This book covers the past, present, and future of a movement in crisis. What exactly do we mean when we say "evangelical"? How should we understand this many-sided world religious phenomenon? How do recent American politics change that understanding? The authors are scholars who have been vital to our understanding of evangelicalism for the last forty years. Now, in this book, they combine key earlier material concerning the history of evangelicalism with their own new contributions about present controversies and fresh insights from other scholars. The result begins as a survey of how evangelicalism has been evaluated, but then leads into a discussion of the movement's perils and promise today. The book provides an illuminating look at who evangelicals are, how evangelicalism has changed over time, and how evangelicalism continues to develop in sometimes surprising ways.