Expanding Perspectives on Evangelicalism: How Non-evangelical Students Appreciate Evangelical Christianity

Abstract

Evangelical students pose a distinctive set of challenges to higher education professionals. These students, though advantaged to some degree because of their Christian identity, commonly report feeling marginalized and silenced on college campuses. In light of these tensions, the purpose of this study was to examine how non-evangelical students come to an appreciative understanding of evangelical Christianity. Specifically, the research focused on the specific campus conditions and experiences that influence non-evangelical students’ appreciative attitudes toward evangelicals. Findings reveal distinct demographic, institution type, and academic major differences in those students’ perspectives toward their evangelical peers. Additionally, the results suggest that appreciative attitudes toward evangelicals are associated with non-evangelical students’ interfaith experiences, albeit to differing degrees based on self-identified worldview. Recognizing that the work of helping non-evangelical students develop an appreciative understanding of evangelicals is as complicated as it is challenging, especially in the collegiate context, the authors conclude with a discussion of implications for research and practice.

Inspiring Muslim Appreciation in the First-Year of College: What Makes a Difference?

“…Growth occurs when students have access to supportive spaces and resources where they can express their worldviews in ways that allow the dissonance from encountering difference to resolve productively (Rockenbach et al, 2018). In addition, studies on student attitudes and appreciation of worldview diversity indicate that the relationships between social interactions and change in attitudes often vary based on the differing religious, spiritual, and secular identities (Bowman et al, 2017;Mayhew et al, 2017;: Practices that are associated with favorable regard toward atheists (Bowman et al, 2017) are different from those associated with the appreciation of evangelical Christians (Mayhew et al, 2017) and those associated with the appreciation of Jews (Selznick et al, 2019), respectively. For example, college students become more appreciative of Jews when they participate in two or more formal social activities (e.g., attending interfaith dialogue) during their first year (Selznick et al, 2021) but more appreciative of atheists when they participate in informal social interactions such as dining or studying with someone of a different worldview (Bowman et al, 2017).…”

The many faces of evangelicalism: Identifying subgroups using latent class analysis.

“…Additionally, a scale examining attitudes toward evangelicals was used as a scale of evangelical identity (four items, Cronbach’s alpha in current sample = .80, M ( SD ) = 17.51 (2.42)) These items included whether evangelicals make positive contributions to society, are ethical people, the individual has things in common with evangelicals, and if they have a positive attitude toward evangelicals . This scale of evangelical identity (and the scales of appreciative attitudes described below) are a revised version of a previous scale validated as part of the CRSCS (Mayhew et al, 2017). Finally, we examined the role of pluralism orientation (respect for and appreciation of all religions) using a scale also validated using the CRSCS data (Rockenbach, Mayhew, Morin, Crandall, & Selznick, 2015).…”

“…For example, Foubert, Watson, Brosi, and Fuqua (2012) report that several of the evangelical Christian college students they studied expressed dissonance with the term “born again,” even when these same students noted the centrality of a conversion experience for their religious self-definition. Thus, it is an understatement to assert with Mayhew et al (2017) that “evangelicals are not a monolith” (p. 210).…”

“…Others seek the challenge of a more secular school and look for available support on that campus, at times retreating to the safety of an evangelical student organization (Bryant, 2005, 2007). Regardless of institution type, Mayhew et al (2017) note the importance of opportunities for “productive” exchanges across difference—that is, experiences characterized both by challenge and by support. What is less clear is how certain types of evangelicals may be differentially impacted by the affiliation of the institution and the resulting campus climate.…”

“…The term “evangelical” is widely used in religious, media, collegiate (as in “evangelical Christian college”), and popular culture settings to describe a subset of those within the Christian tradition. While often treated as a homogenous group (Monsma, 2017), there is good evidence to suggest that “evangelical” represents a wide range of beliefs and practices (Brimeyer & Smith, 2014; Mayhew et al, 2017). Some efforts have focused on separating evangelicals from other groups, such as Christian fundamentalism (Wilcox, 1986), and more recent studies have shown large variation within evangelicals on topics such as sexual behavior (Gonsoulin & LeBoeuf, 2010) or self-reported giving to those in need (Regnerus, Smith, & Sikkink, 1998).…”