Speaking of faith is supported by new morning from Faith in Values Media, weekdays at 7 on

the Hallmark Channel.

Support is also provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Ford Foundation,

a resource for innovative people and institutions worldwide on the web at Fordfound.org.

I'm Krista Tippett, stereotypes tell us this, evangelical Christians are politically

conservative, morally judgmental, and anti-science.

But my two guests this hour defy such generalizations.

Their members of a new generation of evangelical thinkers and teachers, they don't want to

carve out a realm of progressive or moderate evangelicalism, they want the term to be known

for the expansive connotations it has in the lives of as many as 40% of Americans.

They're critical of journalism about evangelicals and of the evangelical movement itself.

From American public media, this is speaking of faith, public radio's conversation about

belief, meaning, ethics, and ideas.

Today evangelicals out of the box.

It is impossible to create a pat all-encompassing definition of evangelical Christianity.

The word evangelical derives from the Greek word aewon galeon or good news.

Evangelical faith is centered on the person of Jesus Christ, a seriousness about the Bible,

and an imperative to share the good news.

But to be evangelical is as much a matter of experience and sensibility as a set of fixed

beliefs.

In recent years, American cultural observers have been struggling to understand this.

Americans like The New York Times, The Atlantic Monthly, and Harper's Magazine have devoted

...