Greg Fromholz is a musician, author, speaker, filmmaker, and director in Ireland. He created this video for our ongoing series asking leading thinkers, clergy, activists, artists and others (who self-define as "evangelicals") to answer the question, "What is an Evangelical?"
"What is an Evangelical?
What is it? What has it become and what should it be?
When I think of the question ... my brain, it splits in two. One side hears the word and immediately thinks of a bland, beige, flaccid idea -- something that inspires apathy. The other part of me thinks of brands and what they are now synonymous with. You know, like Kleenex equals tissues, and Hoovers equal vacuums.
Evangelical? Well, judgmentalism. Control. Even hatred. And that really bugs me because these are only symptoms of a word no longer living up to its meaning.
What do you think?
There's one thing for sure: 'Evangelical' has become a misrepresented, overly-defined, politicized, theologically kidnapped term. It seems to barely recognize its own creator.
What ever happened to true evangelicalism?
Whatever happened to that hope of freedom restored?
-- Greg Fromholz in "Evangelical in a Box"
Greg Fromholz is director of the Church of Ireland's 3Rock Youth program and author of the multimedia, digital-only book of "theo-poetics," Liberate Eden, which was released earlier this year. A native of Michigan, Greg has lived in Ireland for the last 21 years. Follow Greg on Twitter @GregFromholz.
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