Is There Such a Thing as an Evangelical Approach to Theology?

Is there such a thing as evangelical theology (emphasis on the modifier, “evangelical”)? Whether a theology can be evangelical is a disputed idea. Much of the confusion has to do with imprecise definitions of both “evangelical” and “theology.” I hope to advance not only that evangelical theology is a distinct discipline, but that it has unique opportunity to thrive in our postmodern age.

What is theology?

Theology can varyingly be described as the study of God, “faith seeking understanding,” the science of Christian belief, the drama of Christian doctrine, the art of thinking Christianly, and many other things. For a simple and working definition, we could say that theology concerns the study of God as revealed in Holy Scripture and as expounded in the Christian tradition.

There are, of course, different types of theology or various subdisciplines in the big tent of theology. Whereas biblical theology attempts to explain themes across the canon or else to describe theological themes in a given biblical book, systematic theology is different in that it concerns itself with describing the major doctrines of the Christian faith, exploring the interrelationship between those doctrines and noting their biblical coherence and practical implications, as well as a type of unity to the entire universe of Christian teaching. Also, practical theology concerns the attempt to apply and implement the insights derived from theological study in such a way as to see them impact and shape prayer, worship, ethics, spirituality, piety, and the tasks of ministry.

But what about an evangelical theology? Is there such a thing? Do we need such a thing?

What is evangelical?

Before we reach a definition of evangelical theology we first have to parse the word “evangelical” and “evangelicalism” in order to provide clarity on the particular species of theology that goes under the moniker “evangelical.” When it comes to the “evangelical” in evangelical theology, we enter into a contested space. The immediate problem is that the very word “evangelical” is notoriously difficult to explain and define.

First, there is the issue of origin. “Evangelical” could be defined historically as the common cause of Protestants of either Puritan or pietist (Wesleyan) persuasion who could find theological affinity, common religious affections, and shared purposes together in mission and social causes. Alternatively, evangelical could refer to a type of post-fundamentalism that emerged in the US context in the 1950s in the aftermath of the fundamentalist vs. liberal controversy of the early twentieth century, albeit with close analogues in the British context. Or else it could simply describe a social phenomenon for a type of renewal movement within Anglo-American Protestantism. Then again, some would define evangelical as more a socio-religious demographic that translates into a type of voting bloc in the US.

Part of the dilemma is that evangelicalism, as a self-identifying label, is difficult to define because evangelical groups are now so incredibly diverse and fragmented. The problem is more acute in America, where evangelical has ethnic (white) and political (Republican) connotations that it doesn’t have outside of North America. The irony is that evangelical is an adjective which now has or needs its own adjective:

• conservative evangelical
• progressive evangelical
• white evangelical
• liturgical evangelical
• charismatic evangelical

It goes on. Thus, the word risks being so broad as to be meaningless.

Some have abandoned the label because of its nebulous breadth or political connotations and prefer to describe themselves instead as “missional Christians” or “reformational Catholics” or “mere Protestants” to avoid any confusion or consternation. I am sympathetic to that self-definitional change because evangelical means different things to different people, and the hassle of not being misunderstood is often not worth the fuss.

To be honest though, at the end of the day, I am thoroughly wedded and welded onto evangelical because I think it is a good word. Critics and doubters may relinquish it if they like. For my part, people will have to pry the word from my cold dead hands.

I say that because the evangel (“gospel”) is the good news that Jesus is Israel’s Messiah and the Lord of all who died for our sins on the cross, was raised for our justification, and he summons everyone to reconciliation with God through him, calling people to repentance and faith, to accept the offer of the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. That message, the evangel, is indeed a joyous proclamation that warms my heart, unburdens my soul, illuminates my mind, and energizes my purposes in life.

Accordingly, I align myself with the great crowd of witnesses behind me (in history), around me (in the global church), and ahead of me (in the future) who have a passion for promoting the gospel and find delight in knowing the God of the gospel and the benefits which are graciously granted us in Christ Jesus through the gift of the Holy Spirit. That is my evangelicalism. Too narrow for some, perhaps. Too broad for others.

What is evangelical theology?

What then does it mean to do theology—systematic theology—in an evangelical fashion?

