"On Being Evangelical and Ecumenical" - some further reflections

Editorial: Where We've Been, Where We're Headed 
by Letha Dawson Scanzoni

Recently, I listened to Speaking of Faith, a program devoted to personal religious experience, distributed by Public Radio International and also available via the Internet. A featured interviewee on the September 4, 2003 program, "The Power of Fundamentalism," was Richard Mouw, president of Fuller Theological Seminary. Like many of us, Mouw could recount both positive and negative aspects of his background in Christian fundamentalism, But one sentence especially struck me: "It was a good place to begin." he said. "It just wasn't a good place to end up." 

Mouw differentiated between fundamentalism and evangelicalism, however, and this distinction is also important in understanding EEWC's history. 

Although "fundamentalism" and "evangelicalism" were once used interchangeably (and still are in the media and elsewhere), some people from this tradition began dissociating themselves from the anti-intellectualism, rigidity, and legalism that had come to define fundamentalism. They increasingly preferred to be called evangelicals or sometimes "neo- or "new evangelicals." These neo-evangelicals retained the core doctrinal emphases of fundamentalism but placed more emphasis on higher education, including an openness to contemporary biblical scholarship. They were also concerned about social issues, such as race, poverty, and the environment. (Historians in the new evangelical movement pointed out that such social concern and activism were not really new, however, calling attention to the role a number of evangelicals had played in nineteenth century social movements, such as abolition.) 

It was out of the socially-conscious new evangelical movement that the Evangelical Women's Caucus (EWC) emerged. Most of us who were there from its beginning had either grown up in the fundamentalist/evangelical tradition or had embraced it by choice as the logical follow-up to a personal conversion experience. But we had started to question and disagree with some its teachings -- especially what it taught about women's "place" in the church, in marriage and family, and in society in general -- and that's what brought us together to form EWC. 

In spite of such divergence, many of us could still echo Mouw's observation and agree that our traditional evangelical experience had provided us with a "good place to begin." Years ago, I was one of several women and men asked to contribute personal reflections for a special feature in the December 1982 issue of the religious satire magazine The Wittenburg Door (title misspelling intentional; the name was later changed to The Door Magazine) The feature was called, "I was a Teenage Fundamentalist," with the subtitle: "Reflections from a Few Who Spent Their Youth among Religious Conservatives and Lived to Tell about It." 

In my Door piece about fundamentalism's impact in my own life, I made a distinction between its doctrinal belief system and the mind-set that is so often associated with it. I wrote that, for me, "Fundamentalism's positive contribution relates to its doctrinal teaching on two points in particular: first, its emphasis on a personal relationship with God through Christ, and second, its stress on the importance of Bible study, which motivated me to search the Scriptures and find out for myself what the Bible does and doesn't say" (p. 20). 

But I went on to say that fundamentalism's negative impact on my life emanated from its mind-set and narrow cultural focus. I grieved over the pain caused by the arrogance, judgmentalism, authoritarianism, anti-intellectualism, and lack of compassion among many in that tradition. I spoke of the separatism and self-righteousness that splits Christians into an elitist "we" versus "them," dividing the Body of Christ. I spoke of the selective categories of "sins" that were condemned and the preoccupation with sexual behaviors, while greed, backbiting, economic exploitation, racism, and other such violations of biblical teachings often went unmentioned. "And I am angered," I wrote, "by the way [fundamentalism] stifles creativity by assuming all the answers are already in, leading many young persons (and older ones, too) to feel false guilt because they have doubts or questions, see ambiguities, and dare to think for themselves in contradiction to some of the teachings they have heard so dogmatically emphasized" (p.20). 

For many people, it is these negative characteristics that come to mind when they hear the word evangelical. They have only heard about the fundamentalist type of evangelical and specifically a mind-set which they understand to be synonymous with the reactionary religious right. Clearly, EEWC isn't at all like that. For us, as Nancy Hardesty points out in her response to Anne's Eggebroten's article in this issue, the "evangelical" part of our name comes from our origin as a working caucus formed at a gathering of Evangelicals for Social Action, which was part of the new evangelical movement in the early 1970s. Our name also derives, as Anne points out, from the root meaning of evangel -- "good news." 

But many of us found that what had been "a good place to begin" was for us, as for Mouw, "not a good place to end up." Not that the beginning point was somehow "bad," but rather it was just that -- a beginning point. There were new questions to explore, new challenges calling for our response. 

Thus, as what had been EWC increasingly attracted more members from other religious traditions, including many Roman Catholics, and because many people had only a media-influenced negative connotation for the word evangelical, the membership voted to add another E to our name. It would better describe who we are and express the inclusive vision we stand for. We therefore became the Evangelical & Ecumenical Women's Caucus. 

Numerous critics and supporters alike have wondered what this change signifies. To some people, our broadening vision signifies apostasy, a departure from the "faith once delivered." To others, it signifies a breath of fresh air -- the Wind of the Spirit blowing as She wills, filling our sails, and moving us forward on sometimes uncharted waters. 

Perhaps it might be useful to contrast two other metaphors: the "slippery slope" and the "firm foundation." 

Slippery slope reasoning sees EEWC as having started on a high level of faithfulness to God and the truth revealed in Scripture and then gradually descending from that high point, increasingly gaining momentum as we slide farther down the slope, tossing aside the most basic Christian beliefs along the way. 

On the other hand, the firm foundation metaphor sees EEWC as a construction project. It is not abandoning its strong foundation, as shown in our statement of faith, or even its foundation in evangelicalism (in the best sense of that word). But it has not stopped with the foundation. EEWC has been building upon that foundation with new understandings of our experiences with God and with each other as persons created in God's image, new insights through an openness to the Spirit, new callings as we see God at work in the world, and a fresh look at Scripture, seeking answers to new questions. As these new "rooms" are added to the structure, we find, like any truly loving family, that we have lots of space for the diversity of interests and viewpoints among our members. But the foundation, as shown in our statement of faith, is secure.

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Letha Dawson Scanzoni is editor of EEWC's quarterly newsletter, EEWC Update, and content editor for the EEWC website. She is the author or coauthor of eight books, including All We're Meant to Be: Biblical Feminism for Today (with Nancy Hardesty) and Is the Homosexual My Neighbor? A Positive Christian Response (with Virginia Ramey Mollenkott).

 © 2003 Evangelical and Ecumenical Women's Caucus