Thursday, August 10, 2006

The Evangelical Sanhedrin

Don Dart explores the powers behind the evangelical movment in the US and Canada in The Evangelical Sanhedrin and Republicanism. I must admit, I had to look up Sanhedrin. But once I understood the term, Dart's excellent analysis of the roots of evangelical power in the US and Canada was a worthy ready.
The New Evangelicals that emerged throughout and after WW II attempted to define and clarify their identity and denomination as a middle path between a militant, narrow and reactionary fundamentalism and a form of liberalism that had capitulated to modernity and the trends of culture. The Sanhedrin that guided the ship over such turbulent waters did much to make it clear that there was a third way of understanding the faith journey, and such a way need not be liberal nor fundamentalist. Who were the leaders and the institutions/organizations that formed this appealing denominational Sanhedrin? And, what were the faults and failings of such a Sanhedrin?
This article is a keeper. Set aside a few minutes for the read.

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