Evangelical Essentials, a "quadrilateral of priorities"

As a sympathizer and quiet proponent of the Emergent Church I wonder if I fool myself and others by claiming to be an evangelical believer. Frankly, on my most difficult days I wonder if I am any kind of believer at all. I certainly can't claim to be a shining paragon of Christian virtue and spiritual formation. I have almost as many questions as I do answers and when my darkened mind contemplates the world and its accumulating suffering I am sometimes tempted to doubt the 'good news'. Perhaps some of you who are more ebullient in faith would be so kind as to pray for this weak, straying (?) hypocrite.

Recently I came across two lists of Evangelical Essentials and I was relieved to discover that I am essentially still an Evangelical. If agreeing to the essentials are sufficient grounds to maintain membership in the fraternity, than I am in and no court of high evangelical doctrine can take my membership away.

It appears that doubting is not a deal breaker after all, even if it is a heart breaker.

Of the two lists I prefer the first (older) version of the essentials because it places Activism (making the gospel concrete) higher in the list and because it describes an Evangelical's relationship to the Bible in, shall we say, more flexible terms (the inerrancy and or infallibility question is one I can get tripped up on if pressed too hard by the fundamentally inclined.).

Art work supplied by Daves Designs. Check out his blog.
It is listed in my links to the left of the page.


Why don't you take the faith challenge and see if you qualify as an Evangelical believer.

Four elements :
In seeking the essentials of belief, generally all roads today lead back to a historian at the University of Stirling in Scotland. In Evangelicalism in Modern Britain, David Bebbington framed four characteristics which he says are "the special marks" of Evangelical religion and which many others use as a basis for a common understanding.

• The "quadrilateral of priorities" is:

• Conversionism, a belief that lives need to be changed;
• Activism, the expression of the Gospel in deed;
• Biblicism, a particular regard for the Bible;
• Crucicentrism, an emphasis on the sacrifice of Christ on the cross.

In their introduction to Evangelicalism, editors Bebbington, Rawlyk and Mark Noll, McManis Professor of Christian Thought, Wheaton College, reworded the categories as:

• A stress on the New Birth;
• A reliance on the Bible as ultimate authority;
• A focus on Christ's redeeming work as the heart of essential Christianity;
• An energetic, individualistic approach to religious duties and social involvement

How do you rate on the Evangelical "quadrilateral of priorities"?

Are you all in, all out or a little of this and a little of that?