Proselytism
Proselytism /ˈprɒsəlᵻˌtɪzəm/ is the act of attempting to convert people to another religion or opinion. The word proselytize is derived from the Greek language prefix προσ-, historically in the Koine Greek Septuagint and New Testament, the word proselyte denoted a gentile who was considering conversion to Judaism. Proselytism is illegal in some countries, in the writings of the Baháí Faith, the endeavour to attract people to the religion is strongly emphasized. The process of attracting people to the religion is referred to as teaching, the term proselytism is given the connotation of aggressively teaching the religion to others, and is prohibited. Every Baháí has the obligation of teaching their religion, as it is seen as the path toward bringing peace and justice to the world. Some Baháís move to countries or cities where there are a small number of Baháís to help spread the religion. Some other Baháís move from place to place in a process called travel teaching, when moving or travelling to other countries Baháís are encouraged to integrate into their new society and apply Baháís principles in living and working with their neighbours.
In total, only a minority of Baháís are directly teaching their religion to others. Despite this, religion has grown at least twice as fast as the population of almost every UN region over the last century, at the same time he stated that Baháís should exercise moderation and wisdom and not be too aggressive in their teaching. In sharing their faith with others, Baháís are cautioned to make sure the person they are proposing to teach is open to hearing what they have to say, in most countries becoming a Baháí is a simple matter of filling out a card stating a declaration of belief. This includes acknowledgement of Baháullah as the messenger of God for this age and acceptance of his teachings and it does not involve negating ones previous beliefs, due to the Baháí belief in progressive revelation. The Acts of the Apostles and other sources contain several accounts of early Christians following this directive by engaging in individual conversations, evangelical Christians often use the term witnessing to mean discussing ones faith with another person with the intent of proselytism.
Most self-described Christian groups have organizations devoted to work which in whole or in part includes proselytism of the non-religious. However the boundary varies from group to group, the Catholic Church claims that it is supporting the existing Catholic community within Russia and is not proselytizing. In 1993 the Balamand declaration on proselytism was released between the Roman Catholic Church and Orthodox Churches, even today Buddhism is a growing religion in the West. The role of the bhantes and bhikkus monks for the spread of the message of Buddha, some adherents of Nichiren Buddhism actively proselytise referred to as Shakubuku. Hinduism, known as Sanatana Dharma, is one of the worlds oldest continuously practiced religions, there is a trend in certain areas of India to stop any apostasy from Hindu faith through social ostracism by fundamentalist Hindu political groups, and the reconverts are usually accepted back. Similarly in recent times any converts from Hinduism to Islam have converted basically to avail polygamy which, conversion just for the purpose of polygamy is not permissible by Indian law
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to proselytize and/or perform ministries of service, such as education, social justice, health care, and economic development. The word mission originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin missionem, meaning act of sending or mittere, meaning to send. The word was used in light of its usage, in the Latin translation of the Bible. The term is most commonly used for Christian missions, but can be used for any creed or ideology, a Christian missionary can be defined as one who is to witness across cultures. The Lausanne Congress of 1974, defined the term, related to Christian mission as, Missionaries can be found in many countries around the world. Jesus instructed the apostles to make disciples of all nations and this verse is referred to by Christian missionaries as the Great Commission and inspires missionary work. The New Testament-era missionary outreach of the Christian church from the time of St Paul expanded throughout the Roman Empire and beyond to Persia, in 596, Pope Gregory the Great sent the Gregorian Mission into England.
In their turn, Christians from Ireland and from Britain became prominent in converting the inhabitants of central Europe, about the same time, missionaries such as Francis Xavier as well as other Jesuits, Augustinians and Dominicans started moving into Asia and the Far East. The Portuguese sent missions into Africa and these are some of the most well-known missions in history. While some missions accompanied imperialism and oppression, others were relatively peaceful, contemporary Christian missionaries argue that working for justice forms a constitutive part of preaching the Gospel, and observe the principles of inculturation in their missionary work. Over time, the Vatican gradually established a church structure in the mission areas, often starting with special jurisdictions known as apostolic prefectures. The two 9th-century saints Cyril and Methodius had extensive success in central Europe. The Byzantines expanded their work in Ukraine after a mass baptism in Kiev in 988. The Serbian Orthodox Church had its origins in the conversion by Byzantine missionaries of the Serb tribes when they arrived in the Balkans in the 7th century, Orthodox missionaries worked successfully among the Estonians from the 10th to the 12th centuries, founding the Estonian Orthodox Church.
