In this article we define what we mean by an ‘evangelical’ theology, based on three concentric levels: the Gospel, Christian doctrine and philosophy.

Introduction: Evangelicalism and Protestantism

Evangelical and Protestant churches

When we read the expression “evangelical theology”, we think of the theology that reflects the spirituality of the so-called “evangelical” movement. However, while the term “evangelical” is well established in Anglo-Saxon and French-speaking countries, as a characterisation of the churches that grew out of the pietistic and revivalist movements of the 18th and 19th centuries, this is not the case in German-speaking countries or countries with a Germanic culture, where “evangelische” means… “Protestant”. The churches we call “evangelical” in our countries are so-called free evangelical churches, thus distinguished from traditional evangelical (i.e. Protestant) churches. In other words, evangelicalism in this sense and Protestantism are consubstantial, which does not fail to generate a certain amount of confusion, particularly when more traditional Protestant or even Catholic authors use the term “evangelical”.

Orthodoxy and liberalism

This is because the term “évangélique” is derived from “évangile”, which is obvious in French but much less so in English, where “évangile” is called “gospel”… So there can be no question of any Christian movement, however vigorous, monopolising the term “evangelical”, since nobody has a monopoly on the Gospel. Having said that, the classic opposition between evangelical Protestantism and traditional Protestantism – which is tending to become blurred today – reincarnates the historical opposition between Protestant orthodoxy (Calvinist and Lutheran) and Protestant liberalism, which was born in reaction to orthodoxy and profoundly shaped the future of traditional Protestantism. In our theological work and on this site, we deliberately choose to carefully avoid choosing one of these camps, delineated in a cookie-cutter fashion, because we are convinced, by Scripture and by reason, that the right evangelical or Protestant theology lies in overcoming this antagonism.

Evangelicalism: similarities and differences

This means that readers familiar with “evangelical” Christianity will find differences here with so-called “evangelical” theology as it is understood today, and that, on the contrary, readers familiar with traditional Protestantism will find significant convergences here with certain elements of their preferred tradition. We would subscribe to Karl Barth’s (!) definition, recalled in the Introduction to the Oxford Handbook of Evangelical Theology, which would be accepted according to the authors by most of today’s “evangelical” theologians: “Evangelical means informed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as it was understood anew in the sixteenth-century Reformation by a direct return to the Holy Scriptures.” But we would not endorse, as they stand, the six points proposed by Alister McGrath and also recalled (ibid.): “1.The majesty of Jesus Christ […], 2.The lordship of the Holy Spirit […], 3.The supreme authority of Scripture […], 4.The necessity of personal conversion […], 5.The commitment to evangelism […], 6.The importance of religious community […].” For example, we unreservedly ratify points 1,2,3, and point 6 with nuances, but we do not embrace the necessity of Christian conversion for salvation, nor the obsession with evangelisation, which seem to us to go beyond Scripture.

Scripture and reason

Here, however, we share a broad common ground with contemporary evangelicalism, not least because of our adherence to the classical doctrine of the inspiration of Scripture. But we share with Protestant liberalism a definitive break with orthodoxy, which current evangelicalism seems not to have acknowledged: the essential incorporation of the subject into theological thought, which reduces to nothing the possibility of an objective determination of the right interpretation of Revelation. In short, by choosing a path that starts from the Gospel and makes no compromise either with Scripture or with reason, we end up with an evangelical theology that in a way rediscovers classical historical Protestantism, even if this has never been the subject of a consensual theological formulation. We therefore ask the reader to conceive of the present undertaking as “evangelical” in an authentic sense, but in a broader sense than that of the contemporary evangelical movement. Or to take a political metaphor, as a “centrist” effort, vis-à-vis a traditional Protestantism situated on the left, and an evangelical Protestantism situated on the right.

1 Theology and the Gospel

1.1 Definition of an evangelical theology

For us, a theology will be considered evangelical if it is first built on the principle of the Gospel, that is, on the core of the original apostolic proclamation. This is essentially reported to us in the apostolic teaching, as recorded in the New Testament, and par excellence in the first epistle of Paul to the Corinthians:

I remind you, brethren, of the gospel which I preached to you, which you received, in which you persevered, and by which you are saved, if you hold fast to it as I preached it to you; otherwise you would have believed in vain. I taught you first of all, as I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; that he was buried and rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures; and that he appeared to Cephas and then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at once, most of whom are still alive and some of whom are dead. Then he appeared to James, and then to all the apostles. After them all, he appeared to me as to the runt; for I am the least of the apostles, not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God. By the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace towards me has not been in vain; far from it, I have worked harder than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God which is with me. So then, whether it is I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you have believed.

