Moore says: “So this tearing apart and fragmentation of evangelicalism that I think just a few years ago, I would've seen as a problem and I would've said, "Let's get our unity back." Now I'm wanting to say, "Okay, let's see what God's doing in the fragmentation, and let's create some new alliances and some new structures and some new ways that aren't just trying to repeat the last thing."
This has been a research project of mine for the last decade, trying to understand that fragmentation, the pushback from the boundary maintenance folks, and the ways in which new factions emerge through social media. Very excited to see how Moore frames all this in his book.
Before my retirement, when I was a faculty member with a 4-4 load, a lot of the work happened in blogs and conference presentations. From 2018 to 2020, I was working on a book focused on the changes among young evangelicals, but the timing was off for publishing (so said the acquisition editor) and I moved on to my current project on Christian Universities, which builds on similar themes. Here is a piece I did in Patheos in 2015. It still captures my thinking except for the closing piece about Bebbington (I no longer think that’s sufficient). https://www.patheos.com/blogs/missionwork/2015/07/the-fragmentation-of-evangelicalism/
Regarding his personal reflections Moore says, "There were lots of times when my minds was wrong. There were lots of times that my heart was wrong. But there were very few times my gut was wrong." What a great way to phrase acknowledgement of intuition as a contributing truth-teller. Thanks for the interview. It gives us a chance to listen to and hear a thoughtful perspective.
Moore says: “So this tearing apart and fragmentation of evangelicalism that I think just a few years ago, I would've seen as a problem and I would've said, "Let's get our unity back." Now I'm wanting to say, "Okay, let's see what God's doing in the fragmentation, and let's create some new alliances and some new structures and some new ways that aren't just trying to repeat the last thing."
This has been a research project of mine for the last decade, trying to understand that fragmentation, the pushback from the boundary maintenance folks, and the ways in which new factions emerge through social media. Very excited to see how Moore frames all this in his book.
that's very interesting John! where have you written about this?
Before my retirement, when I was a faculty member with a 4-4 load, a lot of the work happened in blogs and conference presentations. From 2018 to 2020, I was working on a book focused on the changes among young evangelicals, but the timing was off for publishing (so said the acquisition editor) and I moved on to my current project on Christian Universities, which builds on similar themes. Here is a piece I did in Patheos in 2015. It still captures my thinking except for the closing piece about Bebbington (I no longer think that’s sufficient). https://www.patheos.com/blogs/missionwork/2015/07/the-fragmentation-of-evangelicalism/
Regarding his personal reflections Moore says, "There were lots of times when my minds was wrong. There were lots of times that my heart was wrong. But there were very few times my gut was wrong." What a great way to phrase acknowledgement of intuition as a contributing truth-teller. Thanks for the interview. It gives us a chance to listen to and hear a thoughtful perspective.
Thanks for listening Chris!