The Russian St. Nicholas of Japan took Eastern Orthodoxy to Japan in the 19th century, the Russian Orthodox Church sent missionaries to Alaska beginning in the 18th century, including Saint Herman of Alaska, to minister to the Native Americans. Quaker publishers of truth visited Boston and other mid-17th century colonies, the Danish government began the first organized Protestant mission work through its College of Missions, established in 1714. This funded and directed Lutheran missionaries such as Bartholomaeus Ziegenbalg in Tranquebar, India and he got to know a slave from the Danish colony in the West Indies. Within thirty years, Moravian missionaries had become active on every continent, and they are famous for their selfless work, living as slaves among the slaves and together with the Native Americans, the Delaware and Cherokee Indian tribes
Jesus
In Christology, the Person of Christ refers to the study of the human and divine natures of Jesus Christ as they co-exist within one person. There is no discussion in the New Testament regarding the dual nature of the Person of Christ as both divine and human. Hence, since the days of Christianity theologians have debated various approaches to the understanding of these natures. In the period following the Apostolic Age, specific beliefs such as Arianism and Docetism were criticized. On the other end of the spectrum, Docetism argued that Jesus physical body was an illusion, docetic teachings were attacked by St. Ignatius of Antioch and were eventually abandoned by proto-orthodox Christians. However, after the First Council of Nicaea in 325 the Logos, historically in the Alexandrian school of christology, Jesus Christ is the eternal Logos paradoxically humanized in history, a divine Person who became enfleshed, uniting himself to the human nature. The views of these schools can be summarized as follows, Antioch, Logos assumes a specific human being The First Council of Ephesus in 431 debated a number of views regarding the Person of Christ.
At the same gathering the council debated the doctrines of monophysitism or miaphysitism. The council rejected Nestorianism and adopted the term hypostatic union, referring to divine, the language used in the 431 declaration was further refined at the 451 Council of Chalcedon. However, the Chalcedon creed was not accepted by all Christians, because Saint Augustine died in 430 he did not participate in the Council of Ephesus in 431 or Chalcedon in 451, but his ideas had some impact on both councils. On the other hand, the major theological figure of the Middle Ages. The Third Council of Constantinople in 680 held that both divine and human wills exist in Jesus, with the divine will having precedence and guiding the human will. John Calvin maintained that there was no element in the Person of Christ which could be separated from the person of The Word. Calvin emphasized the importance of the Work of Christ in any attempt at understanding the Person of Christ, the study of the Person of Christ continued into the 20th century, with modern theologians such as Karl Rahner and Hans von Balthasar.
Balthasar argued that the union of the human and divine natures of Christ was achieved not by the absorption of human attributes, thus in his view the divine nature of Christ was not affected by the human attributes and remained forever divine
Pastor
A pastor is usually an ordained leader of a Christian congregation. When used as an ecclesiastical styling or title, the term may be abbreviated to Pr or Ps, a pastor gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. The word pastor derives from the Latin noun pastor which means shepherd and relates to the Latin verb pascere - to lead to pasture, set to grazing, cause to eat. The term pastor relates to the role of elder within the New Testament, many Protestant churches call their ministers pastors. Present-day usage of the word is rooted in the Biblical image of shepherding, the Hebrew Bible uses the Hebrew word רעה. English-language translations of the New Testament usually render the Greek noun ποιμήν as shepherd, the two words occur a total of 29 times in the New Testament, most frequently referring to Jesus. For example, Jesus called himself the Good Shepherd in John 10,11, the same words in the familiar Christmas story refer to literal shepherds. 1 Corinthians 9,7 - Paul says, of himself and the apostles, in the United States, the term pastor is used by Catholics for what in other English-speaking countries is called a parish priest.
The Latin term used in the Code of Canon Law is parochus, the parish priest is the proper clergyman in charge of the congregation of the parish entrusted to him. Many Protestants use the term pastor as a title or as a job title, United Methodists, for example, ordain to the office of deacon and elder, each of whom can use the title of pastor depending upon their job description. These pastors may be lay people, seminary students, or seminary graduates in the ordination process, and cannot exercise any functions of clergy outside the charge where they are appointed. The use of the pastor can be regional in some denominations, including some parts of the Methodist, Seventh-day Adventist, American Churches of Christ. The use of the pastor to refer to the common Protestant title of modern times dates to the days of John Calvin. Both men, and other Reformers, seem to have revived the term to replace the Catholic priest in the minds of their followers, the pastor was considered to have a role separate from the board of presbyters.