I describe evangelical theology as a type of theology that prizes the evangel, the “good news.” Evangelical theology is a type of theology that regards the gospel as the center, boundary, and integrating point for Christian faith. It is a form of theology that begins with delight in the gospel, that guards the gospel, and sees its end point both living a life worthy of the gospel and engaging in the active promotion of the gospel. I find myself in agreement with the late Stanley Grenz:

To be “evangelical” means to be centered on the gospel. Consequently, evangelicals are a gospel people. They are a people committed to hearing, living out, and sharing the good news of God’s saving action in Jesus Christ and the divine gift of the Holy Spirit, a saving action that brings forgiveness, transforms life, and creates a new community. As a gospel people, evangelicals continually set forth the truth that the center of the church is the gospel and that the church, therefore, must be gospel centered.¹

When I was searching for a textbook to use for theology courses, what I found were many evangelical theologians who had written systematic theology textbooks, often suffused with broadly evangelical convictions, but I never found a textbook that I believed erupted with a sense of profound delight in the gospel. As my frustration grew, I had to think more closely about what I was looking for, precisely.

On reflection, what I needed for my classes was a textbook that made the gospel the center, boundary, and integrating point for theology. A student-friendly book that mapped the structure, contents, and implications of Christian doctrine by using the gospel as the scaffolding and interpretive lens. So in the end, I decided to write such a book myself!

In 2013, Zondervan published my Evangelical Theology, which did well in seminaries and colleges—so much so that I published an updated edition in 2020. The updated edition was necessary: Feedback had instructed me to slim down some sections and to beef up others. Also, I realized that I needed footnotes that were not so white, male, and Calvinist, but represented a broader stream of dialogue partners in global Christianity and in theological fields beyond my own.²

As the book is now over twenty years old, I stand by my central contention: An authentically evangelical theology must be rooted in the gospel in terms of its structure and internal logic, as well as aspire to elicit an authentically evangelical mode of praise that advances the gospel to all the world.

An authentically evangelical theology must be rooted in the gospel in terms of its structure and internal logic, as well as aspire to elicit an authentically evangelical mode of praise that advances the gospel to all the world.

The case for theology centered on the evangel (gospel)

Some have expressed alarm that pursuing a “gospel-centered” or “gospel-driven” theology is a very faddish way of doing theology which will be hardly different in the end to the usual ways that Protestant theologies are written. But I beg to differ.

As we go deeper into the twenty-first century, what we need as a matter of missional urgency is an authentically evangelical theology, one rooted in the gospel and its implicatures, to help us re-evangelize the West, connect with the churches of the global south, resourced in Scripture, and heeds the wisdom and depth of the Christian tradition. This is something necessary, given the fragmented and shallow nature of many evangelical churches today.

My rationale for this venture is manifold.

1. A gospel-centered theology is Pauline

If the gospel is, as Paul says, “of first importance” (1 Cor 15:3), then it deserves first place in the theological system.

Paul seems to have pioneered such an approach himself. While Paul’s letter to the Romans is most definitely not a systematic theology, it is his most comprehensive letter, and it begins with a statement of the gospel in Romans 1:3–4. I surmise that Paul set up a template for us to follow in doing theology, a theology that originates with the gospel itself.³

2. A gospel-centered theology is traditional

Looking at church history, in the second century, Irenaeus, the bishop of Lyons, recognized the priority of the gospel when he declared the gospel “handed down to us in the scriptures, to be the ground and pillar of our faith.”⁴

Moving ahead into the Reformation, John Calvin declared similarly that

The Spirit, promised to us, has not the task of inventing new and unheard-of-revelations, or of forging a new kind of doctrine, to lead us away from the received doctrine of the gospel, but of sealing our minds with the very doctrine which is commended by the gospel.⁵

In the words of the English Puritan John Owen, “All true theology is, in a sense, gospel theology, for, in whatever stage it existed, its object and prime mover was God the Son.”⁶

3. A gospel-centered theology is integral

Any system of theology needs to build up from this gospel foundation. A good exemplar of this approach is the Anglican Church of North America, which wrote its own catechism spearheaded by J. I. Packer. The very first section of the catechism expounds the gospel, and the very second question is:

Q: What is the gospel?

