Origins in the Great Awakenings

The rise of evangelicalism in America cannot be understood apart from the series of spiritual revivals that swept the colonies and the early republic. The First Great Awakening of the 1730s and 1740s, led by figures such as Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield, established a pattern of mass conversions, emotional preaching, and lay activism that would define evangelical practice for generations. The Second Great Awakening of the early 19th century, associated with Charles Finney and the camp meeting tradition, democratized salvation and fueled the growth of Methodist and Baptist denominations across the frontier. By 1900, evangelicalism had already become the dominant religious impulse in American life, though it was about to face its most serious internal crisis.

The distinctives that historians use to define evangelicalism include a strong emphasis on personal conversion, the authority of the Bible, the centrality of Christ's atoning work, and a commitment to sharing the faith. These four markers, first articulated by historian David Bebbington, provide a useful framework for understanding how the movement evolved over the 20th century. The movement's adaptability and its insistence on active faith made it uniquely suited to navigate the social and intellectual upheavals of the modern era.

The Fundamentalist Controversy and the Retreat from Culture

The Battle for the Bible

In the early decades of the 20th century, a fierce conflict erupted within American Protestantism between theological liberals, who sought to accommodate Christianity to modern science and biblical criticism, and conservatives, who insisted on the inerrancy of Scripture. This fundamentalist-modernist controversy reached a climax with the Scopes Trial of 1925 in Dayton, Tennessee, where John Scopes was prosecuted for teaching evolution in a public school. Although the fundamentalists technically won the legal case, the national media portrayed them as backward and anti-intellectual, and the movement suffered a devastating public relations defeat.

In the aftermath, many fundamentalists withdrew from mainstream cultural engagement, creating a parallel subculture of Bible institutes, missionary organizations, and revival meetings. While this period saw a retreat from public influence, it also allowed the movement to consolidate its institutions and refine its message. The National Association of Evangelicals was founded in 1942 as a more moderate alternative to both the liberal Federal Council of Churches and the separatist fundamentalism of the day, marking a critical turning point in the movement's trajectory.

The Rise of Neo-Evangelicalism

A New Kind of Evangelical Engagement

The mid-1940s witnessed the emergence of a new generation of evangelical leaders who sought to reclaim a place at the table of American intellectual and cultural life. Figures such as Harold Ockenga, Carl F. H. Henry, and Billy Graham articulated a vision for a robust, intellectually credible evangelicalism that could engage the modern world without compromising orthodox convictions. This neo-evangelical movement shared fundamentalist theology but rejected its isolationist tendencies, arguing that Christians should be salt and light in every sphere of society.

The founding of Fuller Theological Seminary in 1947 provided an academic flagship for this new movement, while Christianity Today, launched in 1956 with Graham's support, offered a sophisticated magazine for evangelical thought and commentary. These institutions nurtured a generation of pastors, scholars, and activists who would go on to shape American religion and politics for decades to come. The NAE also reached out to African American evangelical leaders, fostering a multiracial coalition that, while imperfect, distinguished the evangelical mainstream from the white supremacist fundamentalism of the Jim Crow South.

The Billy Graham Phenomenon

No single figure did more to raise the profile of American evangelicalism in the 20th century than Billy Graham. His crusades, which began with the 1949 Los Angeles revival, attracted massive crowds and received extensive media coverage. Graham preached a simple, urgent message of personal conversion and maintained a reputation for integrity that set him apart from earlier revivalists. He advised presidents from Eisenhower to George W. Bush and became a trusted voice in American public life, embodying the movement's aspiration to be both faithful and influential.

Graham's organizational infrastructure, including the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, trained hundreds of evangelists and established a global network for crusade-based evangelism. His use of radio, television, and film demonstrated the movement's readiness to embrace new media technologies. By the 1970s, the evangelical subculture had grown into a formidable institutional complex, complete with its own publishing houses, music industry, and educational system.

Pentecostal and Charismatic Expansion

The Azusa Street Legacy

The Pentecostal movement, which emerged from the Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles in 1906, added a dramatic new dimension to American evangelicalism. Its emphasis on speaking in tongues, divine healing, and the immediate experience of the Holy Spirit appealed especially to the poor and working class. For much of the early 20th century, Pentecostals were marginalized by mainstream evangelicalism, but their growth was relentless. Denominations such as the Assemblies of God, the Church of God in Christ, and the Foursquare Gospel Church expanded rapidly through energetic evangelism and church planting.