In some Lutheran churches, ordained clergy are called priests, while in others the term pastor is preferred, ordained clergy are called priests in the Episcopal Church, as in all other branches of the Anglican Communion. Bercot, David W. Will The Real Heretics Please Stand Up, newAdvent. org, The Catholic Encyclopedias entry on the term pastor. LifeWay. com, Articles to help the pastor in the roles of preacher, leader and person
Theology
Theology is the critical study of the nature of the divine. It is taught as a discipline, typically in universities, seminaries. Augustine of Hippo defined the Latin equivalent, theologia, as reasoning or discussion concerning the Deity, the term can, however, be used for a variety of different disciplines or fields of study. Theologians use various forms of analysis and argument to help understand, test, the English equivalent theology had evolved by 1362. Greek theologia was used with the discourse on god in the fourth century BC by Plato in The Republic, Book ii. Drawing on Greek Stoic sources, the Latin writer Varro distinguished three forms of discourse, mythical and civil. Theologos, closely related to theologia, appears once in some manuscripts, in the heading to the book of Revelation, apokalypsis ioannoy toy theologoy. The Latin author Boethius, writing in the early 6th century, used theologia to denote a subdivision of philosophy as a subject of study, dealing with the motionless. Boethius definition influenced medieval Latin usage, Theology can now be used in a derived sense to mean a system of theoretical principles, an ideology.
They suggest the term is appropriate in religious contexts that are organized differently. Kalam. does not hold the place in Muslim thought that theology does in Christianity. To find an equivalent for theology in the Christian sense it is necessary to have recourse to several disciplines, and to the usul al-fiqh as much as to kalam. Jose Ignacio Cabezon, who argues that the use of theology is appropriate, can only do so, he says, I take theology not to be restricted to its etymological meaning. In that latter sense, Buddhism is of course atheological, rejecting as it does the notion of God, within Hindu philosophy, there is a solid and ancient tradition of philosophical speculation on the nature of the universe, of God and of the Atman. The Sanskrit word for the schools of Hindu philosophy is Darshana. Nevertheless, Jewish theology historically has been active and highly significant for Christian. It is sometimes claimed, that the Jewish analogue of Christian theological discussion would more properly be Rabbinical discussion of Jewish law, the history of the study of theology in institutions of higher education is as old as the history of such institutions themselves.
Modern Western universities evolved from the institutions and cathedral schools of Western Europe during the High Middle Ages
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major part of the Christian biblical canon, the first part being the Old Testament, based on the Hebrew Bible. The New Testament discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christianity, Christians regard both the Old and New Testaments together as sacred scripture. The New Testament has frequently accompanied the spread of Christianity around the world and it reflects and serves as a source for Christian theology and morality. Both extended readings and phrases directly from the New Testament are incorporated into the various Christian liturgies, the New Testament has influenced religious and political movements in Christendom and left an indelible mark on literature and music. In almost all Christian traditions today, the New Testament consists of 27 books, John A. T. Robinson, Dan Wallace, and William F. Albright dated all the books of the New Testament before 70 AD. Others give a date of 80 AD, or at 96 AD. Over time, some disputed books, such as the Book of Revelation, other works earlier held to be Scripture, such as 1 Clement, the Shepherd of Hermas, and the Diatessaron, were excluded from the New Testament.
However, the canon of the New Testament, at least since Late Antiquity, has been almost universally recognized within Christianity. The term new testament, or new covenant first occurs in Jeremiah 31,31, the same Greek phrase for new covenant is found elsewhere in the New Testament. Modern English, like Latin, distinguishes testament and covenant as alternative translations, John Wycliffes 1395 version is a translation of the Latin Vulgate and so follows different terms in Jeremiah and Hebrews, Lo. Days shall come, saith the Lord, and I shall make a new covenant with the house of Israel, for he reproving him saith, Lo. Days come, saith the Lord, when I shall establish a new testament on the house of Israel, use of the term New Testament to describe a collection of first and second-century Christian Greek Scriptures can be traced back to Tertullian. In Against Marcion, written circa 208 AD, he writes of the Divine Word, by the 4th century, the existence—even if not the exact contents—of both an Old and New Testament had been established.