A: The gospel is the good news that God loves the world and offers salvation from sin through his Son, Jesus Christ. (Ps 103:1–12; Isa 54:4–5; John 3:16–17; 1 Cor 15:1–4).⁷

But the gospel is more than a beginning, it should be a recurring motif, an integrating theme in systematic theology. The gospel permeates all doctrines, it defines the church’s mission, tell us who God is towards us in Jesus Christ. The gospel is the most significant story in the life of the church, so theology should accordingly be a theology of that story, the gospel.⁸ As John Webster wrote, “An evangelical theology is one which is evoked, governed and judged by the gospel.”⁹

I submit that a gospel-driven theology should be a working out of the gospel in the various loci of Christian theology (i.e., the specific topics in theology like the nature of God, the person and work of Christ, the church, last things, etc.) and then be applied to the sphere of daily Christian life and the offices of Christian leaders. I would go so far as to say that the gospel is the glue between belief, experience, mission, and practice.

Consider the following:

• Theology proper aspires to describe the God revealed in “the gospel of God” (Mark 1:14; Rom 1:1; 15:16; 2 Cor 11:7; 1 Thess 2:8–9).
• Christology is expounding the manifold dimensions of the life and work of Jesus as narrated in the four Gospels and taught in the one apostolic gospel of Jesus Christ (e.g., Rom 1:3, 9; 15:19; 1 Cor 9:12; 2 Cor 2:12; 9:13; 10:14; Gal 1:7; Phil 1:27; 1 Thess 3:2).
• Pneumatology focuses on the gift of the Holy Spirit and experience of new birth as the promise of the gospel (Acts 2:38; Rom 5:5).
• Soteriology aims to unpack the polyphonic richness of the “gospel of salvation” (Rom 1:16; Eph 1:13).
• Apologetics is the “defense of the gospel” (Phil 1:16).
• Ecclesiology is about our “fellowship in the gospel” (Phil 1:6) and striving for the “faith of the gospel” (Phil 1:17).
• Christian ethics means exercising obedience that accompanies “confession of the gospel” (2 Cor 9:13).
• Applied theology is about living a life “worthy of the gospel” (Phil 1:27).
• Pastoral theology shows the implications for ministry. Derek Tidball correctly says,

Pastoral work is simply bringing to full flower the bud of the gospel. … The gospel determines everything about the pastor—his motives, authority, methods, and character are all governed by the good news of Jesus Christ.¹⁰

All of this buttresses my claim that the gospel comprises the beginning, center, boundary, and unifying theme for all theology.

A theology that strives to be evangelical should be one that lunges, leaps, works, worships, prays, and preaches from the gospel itself. Such a theology commences with the gospel because the gospel establishes the hermeneutical horizons for its discourse about God and constitutes the chief purpose for the church’s existence.

4. Gospel-centered theology puts forth the gospel

Beginning with the gospel, making it central, also yields a theology that allows God’s promises given in the gospel to bear fruit in the church.¹¹ As John Webster stated: “Dogmatics is the schematic and analytic presentation of the matter of the gospel,”¹² and to tease that out more fully, he wrote:

The best evangelical theological work emerges from the delight in the Christian gospel, for the gospel announces a reality which is in itself luminous, persuasive, and infinitely satisfying. That reality is Jesus Christ as he gives himself to be an object for creaturely knowledge, love, and praise. To think evangelically about this one is to think in his presence, under the instruction of his Word and Spirit, and in the fellowship of the saints. And it is to do so with cheerful confidence that his own witness to himself is unimaginably more potent than any theological attempts to run to his defense.¹³

Very similar is former Archbishop of Sydney, Peter Jensen, who wisely commented:

Responsible theologians ought to order their teaching by the gospel, and also to ensure that whatever else their theologies may contain, the reader can see what the essence of the gospel is. The failure to make the subject of the gospel explicit in some theologies means that the reader may not know in the end what the heart of the Christian message is. It is by an exposition of the gospel that the theologian earns the right to proceed, since the gospel is the most significant revelation of all.¹⁴

5. Gospel-centered theology is catholic

A final aspect for us to consider is how a gospel-driven theology connects with the global church.

The Fourth Lausanne Congress was held in September 2024 in South Korea, bringing together over five thousand Christian leaders from over two hundred nations to organize and strategize about global evangelism and mission work.

Such a conference is a good reminder about the global context of our faith. Yes, we must of course think about our local church, our neighbors, our nearby colleges and seminaries, and our adjacent parachurch organizations. However, when it comes to theology, method, and practice, we must also think about the global context of our theology and mission.

