If you don't read Christianity Today for edification, are you an evangelical (10)?
I picked up DG Hart's Deconstructing Evangelicalism at my local "Christian bookstore" where stacks of this 2004 hardcover text were already on clearance for $4.95! The clerk thought I was looking for "destructive evangelism" and it is no wonder that he thought of the book as destructive. In this provocative monograph Hart takes on the evangelical subculture of which such bookstores are a part. Deconstructing Evangelicalism questions whether there actually is such a "thing" as evangelicalism. Is it a legitimate category of religious expression that can be measured by social scientists and codified by systematic theologians? Or is it an identity that has been formed by tenuous assumptions and sloppy scholarship? Given this provoking thesis I bought the book from a store that nearly paid me to take it. For these kinds of stores to sell Deconstructing Evangelicalism is like B.Y.U. opening up a Starbucks on campus; like your local Chinese takeaway giving out pizza coupons.
Deconstructing Evangelicalism: Contemporary Protestantism in the Age of Billy Graham (Baker Academic, 2004) discusses "the e-word" and whether it should exist as a conceptual category. "Evangelicalism needs to be relinquished as a religious identity because it does not exist" (16). From this confrontational opening, Hart goes on to show that historians (ch 1), social scientists (ch. 2), and pollsters (ch 3) have mistakenly measured and assessed a movement that is not a church but a temporary coalition based more on celebrity than theology. In the second half, Hart looks at the polity (ch 4), creed (ch 5), and liturgy (ch 6) of evangelicalism - or really, the absence thereof. There is no polity because leaders like Billy Graham, James Dobson, and Tim LaHaye have no ecclesial authority. There is no creed beyond that of Scriptural inerrancy which is really no creed at all and says almost nothing. Finally, there is no liturgy in evangelicalism which embraces pop culture over meaningful encounter.
DG Hart is an outstanding historian and his book judiciously probes important aspects of evangelicalism's coalition including the founding of Fuller Seminary, the National Association of Evangelicals, the Evangelical Theological Society, the ascendancy of biblical inerrancy, and key research (e.g. by M. Noll and G. Marsden) that has defined the movement. Deconstructing Evangelicalism is not as scholarly as another Hart text I have read (The University Gets Religion) yet it is still intended for the academically minded. Hart shows a good bit of wit throughout as he compares the movement to Home Depot in that it has a lot of goods but assistance is hard to find, and as he fears that readers will donate his book to the annual public library sale.
The foil of liturgy-less, creed-less, and polity-less evangelicalism is "historic Christianity." Once evangelicalism is in conversation with classic forms of faith it ceases to exist: "Is evangelicalism still evangelicalism once it aligns itself with any of the historic expressions of Christianity? (186)" He continues to brandish the Reformed theologian's sword: "[T]traditional Christianity may indeed be better off without the cutting and pasting theology and practice that low-church Protestantism has performed" (196). Ouch! Yet in spite of these swipes, one is left to wonder what "historic" and "traditional" Christianity" would consist of. As the author himself says, "Showing the hollowness of evangelicalism is insufficient without an alternative" (31). While he quickly suggests an ecclesiology that is centered in word, sacrament, and ordination there isn't much sturdy construction that matches this deconstruction. Perhaps this is better defined in Hart's other texts (he is a prolific author) such as Recovering Mother Kirk. Yet it seems to me that much of his "classical" Christianity is a sophisticated attempt to justify personal preference for a type of formalism that is more cultural than universal.
Other weaknesses include an almost exclusive focus on American evangelicalism (this movement is strong in England [John Stott is the evangelical pope for many], Australia, and other parts of the globe -- why didn't Hart consider this?) and an absence of reference to recent evangelical theologians such as J.I. Packer, Millard Erickson, and Stan Grenz.
Even with these deficiencies, Hart's main thesis is worth considering. Is evangelicalism an identity so built on parachurch activities that it fails to qualify as a church? At day's end, is "liking Billy Graham" enough to qualify as a religious identity? Is the evangelical structure built on shifting sand? Readers who have had exposure to evangelicalism will enjoy this book and will find themselves challenged to rethink the materials and the tools their identity is constructed from.
"Deconstructing Evangelicalism" is both less and more than the title suggests.
Those readers who are interested in a social and theological critique of evangelicalism will be enlightened by this work which is best read with Ian Murray's "Evangelicalism Divided" and David Wells' "No Place for Truth". The book is somewhat less than it claims to be in that if you don't read these other books it would be rather difficult to evaluate the conclusions that Hart draws.
"Deconstructing Evangelicalism" is clearly aimed at a target audience of seminary students, professors, and professional historians. If you are in that category - this is clearly a text you should read. As one of the finest social-historians of 20th century American relgion, Hart is consistently insightful and the reader can have confidence that the scaffolding of observations is based on a foundation of solid scholarship.
For those who have read other works by D.G. Hart, this book needs no recommendation: Everything Hart writes is worth reading. For those who are unfamiliar with Hart, I would recommend "Defending the Faith" as your introduction to his scholarship.