Lactantius, a 3rd–4th century Christian author wrote in his early-4th-century Latin Institutiones Divinae and that which preceded the advent and passion of Christ—that is, the law and the prophets—is called the Old, but those things which were written after His resurrection are named the New Testament. The canon of the New Testament is the collection of books that most Christians regard as divinely inspired, several of these writings sought to extend and apply apostolic teaching to meet the needs of Christians in a given locality. The book order is the same in the Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, the Slavonic and Ethiopian traditions have different New Testament book orders. Each of the four gospels in the New Testament narrates the life, the word gospel derives from the Old English gōd-spell, meaning good news or glad tidings. The gospel was considered the good news of the coming Kingdom of Messiah, and the redemption through the life and death of Jesus, Gospel is a calque of the Greek word εὐαγγέλιον, euangelion
Mark the Evangelist
Mark the Evangelist is the traditionally ascribed author of the Gospel of Mark. Mark is said to have founded the Church of Alexandria, one of the most important episcopal sees of Early Christianity and his feast day is celebrated on April 25, and his symbol is the winged lion. According to William Lane, an unbroken tradition identifies Mark the Evangelist with John Mark, Hippolytus of Rome in On the Seventy Apostles distinguishes Mark the Evangelist, John Mark, and Mark the cousin of Barnabas. According to Hippolytus, they all belonged to the Seventy Disciples who were sent out by Jesus to saturate Judea with the gospel. According to Eusebius of Caesarea, Herod Agrippa I, in his first year of reign over the whole of Judea, killed James, son of Zebedee and arrested Peter, Peter was saved miraculously by angels, and escaped out of the realm of Herod. Peter went to Antioch, through Asia Minor, and arrived in Rome in the year of Emperor Claudius. Somewhere on the way, Peter encountered Mark and took him as travel companion, Mark the Evangelist wrote down the sermons of Peter, thus composing the Gospel according to Mark, before he left for Alexandria in the third year of Claudius.
Aspects of the Coptic liturgy can be traced back to Mark himself and he became the first bishop of Alexandria and he is honored as the founder of Christianity in Africa. According to Eusebius, Mark was succeeded by Annianus as the bishop of Alexandria in the year of Nero, probably. Later Coptic tradition says that he was martyred in 68, most modern scholars argue the Gospel of Mark was written by an anonymous author, rather than direct witnesses to the reported events. Evidence for Mark the Evangelists authorship of the Gospel that bears his name originates with Papias, scholars of the Trinity Evangelical Divinity School are almost certain that Papias refers to John Mark. The Coptic Church accords with identifying Mark the Evangelist with John Mark, as well as that he was one of the Seventy Disciples sent out by Christ, as Hippolytus confirmed. Furthermore, Mark is believed to have been among the servants at the Marriage at Cana who poured out the water that Jesus turned to wine, according to the Coptic tradition, Saint Mark was born in Cyrene, a city in the Pentapolis of North Africa.
This tradition adds that Mark returned to Pentapolis in life, after being sent by Paul to Colossae, when Mark returned to Alexandria, the pagans of the city resented his efforts to turn the Alexandrians away from the worship of their traditional gods. In AD68, they placed a rope around his neck, where Saint John Mark is distinguished from Saint Mark, the composer of the earliest Gospel that we have, Saint John Mark is celebrated on September 27 and the writer of the Gospel on April 25. In addition to Saint John Marks in Jerusalem, the Parish Church of Chester Hill with Sefton in the Diocese of Sydney is Saint John Marks and it celebrated its patronal festival on September 27. An icon of Saint John Mark on Cyprus, painted by a Russian Orthodox monk at Walsingham, was formerly in that church and is now in Christ Church Saint Laurence in Sydney. In 828, relics believed to be the body of Saint Mark were stolen from Alexandria by two Venetian merchants with the help of two Greek monks and taken to Venice, a mosaic in St Marks Basilica depicts sailors covering the relics with a layer of pork and cabbage leaves
Power Team
The Power Team is a group of Christian Evangelists, based in Dallas, who incorporate their preaching with displays of strength and martial arts skills. They were founded in the late 1970s by John Jacobs and their performances, usually taped at large megachurches, were broadcast on TBN and other Christian television stations in the United States in the late 1980s. The Power Team often conducts performances in such as schools. As performances in schools could not discuss religion, these performances instead promote social responsibility and abstention from drugs. The groups promotional material indicated that it presented a message that strengthens, Power Team leader John Jacobs divorced his wife, Ruthanne in May 2000, which was followed by numerous members leaving the Power Team to form a new ministry, Team Impact. In 2002 the Power Team filed for bankruptcy protection, in 1999, The Power Team portrayed themselves in The Principal episode of Walker, Texas Ranger to motivate a high school of wayward students.
