AMERICAN EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANITY
An Introduction
By Mark A. Noll. Blackwell Publishers. 320 pages
ISBN 0 631 22000 3
Why should a British Christian spend precious reading time on a book about evangelicalism in the United States? And as an American evangelical living in the UK, do I not at times share a certain embarrassment with what 'my people' seem to be doing, an embarrassment that tries to minimise my connection with so much of what we hear from 'across the pond'?
The answer, of course, is that evangelicalism in Britain and the USA have always shared a relationship in which their scholarship, experiences, resources and people influence one another. It is a religious analogy to 'the special relationship' known in the 20th century as diplomatic and military allies. Even those churchmen most ardent in remaining aloof from the American religious experience must admit that it is folly to pretend that their own secular neighbours are not affected in their attitudes toward Christianity by its American manifestations.
