That’s a perfectly fair point. Why have a category if people can’t agree on the criteria that define it? I wouldn’t hesitate to call myself an evangelical when speaking with people I know agree with your first definition (and maybe also the second, though I’d probably be too busy twirling my moustache and laughing maniacally to say much), but out in the broader world, I have to agree it doesn’t really clarify anything.
It’s not wrong to identify with a particular movement or school of thought, but it carries a risk of ossification. It becomes easy to uncritically accept the beliefs of our fellows and dismiss out of hand the ideas of those outside our set. We shouldn’t refuse to consider someone’s opinions about the sovereignty of God and the free will of Man just because we disagree with how old they believe the earth is, or their views on eschatology just because we dislike the Venn diagram they drew to compare Israel and the Church. But obviously we do. We’ve divided ourselves into camps, and instead of seeking the truth in humility, we prefer to snipe at each other from our behind our little bastions.
Fortunately, what man intends for evil, God intends for good. I sympathize with those who want to reunite all the fractured denominations, but I don’t think it’s the right approach. We should confess our failings and trust that God will build His Church exactly as He has planned. Maybe God wants some to worship Him with elegant liturgies and others with uninhibited exuberance. Maybe he wants postmillennialists who will try their best to right the world’s wrongs and pretribulationalists motivated to share the Gospel with life-and-death urgency. He’ll correct us all in the end, and His wisdom will be revealed in our foolishness.
Ad fontes, brother!
Reading Carl R. Trueman’s booklet “The Real Scandal of the Evangelical Mind” convinced me as well. The term “evangelical” has lost its meaning, and that’s probably a loss. However, there’s also an opportunity for us all here. We get a fresh chance to introduce ourselves in a fresh old way 🙂
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