Host Piers Morgan remarked, You must be bonkers, the team was not selected to go on to the semi-finals. They appeared on The American Bible Challenge on GSN, in 2004, an independent team of documentary filmmakers began filming The Power Team. The film, titled Born Again, The Power Team Story, chronicles the 30-year history of the team, as well as the familial, emotional and physical sacrifices they make to preach the gospel. Directed by Matthew Luem, produced by James L Reid & Scarlett Lam, filmed by Chaz Zelus, and written by Greg Fiering, however, as of October 2016, the film has not yet been released. John Jacobs & The Power Team -1990 Frontline Records,1 hour VHS video John Jacobs & The Power Team -1990 Frontline Records, CD & Cassette Official website Official documentary website
Luke the Evangelist
Luke the Evangelist is one of the Four Evangelists—the four traditionally ascribed authors of the canonical Gospels. The New Testament mentions Luke briefly a few times, and the Pauline epistle to the Colossians refers to him as a doctor, Christians since the faiths early years have regarded him as a saint. He is believed to have been a martyr, reportedly as having been hanged in an olive tree, though some believe otherwise. Many scholars believe that Luke was a Greek physician who lived in the Greek city of Antioch in Ancient Syria, though other scholars. Bart Koet for instance considered it as widely accepted that the theology of Luke–Acts points to a gentile Christian writing for a gentile audience, gregory Sterling though, claims that he was either a Hellenistic Jew or a god-fearer. His earliest notice is in Pauls Epistle to Philemon—Philemon 1,24 and he is mentioned in Colossians 4,14 and 2Timothy 4,11, two works commonly ascribed to Paul. He had become a disciple of the apostle Paul and followed Paul until his martyrdom, having served the Lord continuously and without children, filled with the Holy Spirit he died at the age of 84 years.
If one accepts that Luke was in fact the author of the Gospel bearing his name and the Acts of the Apostles, the we section of Acts continues until the group leaves Philippi, when his writing goes back to the third person. This change happens again when the returns to Philippi. There are three we sections in Acts, all following this rule, Luke never stated, that he lived in Troas, and this is the only evidence that he did. The composition of the writings, as well as the range of vocabulary used, a quote in the Letter of Paul to the Colossians differentiates between Luke and other colleagues of the circumcision. 10 My fellow prisoner Aristarchus sends you his greetings, as does Mark,11 Jesus, who is called Justus, sends greetings. These are the only Jews among my co-workers for the kingdom of God,14 Our dear friend Luke, the doctor, and Demas send greetings. This comment has traditionally caused commentators to conclude that Luke was a Gentile, if this were true, it would make Luke the only writer of the New Testament who can clearly be identified as not being Jewish.
However, that is not the only possibility, although Luke is considered likely to be a Gentile Christian, some scholars believe him to be a Hellenized Jew. The phrase could just as easily be used to differentiate between those Christians who strictly observed the rituals of Judaism and those who did not. Lukes presence in Rome with the Apostle Paul near the end of Pauls life was attested by 2 Timothy 4,11, Only Luke is with me. In the last chapter of the Book of Acts, widely attributed to Luke, we find several accounts in the first person affirming Lukes presence in Rome including Acts 28,16, And when we came to Rome
Ministry of Jesus
The Gospel of Luke states that Jesus was about 30 years of age at the start of his ministry. A chronology of Jesus typically has the date of the start of his ministry estimated at around AD 27–29, Jesus Early Galilean ministry begins when after his Baptism, he goes back to Galilee from his time in the Judean desert. The Major Galilean ministry which begins in Matthew 8 includes the commissioning of the Twelve Apostles, the Final Galilean ministry begins after the death of John the Baptist as Jesus prepares to go to Jerusalem. In the Later Judean ministry Jesus starts his journey to Jerusalem through Judea. As Jesus travels towards Jerusalem, in the Later Perean ministry, about one third the way down from the Sea of Galilee along the River Jordan, the Final ministry in Jerusalem is sometimes called the Passion Week and begins with Jesus triumphal entry into Jerusalem. The gospels provide more details about the final ministry than the other periods, the gospel accounts place the beginning of Jesus ministry in the countryside of Roman Judea, near the River Jordan.