In the digital age, at a time when various diasporas are spreading across the world, the world is getting more connected. This gives us the opportunity, the advantage, of being able to listen to and learn from people who are different from us. While there is one gospel for Africa, Australia, and America, there are different issues that each place must confront, different contexts for doing and applying theology, and different traditions—each with its own richness and vibrancy.

Our task is to look beyond our own horizon, to dialogue with theologians of different denominations and different nationalities. We do this not as part of a diversity exercise, but as a way of ensuring our gospel meets with “catholicity,” the consensus of the global communion of churches as to what it means to believe in God, to belong to the church, and to pursue faith seeking understanding.

If all of your theological influences look like you, live in the same place where you live, and belong to the same tradition, then your theological framework is unfortunately becoming a mirror of yourself. Don’t get me wrong, I love redheaded Anglo Anglican Calvinists with a sophisticated European charm and a full bag of Aussie witticisms as much as the next person. But even I don’t want to be the only person I’m talking to about theology—and neither should you! On the contrary, I want to think evangelically with friends from Latin America, east Africa, Scandinavia, the bustling metropolises of Asia, and even rural Alabama. It takes a global family of faith to do theology well, to call out our blind spots, to bless us with riches we did not know existed, and to do it all for the advance of a gospel-driven theology.

If the gospel is good news for the whole world, then it takes disciples of Jesus Christ from the whole world to work together to explore what it means to say that “in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself” (2 Cor 5:19) and figure out, in our diverse and manifold experiences of that same “gospel of God’s grace” (Acts 20:24), how to know God, to make him known, and to be holy and humble as we together build for the kingdom of God.

Recommended by the author

• Campbell, Ted A. The Gospel in Christian Traditions. Oxford University Press, 2009.
• Taylor, Iain, ed. Not Evangelical Enough: The Gospel at the Centre. Paternoster, 2003.
• Treat, Jeremy R. “Gospel and Doctrine in the Life of the Church.” SBET 32 (2014): 180–94.
• Vanhoozer, Kevin J. First Theology: God, Scripture, and Hermeneutics. InterVarsity Press, 2002.

Evangelical Theology: A Biblical and Systematic Introduction, 2nd ed.

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The Gospel as Center: Renewing Our Faith and Reforming Our Ministry Practices

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The Gospel: How the Church Portrays the Beauty of Christ (9Marks Building Healthy Churches Series)

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1. Stanley J. Grenz, Renewing the Center: Evangelical Theology in a Post-Theological Era (Baker, 2006), 337.
2. Michael F. Bird, Evangelical Theology: A Biblical and Systematic Introduction, 2nd ed. (Zondervan, 2020).
3. James D. G. Dunn, The Theology of Paul the Apostle (T&T Clark, 1998), 25–26; Sheila E. McGinn, ed., Celebrating Romans: Template for Pauline Theology (Eerdmans, 2004).
4. Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies, ed. Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe, trans. Alexander Roberts and William Rambaut, Ante-Nicene Fathers 1 (Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1885), 3.1.1; cf. 1.10.1.
5. John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, trans. Ford Lewis Battles, 2 vols., The Library of Christian Classics (Westminster John Knox Press, 2011), 1.9.1.
6. John Owen, Biblical Theology: The History of Theology from Adam to Christ (Soli Deo Gloria, 1994), 593.
7. J. I. Packer, et al, To Be a Christian: An Anglican Catechism (Crossway, 2020), 23.
8. Kevin J. Vanhoozer, “The Voice and the Actor: A Dramatic Proposal About the Ministry and Minstrelsy of Theology,” in Evangelical Futures: A Conversation on Theological Method, ed. John G. Stackhouse (Regent College Publishing, 2000), 61.
9. John Webster, Word and Church (T&T Clark, 2001), 191.
10. Derek Tidball, Skillful Shepherds: Explorations in Pastoral Theology (Apollos, 1997), 100, 120.
11. Jeremy R. Treat, “Gospel and Doctrine in the Life of the Church,” SBET 32 (2014): 180.
12. John Webster, The Domain of the Word: Scripture and Theological Reason (T&T Clark, 2012), 130.
13. John Webster, “Jesus Christ,” in The Cambridge Companion to Evangelical Theology, ed. Timothy Larsen and Daniel Treier (Cambridge University Press, 2007), 60.
14. Peter Jensen, The Revelation of God, Contours of Christian Theology (InterVarsity Press, 2002), 33.