1st Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, Chapter 15, verses 1 to 11

This “core” is the proclamation of the atoning work of Christ, in relation to the condition of sinful man and his salvation. The Gospel is thus, according to the apostle Paul, both a revelation of God’s justice “through faith and for faith”:

For I am not ashamed of the gospel: it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and then to the Greek, because in him is revealed the righteousness of God through faith and for faith, as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith.

Epistle of Paul to the Romans, Chapter 1, verses 16 and 17

As such, it is also a call to personal faith in Jesus Christ with a view to justification. The apostolic Gospel thus confronts man with the problem of his ultimate destiny, confronting him with his guilt and judgement, and with the need to rectify his path in life.

1.2 Interpreting the Gospel in the context of Scripture

An evangelical theology must therefore unfold its discourse from this core, in the perspectives that it already contains in germ: an ultimate existential perspective, understood within the framework of the Christian, and more broadly biblical, interpretation of reality and existence. The proclamation of the Gospel presupposes a certain interpretation of reality, which theology must make explicit. Now, this interpretation of reality is the one given in the whole of biblical revelation, first in the writings of the Old Testament on which the Gospel is based (“according to the Scriptures”), then in the writings of the New Testament, which record the development of the apostolic Gospel into apostolic doctrine. The Christian Gospel must therefore be interpreted in relation to the whole of Revelation, and conversely Revelation must be understood as culminating in the Gospel and its ramifications.

2 Evangelical theology and Christian doctrine

2.1 Christian doctrine as a development of the Gospel

It is, moreover, Scripture itself that records the apostolic proclamation of the Gospel, so an evangelical theology will find its substance and its core in Scripture. By extension, it will therefore be a theology of Scripture, and in particular a biblical theology. This accords perfectly with the New Testament idea of “sound doctrine”, the original apostolic teaching transmitted to the first generations of Christians and recorded in the writings of the New Testament. Thus, just as the original apostolic proclamation of the Gospel was based on the tradition of the Old Testament, it developed in the form of a teaching, an apostolic doctrine, and the scriptural recording of the proclamation of the Gospel is integrated with the recording of the apostolic doctrine in the writings of the New Testament.

2.2 Integrating ancient prophecy and apostolic doctrine

This means that an evangelical theology, as a development of Gospel thought, is first and foremost an integration of both Old Testament prophecy and New Testament apostolic teaching, in the form of a system which must aim to reconstitute a sound doctrine. This doctrine must therefore form the skeleton of evangelical theology, which corresponds to what is also traditionally called “dogmatic” theology, which consists of formulating the “dogmas” of the Christian Church. The revelation of the New Testament is not in fact limited to the proclamation of the Gospel, but to all sound apostolic doctrine, although the limits of the Gospel are quite broad, according to the point of view adopted by the apostle Paul in the epistle to the Romans, where he wants to “proclaim the Gospel” to Christians:

I don’t want you to be unaware, brothers, that I have often planned to visit you, in order to gather some fruit among you, as among the other nations; but I have been prevented from doing so until now. I owe it to Greeks and barbarians, to the learned and the ignorant. So I have a great desire to preach the Gospel to you who are in Rome.

Epistle of Paul to the Romans, Chapter 1, verses 13 to 15

2.3 The need to think of doctrine in excess of its own content

But just as apostolic doctrine is not limited, stricto sensu, to the Gospel proclaimed by the apostles, which is nevertheless in some way its principle or beginning, an evangelical theology cannot be limited either to an effort to systematise biblical and apostolic teaching with a view to reconstituting a sound doctrine. It cannot be a simple “list of dogmas” and must, in fact, and in view of its “dogmatic” task, make an effort of thought, which enables it both to give substance to Christian doctrine through the introduction of concepts and the creative organisation of its content, and to think of its existential ramifications, both in its foundations and in its implications.

