A minor controversy erupted in October when the Wall Street Journal reported on its front page, “Evangelical Leader Preaches Pullback From Politics, Culture Wars.”

The evangelical leader referred to was Russell Moore, the new president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, the public voice of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Many of us at IFWE suspected that something had gotten lost in translation, and that suspicion was quickly confirmed. As it happens, Moore had submitted a piece about Christian engagement for First Things six months ago, and it was just published this week in print and online.

In his article, it’s clear that Moore is simply talking about a different form of cultural engagement, but not a retreat:

Evangelicals want to conserve a supernatural gospel without sacrificing its social, cultural, and political importance, a gospel they saw often negotiated away in previous generations in a ploy for social and cultural acceptability and political success.

His piece is worth reading in its entirety, especially if you’re curious about evangelical culture engagement in the coming decades.

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