The unraveling of the private consensus

• Main Author: TSE, Justin Kh
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2013
• Subjects: Religion
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/3366; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soss_research/article/4623/viewcontent/Private_Consensus_2013_av.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

The Asian American Open Letter to the Evangelical Church was a key moment in the unraveling of the private consensus in American evangelicalism in 2013. What I call the “private consensus” is an implied agreement among evangelical Protestants in America that churches, parachurch organizations, and religious institutions should conduct matters privately. In fact, it might go as far as to say that individual Christians should act in private, away from the public eye, especially the media. When Christian matters become public, so the argument goes, they become distorted. Consequently, Christians are encouraged to operate at a “direct and personal” level, which translates into staying within a private sphere of action where personal dealings are in camera (which, as you know, means “off-camera”), off-record (or, at least, with sealed records), and without public participation.