3 Evangelical theology and philosophy

3.1 The need for a philosophical effort to formulate doctrine

In fact, the effort to formulate doctrine is itself a systematic effort, based on the achievements of exegesis and biblical theology. This synthetic work must forge concepts to integrate partial teachings into a thematic unity for each subject, which must itself be integrated into the complete unity of theology. There is therefore creative conceptual work to be done in an authentic theology, even with a primarily dogmatic aim, and this work falls within the philosophical function, whether it proceeds from a genuine creation in this field, or from a borrowing from existing philosophical works. For example, the doctrine of the Trinity, which interprets and synthesises the various and disparate affirmations of Scripture, required an effort of historical conceptualisation, without which it is impossible to find it as it is in Scripture: the notion of hypostasis is used in another sense, and the notion of person does not appear in it.

3.2 The need to think beyond apostolic doctrine

The effort to think also appears clearly in questions which arise naturally to man in the situation of his individual existence, and where he needs a response of faith, which doctrine alone cannot provide. For example, any Christian faced with a real tragedy, which must happen one day or another, must be able to think about evil within the framework of his faith, in order to remain firm in it in the face of adversity. However, there is no apostolic teaching on evil as such, which must therefore be considered as an extension of Christian doctrine and in relation to faith. In other words, to the doctrinal effort evangelical theology must add an additional philosophical effort to think about what is not explicitly found in apostolic teaching. This effort must be carried out systematically to ensure the coherence of evangelical theology, and thus form a conceptual and methodological unity with the dogmatic effort itself.

4 Existentiality, universality and knowledge of God

4.1 An evangelical theology must be existential

By confronting man with his ultimate destiny on the basis of his personal history, the Gospel addresses man in the situation of his individual existence. Evangelical theology is therefore, by its very nature and because of the Gospel, existential, which means that it must resonate with man’s particular situation. It does not deal with abstract generalities divorced from personal experience, but associates its statements, even the most theoretical or abstract, with the human condition. This is the case, for example, in proper theology, where the divine attributes are related to human experience, which is only a natural consequence, since it is only on the basis of this experience and by analogy that they can be conceived (see, for example, God the Creator). Such an approach must, however, be theologically founded, and in this case in a theology of the creation of man, which must lead to an explicit and transparent methodology that is itself part of evangelical theology.

4.2 An evangelical theology must be universal

As the full and final revelation of God’s grace, the Gospel is addressed to all people, in all places and at all times, to proclaim God’s justice through faith in Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul insists on the universality of this faith when he writes to the Ephesians:

There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope by your calling; there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and among all and in all.

Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians, Chapter 4, verses 4 to 6

Although man’s spiritual condition is always challenged by the Gospel, or in general by the revelation that God addresses to him, according to his particular conditions – his “existential situation” – in the Gospel a universal revelation of God’s justice and salvation is proposed. This means that evangelical theology is also universal by nature, in that its statements and its purpose must be aimed at all people, regardless of their condition, place or time.

4.3 A theology of the knowledge of God

By extension, this also means that an evangelical theology must consider the spiritual condition of man beyond the limits of evangelical proclamation and teaching. The Apostle Paul makes the theological effort, in his letter to the Romans, to think of the Gospel beyond the limits of the Gospel he proclaims, in order to root it in a doctrine of revelation and of the knowledge of God concerning people of every condition:

The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who unjustly hold the truth captive, for what can be known of God is manifest to them, God having made it known to them. For the invisible perfections of God, his eternal power and divinity, have been visible to the eye since the creation of the world, when they are seen in his works. They are therefore inexcusable, because having known God, they have not glorified him as God, nor given him thanks; but they have gone astray in their thoughts, and their heart without understanding has been plunged into darkness.

Epistle of Paul to the Romans, Chapter 1, verses 18 to 21

The positive side of this negative doctrine is summed up in a statement by Christ himself, who sums up the principle of eternal life, the purpose of his work and of the creation of man, in the principle of the knowledge of God :

When Jesus had spoken these words, he raised his eyes to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you; for you have given him authority over all flesh, that he may grant eternal life to all whom you have given him. And eternal life is that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you have sent, Jesus Christ.

Gospel according to John, Chapter 17, verses 1 to 3

Thus, the apostolic Gospel announces the redemption of man in order to restore him to the eternal vocation that was imprinted on him at the beginning, and Scripture naturally directs evangelical theology towards the existential and universal motive of the knowledge of God.