Previous and contemporary scholarship has called attention to the increasingly elastic and incoherent nature of evangelical identity in American discourse. The label “evangelical” has been stretched to encompass a wide array of often contradictory cultural, political, and self-identified groups, diluting its theological significance. Critiquing definitions based on culture, self-identification, and socio-historical analysis, this paper contends that a genuine evangelical identity must be rooted in a core set of biblical-theological beliefs that then shape evangelical practice and ultimately culture .
Through an engagement with recent works from Kristn Kobes Dumez, Isaac Sharp, Constatine Campbell, Katelyn Beaty, and others that critique or redefine evangelicalism, the paper highlights the dangers of prioritizing cultural or political affiliations over theological convictions, including the rise of “Christian celebrity-ism” and the contentious discourse surrounding “white evangelicalism.” In contrast to these trends, this paper proposes a return to a “vintage” evangelicalism defined by five fundamental components: a high view of Scripture, the exclusivity of Jesus for salvation, a zeal for evangelism, participation in theological education, and the necessity of consistent local church fellowship. By emphasizing both belief and behavior, the significance of the paper will be to provide a clearer and more biblically and theologically sound framework for understanding and embodying evangelical identity.