| This study argues that Harold John Ockenga (1905-1985) functioned as a statesman and visionary of the twentieth-century American evangelical movement. In addition to serving as pastor of Park Street Church in Boston, Massachusetts (a decidedly evangelical church), he shaped many institutions of that movement from the early 1940s until the early 1980s: the National Association of Evangelicals, the World Evangelical Fellowship, Fuller Seminary, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, Christianity Today, and Gordon-Conwell Seminary.;As this study maintains, Ockenga's religious and cultural heritage played a substantial part in preparing him for his role within neo-evangelicalism. Ockenga's mother bequeathed to him the heritages of Methodism and Presbyterianism. Ockenga built upon his Methodist heritage during his collegiate years (1923-1927) at Taylor University, a school that upheld Wesleyan-holiness teachings and practices. Upon graduation from college, he entered a decidedly Reformed world for the next nine years. He attended Princeton Theological Seminary, transferred to and graduated from Westminster Theological Seminary; served as associate pastor under Clarence Macartney (a Reformed pastor), and assumed the role of pastor of Point Breeze Presbyterian Church. Having experienced these formative bi-polar theological heritages (Wesleyan-holiness and Reformed) within fundamentalism and evangelicalism, Ockenga stood equipped to attempt to unite this diverse religious constituency.;This study also addresses several broader issues within the study of evangelicalism. First, this study concludes that neo-evangelicalism was simply a reworked or antiseptic form of fundamentalism that was acceptable to a post-war generation. Second, this research maintains that a holistic definition of evangelicalism must attempt to form an Hegelian synthesis of its Wesleyan-holiness and Reformed bi-polar elements. Third, this dissertation addresses the larger implications of Ockenga's neo-evangelical leadership. While he met with some success in building bridges within neo-evangelicalism, he demonstrated little ability or intent to reach out to mainstream Christianity. Consequently, he played a significant role in the current "two-party" divide within American religion. |
