The End of Evangelicalism?

Book Review.
Fitch, David E. The End of Evangelicalism? Discerning a new faithfulness for mission. Cascade. 2011. D.F.- professor of Evangelical Theology at Northern Seminary, Lombard Ill. He is also a pastor at Life on the Vine Christian Community, Chicago. (CMA)
Comment. Henry.
Fitch examines the church in North America as a ‘political presence of evangelicalism’. His approach to this discipline is impacted by the ideological theory of Slavoj Zizek, a political theorist. Culture views evangelicals as ‘arrogant, exclusive, duplicitous, and dispassionate’. Christianity has become an ideology. Fitch is taking a path less travelled to address a problem that we as evangelicals need to not only be aware of but also be prepared to deal with. This is a very thought provoking challenging resource.
Introduction: This book asks the question; How does what we believe shape our “politic” (political theology) in the world? “Evangelicalism has become an ‘empty politic’ driven by what we are against instead of what we are for.” (xvi) Evangelicalism has been shaped by three beliefs, “the inerrant Bible, the decision for Christ, and the Christian nation” i.e. USA. (xvii) It is how these beliefs have developed that has shaped us “as a people prone to an arrogant, duplicitous, and dispassionate posture in the world”. (xvii) There is a need for the development of “an evangelical missional political theology”. (xxi)
The US elections of 2000 and 2004 marked a high water mark for evangelicalism’s influence on politics in the US. Culture and economy were experiencing negative change. Criticism of evangelicalism came through the writings of influential evangelical writers; David Kinnaman (UnChristian), Brian McLaren, and Shane Clairborne (activist). Robert Webber and Dallas Willard championed “liturgical renewal movements” (5) There were calls from many directions for serious change (re-defining) of evangelicalism which was in crisis as an ideology. “Evangelicalism needs a political theology.” (10) “How do evangelical beliefs bind people together and shape them for the work of Christ’s mission in the world?” (11)
Fitch uses the insights of Slavoj Zizek a political theorist to do an ideological analysis of evangelicalism. “Ideology takes place in the root practices we keep doing together even when they don’t make sense.” (20) Ideologies are formed by “master signifiers- a conceptual object around which people give their allegiance thereby enabling a political group to form”. (26) An “irruption of the Real” (29) recognized by “overidentification and jouissance” (32) can help us in further analyzing an ideology.
When the doctrine of ‘inerrancy’ is examined critically we discover that it “allows us to interpret the Bible to mean anything we want it to mean because after all we believe it to be inerrant”. (55) “The recent history of evangelicalism is strewn with excessive ‘irruptions’ of this pervasive drive to be right.” (65) “Via ‘the inerrant Bible’ we can see how the Bible can become a Master-Signifier for evangelicals that in turn shapes us into antagonism with the world instead of gathering us into the life of a triune God and his work in the world”. (71)
“The ‘decision’ remains the hallmark of evangelicalism.” (81) Upon examination as a Master-Signifier it has the potential to become an “empty signifier which shapes us for duplicity” (88) when our lives are not affected by that decision. Ted Haggard is an example of such an empty signifier.
The emptiness of the Christian Nation signifier is illustrated by the ‘over-identification’ by statements like Jerry Falwell’s statement re: 9/11 and Pat Robertson’s statement of Hurricane Katrina being an act of God’s punishment.
So, what about an evangelical political theology? “The politic of the church then, must be founded at the very point of the Incarnation itself- where Christ is received into this world by the people of Israel via Mary.” (126) Fitch uses supporting arguments from several evangelical theologians to present a re-evaluated position on the authority of Scripture. (Barth, Balthasar, Vanhoozer and N.T.Wright.) “These theologians prod us to leave behind the Bible as ‘inerrant according to the original autographs’ to instead understand it as our one and true story of God for the whole world- infallible in and through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (138) There are interesting implications that arise out of this change. “The politic of the church is shaped by Scripture as the very real incarnational presence of Christ extended by the Spirit in the world- a politic of fullness in the world.” (141)
Wright, Millbank and Willard provide direction regarding the second element of evangelicalism, conversion and salvation. The focus shifts from a personal faith to God’s faithfulness. Conversion by faith is still a necessity. Such a conversion includes the commitment to spiritual disciplines that characterize a Christ follower. It is a transformation that results in a committed, changed life style, not just a single event recorded on a calendar.
Henri de Lubec, William Cavanaugh, and John Yoder are contributors to a re-evaluation of the ‘Christian nation’ element of evangelicalism. “If the church is the social body of His Lordship (His in-breaking Reign) incarnating Christ in the world for God’s mission, it must not be segregated into a gathering on Sunday morning.” (168) Fitch argues “that a belief and practice rightly centred in the incarnate Christ should shape its politic into the character of the ‘Sent One’ and the mission in the world. The resulting character of our political existence should take on the Son’s disposition in the world: one of inclusive hospitality, integrity (faithfulness) with the gospel, and compassion in and alongside the world.” (175)
In the epilogue Peter Rollins, Brian McLaren, Alan Hirsch and Michael Frost deal with “ideological traps that relate (can arise) to a re-configuration of the three doctrinal commitments of evangelicalism”. (183)