• Orthodox and Orthoprax: Evangelicals subscribe to the main tenets—doctrinal, ethical, and liturgical—of the churches to which they belong.
• Crucicentric: Evangelicals are Christocentric in their piety and preaching, and emphasize particularly the necessity of Christ’s salvific work on the Cross.
• Biblicist: Evangelicals affirm the Bible as God’s Word written, true in what it says and functioning as their supreme written guide for life.
• Conversionist: Evangelicals believe that (1) everyone must trust Jesus as Saviour and follow him as Lord; and (2) everyone must co-operate with God in a life of growing spiritual maturity.
• Missional: Evangelicals actively co-operate with God in his mission of redeeming the world, and particularly in the proclamation of the gospel.
• Transdenominational: Evangelicals gladly partner with other Christians who hold these concerns, regardless of denominational stripe, in work to advance the Kingdom of God.

Pollster Andrew Grenville working with the late George Rawlyk developed the Christian Evangelical Scale (CES) for operationalizing evangelicals in opinion research. The CES is commonly applied using the following eight questions which try to measure Bebbington’s four evangelical emphases. The appendix to “Evangelical Alignment in Canada” (http://files.efc-canada.net/min/rc/cft/V01I03/Evangelical_Alignment_In_Canada.pdf) provides a gloss on the CES. The eight CES questions most commonly used are:

1. The concept of God is an old superstition that is no longer needed to explain things in these modern times. (Reverse scored)
2. I believe that through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, God provided the way for the forgiveness of my sins.
3. In my view, Jesus Christ was not the divine Son of God. (Reverse scored)
4. I believe the Bible to be the word of God and is reliable and trustworthy.
5. I have committed my life to Christ and consider myself to be a converted Christian.
6. I feel it is very important to encourage non-Christians to become Christian.
7. Other than special occasions such as weddings, funerals or baptisms, how often did you attend religious services or meetings in the last 12 months.
8. I believe Jesus was crucified, died and was buried but was resurrected to eternal life.

Other articles in the Canadian publication Church & Faith Trends (www.churchandfaithtrends.ca) look at how Evangelicals have been operationalized in the Canadian context and how successful these have been.

In that sense, then, yes, Catholics and Orthodox can fit within the “evangelical” tent without giving up their respective ecclesial commitments. We have an Orthodox faculty member at Regent and we would easily hire a Catholic. I think Beckwith just needs to hang out with some different evangelicals, like maybe those of us from the holiness and pentecostal wings of the movement. It’s a different animal, and it tracks quite easily with the mysticism of a Bernard of Clairvaux, et al., or the emphasis on a “Spirit baptism” from a Symeon the New Theologian.

Sacramone is also right about the ecclesial issues. When I’m at an ecumenical gathering, even as a pentecostal, I am acutely aware that my denomination is episcopal and I argue for the historical episcopacy. My free-church pentecostal friends don’t always appreciate that, but it’s what you have to do, not simply in evangelicalism, but in pentecostalism as well, which, given its global dynamics, is tough to find a core to as well.

I wasn’t actually thinking of you, and on reflection that part of my comment was probably ill-advised. I haven’t read too much of your work but such as I have read strikes me as mainstream Orthodoxy (which I intend as a compliment).

No, because that would make all Eastern Orthodox into “evangelicals,” which might make most EO believers uncomfortable; and I doubt that most who style themselves “evangelical” would welcome the EOs into their ranks.

Dr Beckwith,

No Eastern Orthodox can be called an “evangelical” as that term is commonly understood. None of Bebbington’s four criteria apply: “conversionism” is antithetical to Orthodoxy’s understanding of baptism and chrismation as the true “born-again” experience; “biblicism” is contrary to the primacy of Apostolic Tradition in the Orthodox faith; “crucicentrism” (as Bebbington is using the term) is inconsistent with Orthodoxy’s balanced emphasis on the Incarnation, the Cross, the Resurrection, Pentecost, and the Parousia as essential elements of the economy of salvation; and “activism” is (sadly) something you could never accuse most Orthodox of.

I think it is clear of whom you are speaking when you refer to Orthodox who are on Evangelical payrolls, and I think you will agree that he is something of an outlier among Orthodox.

Obviously Dr. Beckwith can speak for himself, but I thought I’d throw in here: “no Catholics” because evangelicalism has also defined itself as what it is not. And evangelicalism has defined itself as “Not Catholic.”

This frustrates people such as Dr. Beckwith, Joshua Hochschild, and others, who insist that as Catholics they can still basically sign an evangelical statement of faith in good conscience. To which evangelicals typically respond (1) no, you can’t; or (2) if you can, you’re not really a Catholic.