FROM MONOLOGUE TO DIALOGUE

Abstract

Contrary to the effects of broadcast media, a medium through which American evangelicals were largely unified along conservative theological and political lines, this article explores how the Internet is empowering divergent religious movements within the evangelical community. As a result of this development, the previously unfettered authority of the Christian Right is being usurped and the religious monologue it once enjoyed is gone. Instead, today's evangelical media landscape is more diversified, more decentralized, and ultimately more politically moderate than it once was. Understanding this phenomenon is of central importance to this article.

Keywords:

• politics
• social media
• social movements
• identity

Notes

The term ‘Grand Old Party’ is used interchangeably for the Republican Party in the United States. Though founded in 1856 as an anti-slavery political party, it was not until the election of 1888 that the GOP nickname became associated with Republicans. Prior to the 1888 election, which consequently was the first time since the Grant Administration that Republicans controlled both the White House and Congress, the term ‘Grand Old Party’ had been used to describe Southern Democrats. Following the Republican electoral triumph of 1888, however, the Chicago Tribune glowing proclaimed, ‘Let us be thankful that under the rule of the Grand Old Party … these United States will resume the onward and upward march which the election of Grover Cleveland in 1884 partially arrested’. For further historical information on the Republican Party, see Gould (2003).

According to Peter Illyn in a personal interview on Restoring Eden and the creation care movement, 27 May 2009.

Illyn interview.

Ibid.

Illyn interview.

Ibid.

Ibid.

Ibid.

Ibid.

Although A Rocha, Floresta and Earth Ministry were founded before the EEN, A Rocha and Earth Ministry are rooted in the Anglican Church (with A Rocha having originally formed in Portugal), while Floresta is multi-denominational. Similarly, while Solid Rock Outdoor Ministry predates the EEN, it primarily serves as a vacation retreat for outdoor evangelical enthusiasts (though environmental ethics are taught alongside several outdoor activities). The EEN is the first major creation care group founded explicitly by American evangelicals.

Known officially as the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, Foursquare Christianity belongs to the Pentecostal tradition and was founded by Aimee Semple McPherson in Oakland, California in 1923 and formally organized in Los Angeles in 1927. According to the official website of the church <www.foursquare.org/about>. The term ‘Foursquare’ is a Biblical reference ‘used of the tabernacle in the Book of Exodus, of the Temple of the Lord in Ezekiel 40:47, and of Heaven, as described in the book of the Revelation’.

Personal interview with A. J. Swodoba on Restoring Eden and the creation care movement, 15 May 2009.

Personal Interview with Callad Keefe-Perry on Emergent Village, 27 July 2009.

Personal Interview with Phyllis Tickle on Emergent Village, 21 August 2009.

Shane Hipps is a widely read and influential evangelical minister based in the United States whose original academic and professional training lay in the field of marketing and communications. Personal Interview with Shane Hipps on the effects of media on the evangelical church, 17 September 2009.

Ibid.

Ibid.

Pierce and Lovrich, Jr., ‘Internet Technology’.