Evangelicalism faces an uncertain future. In this book, written just before his death, Calvin Miller takes a critical and prophetic look at the movement he loved, believing we can only shape the future if we understand the present. American evangelicalism, he warns, has largely adapted to the culture and as a result, is waning in its vitality and influence. Rather than counting on some grand revival, Miller writes that revitalizing the heart of evangelical Christianity will instead happen one person at a time. The Vanishing Evangelical looks at the broad cultural influences that are shaping the whole movement, and Miller's sage counsel challenges the reader to confront these forces personally and take steps toward a personal, vital spirituality.

Evangelicals have been scandalized by their association with Donald Trump, their megachurches summarily dismissed as “religious Walmarts.” In The Subversive Evangelical Peter Schuurman shows how a growing group of “reflexive evangelicals” use irony to critique their own tradition and distinguish themselves from the stereotype of right-wing evangelicalism. Entering the Meeting House – an Ontario-based Anabaptist megachurch – as a participant observer, Schuurman discovers that the marketing is clever and the venue (a rented movie theatre) is attractive to the more than five thousand weekly attendees. But the heart of the church is its charismatic leader, Bruxy Cavey, whose anti-religious teaching and ironic tattoos offer a fresh image for evangelicals. This charisma, Schuurman argues, is not just the power of one individual; it is a dramatic production in which Cavey, his staff, and attendees cooperate, cultivating an identity as an “irreligious” megachurch and providing followers with a more culturally acceptable way to practise their faith in a secular age. Going behind the scenes to small group meetings, church dance parties, and the homes of attendees to investigate what motivates these reflexive evangelicals, Schuurman reveals a playful and provocative counterculture that distances itself from prevailing stereotypes while still embracing a conservative Christian faith.