By mid-century, Pentecostalism had become a global force, and its influence began to reshape American evangelicalism from within. The charismatic renewal of the 1960s and 1970s brought Pentecostal practices into mainline Protestant and even Catholic congregations, blurring old boundaries and creating new networks of spiritual fellowship. The rise of the Vineyard Movement and the influence of figures such as John Wimber further integrated charismatic worship styles into the evangelical mainstream, making contemporary worship music and experiential spirituality a hallmark of American evangelical identity.

Post-World War II Institutional Explosion

Parachurch Organizations and the Student Movement

The decades following World War II saw an unprecedented proliferation of parachurch organizations that operated outside traditional denominational structures to advance specific evangelical missions. Youth for Christ, founded in 1944, mobilized young people and launched Graham's early career. Campus Crusade for Christ, founded by Bill Bright in 1951, targeted college campuses with a systematic evangelistic methodology. InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, which had originated in Britain, established a strong presence on American campuses, organizing conferences and publishing scholarly resources for Christian students.

These organizations tapped into the postwar boom in higher education and the growing affluence of American society. They developed sophisticated fundraising techniques, volunteer networks, and media strategies that would become standard practice for evangelical ministries. The parachurch sector also demonstrated evangelicalism's capacity for innovation and adaptation, as new organizations constantly emerged to address changing cultural conditions and demographic shifts.

Christian Education and the Homeschooling Movement

Concerns about secularization in public schools prompted evangelicals to create alternative educational institutions. Protestant day schools multiplied rapidly after the 1960s, particularly in the South and Sun Belt, where evangelical parents sought to shield their children from what they saw as hostile secular values. The homeschooling movement gained momentum in the 1980s, driven by evangelical activists who argued that parents had a God-given responsibility to direct their children's education. Organizations such as the Home School Legal Defense Association, founded in 1983, provided legal support and advocacy, ensuring that homeschooling became a durable feature of American educational life.

Evangelical colleges and universities also experienced growth during this period, with institutions such as Wheaton College, Biola University, Liberty University, and Regent University attracting students who wanted a distinctly Christian education. These schools trained pastors, educators, and professionals who would carry evangelical convictions into every sector of American society, from law and medicine to media and the arts.

Media and the Evangelical Imagination

Radio, Television, and the Electronic Church

Evangelicals were early adopters of electronic media. Charles Fuller's "Old Fashioned Revival Hour" reached millions of listeners through radio broadcasts in the 1940s and 1950s, setting the pattern for later television ministries. The emergence of televangelists such as Oral Roberts, Pat Robertson, and Jerry Falwell brought evangelical preaching and fundraising into American living rooms on a massive scale. Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network and the Trinity Broadcasting Network, founded by Paul and Jan Crouch, built dedicated cable channels that offered evangelical programming around the clock.

The electronic church extended evangelical reach far beyond the walls of local congregations, creating a national audience for evangelical preaching, teaching, and political commentary. Critics charged that televangelism promoted a celebrity culture and a prosperity gospel, but its effectiveness in raising funds and mobilizing viewers was undeniable. The medium also allowed evangelicals to bypass mainstream media gatekeepers and speak directly to their constituents, a capacity that proved crucial for political organizing.

Contemporary Christian Music and Publishing

The growth of Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) created a thriving industry that gave evangelical youth a soundtrack for their faith. Artists such as Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, and dc Talk achieved commercial success while maintaining an explicitly Christian message. The annual Dove Awards and the establishment of Christian radio formats solidified CCM as a distinct genre with its own audience and distribution networks. Publishing houses like Zondervan and Thomas Nelson produced a steady stream of Bible translations, devotional books, and theological works that fed the evangelical reading public. The Left Behind series, a fictional treatment of end-times theology, sold tens of millions of copies and demonstrated the commercial power of evangelical narratives.

Political Realignment and the Religious Right

The Moral Majority and Its Legacy

No development transformed American politics in the late 20th century more dramatically than the mobilization of evangelical voters. The rise of the Religious Right was catalyzed by a series of cultural flashpoints: the 1962 and 1963 Supreme Court rulings that banned school prayer, the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion, and the 1975 federal regulations that threatened the tax-exempt status of Christian schools. Evangelical leaders realized that their subculture, however robust, could not protect their values without active political engagement.

