When I was writing 'The Abstinence Teacher,' I really tried to immerse myself in contemporary American evangelical culture.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I'm evangelical on the subject of some chefs and writers.
Re-telling the Christian story is the essence of my vocation. That has been going on since the Evangelists in one form or another.
I'm evangelical.
I realized that every sermon I preached should be designed not to 'teach' or 'convert' people, but rather to encourage them, to give them a lift. I decided to adopt the spirit, style, strategy and substance of a 'therapist' in the pulpit.
The course that I have uniformly pursued, ever since I became a missionary, has been rather peculiar. In order to become an acceptable and eloquent preacher in a foreign language, I deliberately abjured my own. When I crossed the river, I burnt my ships.
If you'd have said Evangelical in 1957, most people wouldn't know what you were talking about. And then, they'd be against it.
In the end, there's something of the puritan work ethic about me that roles really must sustain me on an intellectual level.
I still have deep respect for the evangelical tradition and feel, in many ways, close to the Baptist roots of my childhood, although I've been an Episcopalian throughout my adult life and a regular churchgoer.
I don't think I am evangelical in my work.
I decided to start anew, to strip away what I had been taught.