Type of Submission
Podium Presentation
Keywords
John Milton, evangelism, evangelicalism
Abstract
In the 1960s, Billy Graham and Carl Henry heralded evangelical identity as the crusade that would bolster Christian witness in the modern age. Recent scholarship, however, has labeled the movement a dramatic disappointment. Historian D.G. Hart contends that mainstream Christianity has become so inclusive that the label “evangelical” has ceased to mean anything intelligible, and Mark Noll echoes this critique by labeling evangelicalism a “scandal of the mind.” Christianity’s greatest hope for global gospel witness has proved a dissapointment. One window into this evangelical failure may be found in the prose works of sixteenth century poet John Milton. Far from derived from modern concerns, the ecclesiastical and political turmoil of Milton’s day closely resembles the issue of evangelical identity in the twenty-first century, and the poet’s response applies well to Christianity’s contemporary situation. Milton’s critique of iconography, developed in his political tracts, reveals that mental slavery is the true scandal of the evangelical mind. While many scholars recognize the crisis of Christian identity in the twenty first century, Milton’s theory suggests that evangelicalism’s incompetence results from a failure to distinguish between the movement itself and the theological identity it signifies.
Faculty Sponsor or Advisor’s Name
Peggy Wilfong
Campus Venue
Stevens Student Center, Room 240
Location
Cedarville, OH
Start Date
4-1-2015 1:00 PM
End Date
4-1-2015 1:15 PM
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Evangelicalism and Mental Slavery: A Miltonic Critique
Cedarville, OH
In the 1960s, Billy Graham and Carl Henry heralded evangelical identity as the crusade that would bolster Christian witness in the modern age. Recent scholarship, however, has labeled the movement a dramatic disappointment. Historian D.G. Hart contends that mainstream Christianity has become so inclusive that the label “evangelical” has ceased to mean anything intelligible, and Mark Noll echoes this critique by labeling evangelicalism a “scandal of the mind.” Christianity’s greatest hope for global gospel witness has proved a dissapointment. One window into this evangelical failure may be found in the prose works of sixteenth century poet John Milton. Far from derived from modern concerns, the ecclesiastical and political turmoil of Milton’s day closely resembles the issue of evangelical identity in the twenty-first century, and the poet’s response applies well to Christianity’s contemporary situation. Milton’s critique of iconography, developed in his political tracts, reveals that mental slavery is the true scandal of the evangelical mind. While many scholars recognize the crisis of Christian identity in the twenty first century, Milton’s theory suggests that evangelicalism’s incompetence results from a failure to distinguish between the movement itself and the theological identity it signifies.
