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Conservative Protestants in the early twentieth century described themselves as evangelical, fundamentalist, or orthodox more or less interchangeably.1 It was not until the formation of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) in 1943 that evangelicalism turned from a mere description of theology into a term of identity. The organizations founders chose the word evangelical to symbolize a third way between militant fundamentalism and liberal modernism. A surprisingly wide range of denominations joined the NAE despite traditional distrust among groups divided by theology and practice, including Pentecostals, Baptists, Presbyterians, and Lutherans. Uniting such disparate groups under the banner of a new evangelicalism required a powerful set of incentives. Yet while religious historians agree on the significance of the NAE's creation, the reasons for its formation remain disputed.
There are two ways of conceptualizing what motivated people to join the National Association of Evangelicals. Groups were either pulled or pushed into the organization. The NAE attracted, or pulled, members through positive appeals to what could be accomplished through joint action. Most accounts of the formation of the NAE focus on these internally generated motivations. Thus, historian Joel Carpenter credits the NAE s creation to the "religious imagination and statesmanship" of its founders, J. Elwin Wright and Harold J. Ockenga, who traveled around the country "romancing evangelicals of every variety with [a] vision of national unity."2 After all, the NAE s original name was United Evangelical Action. In keeping with that title, Wright and Ockenga painted a picture of combined missionary outreach, war relief efforts, and evangelistic rallies. Yet while Wright and Ockenga certainly were compelling individuals, there has never been a shortage of personality in American evangelicalism, and Carpenters proposal does not convincingly explain why such diverse, antipathetic Protestant groups were predisposed to listen to such appeals in 1943 rather than at any other point in the preceding decades.
Molly Worthen and Matthew Sutton have tweaked Carpenters explanation, but its basic contours remain. They all portray a movement that was pulled into existence. Worthen expands on Carpenters idea by including a romance of the mind, as Carl Henry and Harold J. Ockenga used their positions within the NAE to foment a greater appreciation for intellectual pursuits by evangelical scholars and clergymen.3 Yet Worthen's starting point is Ockenga's...