EVANGELICAL AND FUNDAMENTAL CHRISTIANITY. The term evangelicalism usually refers to a largely Protestant movement that emphasizes:

1. the Bible as authoritative and reliable;
2. eternal salvation as possible only by regeneration (being "born again"), involving personal trust in Christ and in his atoning work;
3. a spiritually transformed life marked by moral conduct and personal devotion, such as Bible reading and prayer; and
4. zeal for evangelism and missions.

Among Lutherans the term evangelical has long had a more general usage, roughly equivalent to Protestant, and some neo-orthodox theologians have used the term in its broad sense of "gospel believer." In the Spanish-speaking world, the term evangélico roughly parallels the Lutheran usage, referring in general to non-Catholic Christian groups of any stripe, although historically most evangélicos have in fact been evangelicals as more narrowly defined above. In the English-speaking world, evangelical designates a distinct...