Stop Calling Terry Jones an Evangelical!

The recent controversy regarding the Florida pastor, Terry Jones who wants to burn the Koran has got me thinking about how important it is for us to define our theological terms. The media likes to lump all Christians who believe in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ as “evangelical.” The problem with this is that it is not theologically or culturally accurate.


Theologically speaking, fundamentalism began in the late 19th century as a reaction to Protestant Liberalism which upheld Darwinian Evolution and generally denied any supernatural element to Christianity, in particular to the life and ministry of Christ. It placed an emphasis on the teachings of Jesus rather than the relationship that we can have with Christ through belief if His atoning work on the cross. You can find a very good explanation of liberalism here. Fundamentalism was a good and necessary reaction against this that defined true Christianity as adhering to a set of “fundamentals,” hence the name “fundamentalism.” It was also primarily characterized by a separation from culture, particularly elements of the culture deemed evil or sinful. It resulted in the creation of separate colleges and universities such as the infamous Bob Jones University founded in 1927. The result was that Christianity, particularly its American form, was not very influential on the culture in general throughout the beginning of the 20th century.

Decades later, in the mid-20th century, a renewed theological effort was made to re-engage culture. This movement is generally called “evangelicalism.” The defining moment for this shift was the founding of Fuller Theological Seminary in 1947. (On a coincidental note, my father was born the same year that Bob Jones was founded and my mother was born the same year that Fuller was founded). This represented a rejection of the separation of culture and an attempt to re-engage the culture.

In the last half of the 20th century, both movements grew and had divisions in each one, so much so that it is often hard to tell one from another. Primarily, modern-day fundamentalist Christians, while still embracing the belief in the atoning work of Christ, are primarily known for being dispensational, pre-millennial, and separatistic. Evangelicals, on the other hand, are primarily known for their emphasis on the relationship that we can have with Christ through His atoning death, burial and resurrection. Where it becomes hard to tell the difference is that there are many evangelicals who are dispensational, pre-millennial, but not separatistic (Examples of these would be Tim Lahaye and Jerry Jenkins, authors of the Left Behind series) and there are those that seem to have lived in both worlds. For example, what do you with the late Jerry Falwell? He was indeed a man who seemed to exist in both worlds and at different times throughout his life, he was villianized by both sides.

Although it is often difficult to define exactly where the line is explicitly drawn, generally speaking, the line has been drawn with the belief in separatism. Generally, fundamentalists believe in separation from culture; evangelicals believe in engagement, and, in some cases, acceptance of the culture. Even with this definition, it is still sometimes very hard to tell the difference. Within fundamentalism, there are “open fundamentalists,” those that are a bit more open to culture but still cautiously separatistic (this is the camp that Falwell usually falls in) and “closed fundamentalists” such as those represented by the leadership of Bob Jones University (It is tempting to put Fred Phelps in this category, but with all due respect to fundamentalism, he seems to be a breed all of his own).

This past week, I was able to get on the Dove World Outreach Center’s website, but today, probably because of the international outcry all over the world, I am not able to access that site. However, even without access to the website, it is safe to say that Terry Jones is not an evangelical. Evangelicals have accepted the fact (whether we like it or not) that Islam is becoming part of the American culture. Evangelicals do not agree with Islamic theology, but they understand that deliberately antagonizing Muslims is certainly not the way to argue for a religion that should be known primarily by love. Since Jones rejects this belief (obviously), it is safe to say that he is not an evangelical. I know quite a few of open fundamentalists and I have not heard one of them support this action, so it is quite safe to say that he is not an open fundamentalist. He has completely rejected culture, so much so that he refuses to not do something that is so antagonistic to the religion of Islam and, it seems, to the whole world. Since this is even a bold step for closed fundamentalists, I have placed him in the camp of what I call “hyper-fundamentalism,” an extreme form of closed fundamentalism that, fortunately, does not usually have such a world-wide stage.

With all of that being said, Jones is not an evangelical and I urge all of you to call people out, including the media, who say that he is. He does not represent me or my beliefs. As I said on my Facebook page, he is a “right-wing hyper-fundamentalist.” I doubt he will read this page before Saturday, but I am appealing to him not to burn those Korans. This will incite hatred toward Christianity in general, further hatred of Americans, and unfortunately, as so many world leaders have already said, will probably be answered with violence.

I also urge evangelical Christians who believe in the radical love of God, as I do, to use this as an opportunity to explain to our friends and family who are not believers the difference between the love of God and the hate of Terry Jones. Use this as an opportunity to not just jump on the bandwagon condemning this action, but to explain what you believe and why you believe it. Let’s help the world see the difference between the love of Christ and the hate of Muslims.