Jerry Falwell founded the Moral Majority in 1979, building a coalition of evangelical Christians, conservative Catholics, and political allies that played a decisive role in the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980. The organization registered millions of new voters and established a model for faith-based political activism that persists to this day. Pat Robertson's Christian Coalition sustained and refined this model in the 1990s, distributing voter guides and training activists at the grassroots level. The Religious Right became a permanent fixture in the Republican Party coalition, shaping the party's platform on issues ranging from abortion and marriage to religious liberty and judicial appointments.

The Southern Baptist Convention Conservative Resurgence

Within denominational life, the most consequential political and theological shift occurred in the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in the United States. In a meticulously orchestrated campaign lasting from 1979 through the 1990s, conservative activists won control of the denomination's seminaries, agencies, and leadership positions, purging what they considered liberal or moderate influences. The conservative resurgence aligned the SBC firmly with evangelical orthodoxy and political conservatism, consolidating its role as a flagship institution of the Religious Right. The transformation of the SBC illustrated the ability of organized evangelical networks to effect institutional change through democratic means.

Demographic Diversification and the Changing Face of Evangelicalism

African American Evangelicalism

African American Protestants have always shared many of the theological commitments that define evangelicalism, including an emphasis on conversion, biblical authority, and active faith. However, the political and cultural loyalties of Black evangelicals have often diverged sharply from those of white evangelicals, particularly on issues of economic justice, racial equality, and government intervention. The Civil Rights Movement, led by pastors such as Martin Luther King Jr., drew deeply on evangelical themes of repentance, redemption, and prophetic witness. In the late 20th century, organizations such as the National Association of Evangelicals made concerted efforts to build bridges across racial lines, though persistent segregation in congregations and denominations remained a challenge.

Latino and Asian American Growth

Immigration patterns after 1965 transformed the ethnic composition of American evangelicalism. Latino Protestants, particularly those from Pentecostal backgrounds, grew rapidly as a share of the evangelical population. The National Latino Evangelical Coalition emerged as a voice for this community, advocating for immigration reform and economic opportunity while maintaining theological conservatism. Asian American evangelicals, including Korean, Chinese, and Filipino believers, also established thriving congregations and parachurch organizations. These communities brought distinctive worship styles, theological emphases, and social priorities that diversified the evangelical landscape and challenged the assumption that evangelicalism was a white, Southern phenomenon.

Global Connections and Missionary Expansion

American evangelicals were deeply invested in global missions throughout the 20th century. Organizations such as the Overseas Missionary Fellowship, Wycliffe Bible Translators, and Youth With a Mission sent tens of thousands of missionaries abroad, translating the Bible, planting churches, and providing humanitarian aid. The missionary movement exported American evangelical culture along with the gospel, but it also brought American evangelicals into contact with the vibrant Christian movements of the Global South. By the end of the century, the center of gravity of global Christianity had shifted decisively to Africa, Asia, and Latin America, and American evangelicals found themselves learning from the faith and resilience of believers in contexts of poverty, persecution, and rapid social change.

Legacy and Continuing Influence

By the close of the 20th century, evangelicalism had become the dominant religious force in American public life. Its institutions were vast, its political power was formidable, and its cultural influence was pervasive. The movement had successfully navigated the challenges of modernity, maintaining its theological distinctives while adapting its methods to reach new audiences. The evangelical emphasis on personal conversion and experiential faith continued to resonate in a society that valued authenticity and individual choice.

At the same time, the movement faced persistent tensions that would define its trajectory in the 21st century. The gap between white evangelical political loyalties and the priorities of evangelical communities of color presented an ongoing challenge to the movement's unity. The rise of the internet and social media created new opportunities for evangelism but also new vulnerabilities to fragmentation, disinformation, and celebrity scandals. The growing number of Americans identifying as religiously unaffiliated, or "nones," suggested that the cultural dominance of evangelicalism could no longer be taken for granted.

Yet the resilience that evangelicalism demonstrated throughout the 20th century suggests that it will continue to evolve rather than decline. The movement's emphasis on conversion means that it is perpetually renewing itself through new generations of believers, while its commitment to the Great Commission drives it to engage the changing culture with a gospel message that remains its central treasure. The story of evangelicalism in the 20th century is ultimately a story of adaptation, growth, and enduring influence, setting the stage for the challenges and opportunities of the 21st.