by Michael Svigel
For Immediate Release
Contact: Angie Cheatham
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Evangelicalism is in Trouble
Svigel Looks to a Retro Faith to Diagnose American Christianity
Wheaton IL—Evangelicalism is in trouble. Surveying the modern evangelical landscape, professor Michael Svigel asks, “Why does evangelicalism appear to be spinning out of control, losing appeal to younger generations, dwindling in numbers, or selling out to pop culture to muster a crowd?” He seeks to answer this question by looking to the past—to a retro Christianity.
What are we sacrificing in our churches in the name of “relevance”? Is it really working? RetroChristianity is a summons to begin thinking both critically and constructively about history. It is a call to evangelicals to know how the past informs our present beliefs, values, and practices. “Arguing that the way forward is to draw on the wisdom of the whole Christian past, RetroChristianity not only points out the trailhead of the biblical, historical, and theological path, but supplies provisions for the journey without forsaking the healthy developments that have benefited Christians along the way,” writes Svigel.
Svigel defines evangelicalism, provides an overview of church history, and recommends which elements are essential for a local church in an effort to make us “better evangelicals, not former evangelicals.”