In Defense of Evangelicalism

Evangelicalism has lots of critics. Christianity Today deputy editor Bonnie Kristian argues that their most common attacks fall apart under scrutiny, issuing a bold call for evangelicals not to be ashamed of their tradition and, instead, to preserve and deepen it.

Evangelicalism is a favorite scapegoat of American public life. Evangelicals are subjected to a steady stream of criticism about what they believe and how they live out their faith in public. This isn’t new: evangelicals have felt slighted and misrepresented for a century. But in the current political era, a cottage industry consisting of podcasts, essays, and dozens of books has arisen―all dedicated to criticizing evangelicalism. The question at hand is not whether evangelicalism has faults but whether the accusations are fair, coherent, and a path to destruction or reform.

Author and editorial director of ideas and books at Christianity Today Bonnie Kristian engages five serious criticisms leveled at evangelicalism, drawing on research, original reporting, and a lifetime in the evangelical movement to provide a deeply informed and theologically sound defense. Engaging with the work of influential critics of evangelicalism, including Kristin Kobes DuMez, Beth Allison Barr, and Tim Alberta, as well as interviews with theologians, pastors, and thought leaders, Kristian deftly dismantles bad-faith critiques while acknowledging where reform is necessary and desirable.

In Defense of Evangelicalism demystifies and humanizes evangelicals for those who used to identify with the movement or who simply wish to understand it, demonstrating irrefutably that evangelicals are not the menace they’ve been made out to be. In fact, Kristian maintains, the evangelical movement is a force for good that every American should want to preserve.Bonnie Kristian is deputy editor at Christianity Today. She is a fellow at Defense Priorities, a foreign policy think tank, and widely published as a freelance journalist. Her writing on evangelicalism, the modern American right, foreign policy, civil liberties, electoral politics, and more has appeared at outlets including The New York Times, The Week, USA Today, MSNBC, CNN, NBC, Politico, Newsweek, Time, The New Atlantis, Reason, The American Conservative, The Dispatch, and The Daily Beast. She is the author of Untrustworthy and A Flexible Faith. Bonnie is a graduate of Bethel Seminary with a Master of Arts in Christian Thought. She lives in Pittsburgh with her husband and three children.Foreword by Alan Jacobs