The Production And Character Of American New Evangelicalism

American New Evangelicalism was born in 1940s, which was included in conservative Protestantism denominations. It originated from traditional Evangelicalism, which was produced by Great Awakening in the late 18th and early 19th century. In the 19 century, religion was influenced by the progress of social science and the emerging of evolution. People began to question the authority and the Bible. Protestant was divided into liberalism and conservatism. Fundamentalism which was the representative of conservative extreme right-wing had developed in early 1920s. Because Fundamentalism was strongly against the liberalism, and resisted the influence of modern culture, they gradually became limited during the development of religious movement. So some general fundamentalists separated themselves from fundamentalism and pushed the conservative Protestantism movement in more moderate ways. In 1940s, these people founded a new organization- The National Association of Evangelicals for United Action-that was the symbol of formal establishment by American new evangelicalism. With the leading of NAE, American new evangelicalism promoted the American Protestantism movement and recovered the traditional Christian Protestantism. In addition to features of organization, in the aspect of faith, American evangelicalism believed that the authority and truth of the Bible, and the only way of personal salvation relied on the belief in Christ. Most of features of American new evangelicalism inherited the tradition of original evangelicalism. The most distinct difference between fundamentalism and new evangelicalism was the attitude toward the secular culture and social activities. New evangelicalism was more tolerant than fundamentalism, and more enthusiasm. The production of American new evangelicalism was due to the dissatisfaction to fundamentalism's obstinate attitude. With the development of new evangelicalism, conservative Protestantism achieved a great success. But at the same time new evangelicalism itself faced the crisis of division because of the different position in politic and Christ traditional doctrine.