Evangelicalism and Pietism versus Confessionalism

British historian David Bebbington famously provided his four-point sociological taxonomy of evangelicalism in 1989. While the edges and applications have been debated on and off, the framework of the Bebbington Quadraleteral still proves useful. Evangelicalism is characterized by,

• Biblicism: a particular regard for the Bible (e.g. all essential spiritual truth is to be found in its pages).
• Crucicentrism: a focus on the atoning work of Christ on the cross.
• Conversionism: the belief that human beings need to be converted.
• Activism: the belief that the gospel needs to be expressed in effort.

Wheaton professor Timothy Larsen similarly provided a five-point definition in his introduction to the 2007 Cambridge Companion to Evangelical Theology…