Those are wonderful words filled with Christian content, but they are also words that would be claimed by many who would never claim to be evangelicals. The definition is just not sufficient. The document proceeds to identify several defining beliefs of evangelicals. Among these convictions is the belief that "the only ground for our acceptance by God is what Jesus Christ did on the cross and what he is now doing through his risen life, whereby he exposed and reversed the course of human sin and violence, bore the penalty for our sins, credited us with his righteousness, redeemed us from the power of evil, reconciled us to God, and empowers us with his life 'from above.'"

That is a substantial statement of the Gospel, but it leaves out the question of the exclusivity of salvation to those who have come to Christ by faith. The use of the phrase "for us" in strategic sentences makes one wonder if room is left for some manner of inclusivism or universalism. The door is certainly not adequately closed. Do all of the signatories announced on May 7 affirm that sinners must come to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ in order to be saved? This is one of the most crucial questions for evangelical identity.

The framers make clear their concern to define evangelical over against fundamentalism and Protestant liberalism. Would they include inclusivists as evangelicals?

Another complication on this score comes from the fact that evangelicals are identified as "one of the great traditions that have developed within the Christian Church over the centuries." There is a sense in which this is true, of course, but relegating the evangelical understanding of the Gospel to just one among many Christian traditions undercuts our witness and sows seeds of confusion.

"An Evangelical Manifesto" is, at least to a major extent, an exercise in public relations. The document was released at the National Press Club -- not a usual venue for theological discussion. The stated aims of the document are also directed to public relations. The sense of attempting to convince the public that evangelicals are not what many think them (us) to be pervades the Manifesto.

Evangelicals sometimes have to make strong judgments, the authors assert, but only after clarifying that the "Good News" of the Gospel "is overwhelmingly positive, and is always positive before it is negative." Further: "Evangelicals are for Someone and for something rather than against anyone or anything."

This is a wonderful statement, and entirely true. Nevertheless, as a statement of public relations it will not get very far -- not if any honest discussion or disclosure follows. As the authors recognize, to be for one principle is to oppose its opposite. Those holding to contrary principles will not be persuaded to cease stating that we are against their principles and aims.

Indeed, one of the greatest strengths of the document is its recognition that differences of conviction reach to the most fundamental questions of life. These differences "are not just between personal worldviews but between entire ways of life co-existing in the same society." These differences "are decisive not only for individuals but for societies and entire civilizations."