The latest installment of Intervarsity Press's multi-volume history of evangelicalism in the English-speaking world details its “global diffusion” since World War II. These years obviously did not mark the beginning of evangelicalism's global presence. Yet Brian Stanley convincingly argues that they saw the emergence of genuinely international and pluralistic forms of evangelicalism. Stanley ably explains the many conduits for global diffusion, especially the 1974 Lausanne Congress, the church growth movement, and the legacy of the East African Revival. Readers learn the nuances of what evangelicalism meant in various parts of the Anglosphere. The subtitle's flagships—Billy Graham and John Stott—were just part of the story. While Graham's profile was without peer, Stott's generous networking gave him a better understanding of evangelicalism in the majority world. As the story progresses, a vital catalyst emerges: the charismatic renewal. Its permutations were so many that it is unclear whether neo-Pentecostalism joined or subsumed the evangelical world. This interpretive conundrum reinforces the author's use of diffusion, which implies neither strength nor weakness. That word choice also reflects the author's partially veiled ambivalence. In the spirit of Intervarsity, Stanley uses normative interjections sparingly and judiciously. A startling exception is the very last paragraph of the book, in which he worries that “the explosive popular Christianity of the southern hemisphere” will lead “to a crude theology of divine blessing” (247). Setting aside that tone-deaf coda, Stanley's book is an essential resource, because it offers digestible takes on so many important themes in recent evangelical history.
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