Jesuss Baptism is generally considered the beginning of his ministry and the Last Supper with his disciples in Jerusalem as the end, some authors consider the period between the Resurrection and the Ascension part of the ministry of Jesus. Luke 3,23 states that Jesus was about 30 years of age at the start of his ministry, there have been different approaches to estimating the date of the start of the ministry of Jesus. In the New Testament, the date of the Last Supper is very close to the date of the crucifixion of Jesus, scholarly estimates for the date of the crucifixion generally fall in the range AD 30-36. The three Synoptic Gospels refer to just one passover during his ministry, while the Gospel of John refers to three passovers, suggesting a period of three years. However, the Synoptic gospels do not require a ministry that lasted one year. The gospels present John the Baptists ministry as the precursor to that of Jesus, John 1,28 specifies the location where John was baptizing as Bethany beyond the Jordan.
This is not the village Bethany just east of Jerusalem, but the town Bethany, first-century historian Flavius Josephus wrote in the Antiquities of the Jews that John the Baptist was imprisoned and killed in Machaerus on the border of Perea. Assuming that there were two incidences of Cleansing of the Temple, which was located in Jerusalem, a reference to an early Judean ministry may be John 2. The Early Galilean ministry begins when Jesus goes back to Galilee from the Judean desert, after rebuffing the temptation of Satan. In this early period, Jesus preaches around Galilee and, in Matthew 4, 18-20, his first disciples encounter him, begin to travel with him and eventually form the core of the early Church. The Gospel of John includes Marriage at Cana as the first miracle of Jesus taking place in early period of ministry. A few villages in Galilee have been suggested as the location of Cana, the return of Jesus to Galilee follows the arrest of John the Baptist
Evangelicalism
Its origins are usually traced back to English Methodism, the Moravian Church, and German Lutheran Pietism. While all these phenomena contributed greatly, John Wesley and other early Methodists were at the root of sparking this new movement during the First Great Awakening, Evangelicals are found across many Protestant branches, as well as in various denominations not subsumed to a specific branch. Among leaders and major figures of the Evangelical Protestant movement were John Wesley, George Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards, Billy Graham, Harold John Ockenga, John Stott and Martyn Lloyd-Jones. The movement gained momentum during the 18th and 19th centuries with the Great Awakenings in the United Kingdom. The Americas and Asia are home to the majority of Evangelicals, United States has the largest concentration of Evangelicals in the world, its community forms a quarter of the population, is politically important and based mostly in the Bible Belt. In the United Kingdom, Evangelicals are mostly represented in the Methodist Church, Baptist communities, Evangelicalism, a major part of popular Protestantism, is among the most dynamic religious movements in the contemporary world, alongside resurgent Islam.
While on the rise globally, the world is particularly influenced by its spread. The first published use of evangelical in English came in 1531 when William Tyndale wrote He exhorteth them to proceed constantly in the evangelical truth. One year Sir Thomas More produced the earliest recorded use in reference to a theological distinction when he spoke of Tyndale his evangelical brother Barns, during the Reformation, Protestant theologians embraced the label as referring to gospel truth. Martin Luther referred to the evangelische Kirche to distinguish Protestants from Catholics in the Roman Catholic Church, into the 21st century, evangelical has continued in use as a synonym for Protestant in continental Europe, and elsewhere. This usage is reflected in the names of Protestant denominations such as the Evangelical Church in Germany, the term may occur outside any religious context to characterize a generic missionary, reforming, or redeeming impulse or purpose. For example, the Times Literary Supplement refers to the rise, one influential definition of Evangelicalism has been proposed by historian David Bebbington.
Conversionism, or belief in the necessity of being again, has been a constant theme of Evangelicalism since its beginnings. To Evangelicals, the message of the gospel is justification by faith in Christ and repentance, or turning away. Conversion differentiates the Christian from the non-Christian, and the change in life it leads to is marked by both a rejection of sin and a corresponding personal holiness of life. A conversion experience can be emotional, including grief and sorrow for sin followed by great relief at receiving forgiveness, the stress on conversion is further differentiated from other forms of Protestantism by the belief that an assurance of salvation will accompany conversion. Among Evangelicals, individuals have testified to both sudden and gradual conversions, biblicism is reverence for the Bible and a high regard for biblical authority. All Evangelicals believe in inspiration, though they disagree over how this inspiration should be defined
