the canvas of a tabula rasa, to the chosen people seeking to establish a city set on a hill, to the experiencers of great revivals (exemplified by Whitefield, Edwards, Spurgeon and extending to Wesley and Finney), to the great missionaries of the great mission century, to the dynamic evangelists calling for personal conversion (Billy Graham) and finally to the faithful remnant who serve as cultural warriors in the midst of the collapse of Christendom.