A direction of enquiry
So not yet a formal proposal! For the Research Degrees Panel I only need a ‘rationale for the proposed research’ and I am just about there. I have put the pdf to the right but here is the main flow:
There is little doubt that something is happening in the evangelical wing of the church. Recent publications and events have both revealed and catalysed this: Post Evangelical; New Kind of Christian (trilogy); Lost Message of Jesus. Despite a lot of activity there is a sense of conversations going round in circles.
This diversification within a relatively homogenous wing of the church provokes interesting questions concerning the current extent and depth of this diversity; is it just around particular issues like vocabulary of atonement and truth or is it broader than that, around issues of crucicentrism and biblicism? Is the resurgence of mission a redefining of evangelical activity or a rediscovery of bygone years and biblical perspectives? To what extent has the evangelical cornerstone of conversion being watered down by metaphors of journey and discovery?
Besides the usual catalogue of texts, articles and books, this research project proposes that by hearing and digesting evangelical conversion narratives it may enable the emergence of a clearer picture of late-modern evangelicalism and thus be part of charting its potential metamorphism. As well as offering insights into how a large homogenous group is dealing with issues of historical unity and growing contemporary diversity.
If this project gets any confirmation from Ministry Division then I will be looking for people from the last 20 years or so to tell me how they became a Christian.
I would welcome any comments