The Evangelical Quadrilateral, I

A measure of the distinction achieved by David Bebbington in the field of modern British religious history is the article by Grayson Carter entitled ‘Evangelicalism’ in the fourth edition of the Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, published in February 2022. It begins with Bebbington’s definition of the four essential characteristics of Evangelicalism, internationally as well as in national contexts, as set out in his deservedly influential Evangelicalism in Modern Britain (1989; rev. ante, cvii [1992], pp. 747–8), a book which is the first item listed in Carter’s bibliography. An appreciation of those characteristics, namely the fundamental authority of the Bible, the emphasis upon the cross of Christ as the hope of salvation, the pressing need for the conversion of individuals and nations, and the duty of activism (mainly in the form of preaching, teaching and organising) has inspired numerous, perhaps most, subsequent studies of the subject. Since, as Carter’s article concludes, ‘throughout the world as many as one-third of all Christians could be regarded as belonging to this important tradition’, Evangelicalism remains a factor of international significance, and, by his research into its origins and development from the eighteenth century to the present day, Bebbington has illuminated the history of a very wide range of human activity

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