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Evangelicalism, Evangelical Christianity, or Evangelical Protestantism is a worldwide, transdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity, maintaining that the essence of the gospel consists in the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ's atonement. Evangelicals are Christians who believe in the centrality of the conversion or "born again" experience in receiving salvation, believe in the authority of the Bible as God's revelation to humanity and have a strong commitment to evangelism or sharing the Christian message. It gained great momentum in the 18th and 19th centuries with the emergence of Methodism and the Great Awakenings in Britain and North America. The origins of Evangelicalism are usually traced back to the English Methodist movement, Nicolaus Zinzendorf, the Moravian Church, Lutheran pietism, Presbyterianism and Puritanism.〔(Christianity report )〕 Among leaders and major figures of the Evangelical Protestant movement were John Wesley, George Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards, Billy Graham, Harold John Ockenga, John Stott and Martyn Lloyd-Jones. There are an estimated 285,480,000 Evangelicals, corresponding to 13.1% of the Christian population and 4.1% of the total world population.〔 The Americas, Africa and Asia are home to the majority of Evangelicals. The United States has the largest concentration of Evangelicals. Evangelicalism is gaining popularity both in and outside the English-speaking world, especially in Latin America and the developing world. ==Usage== The word ''evangelical'' has its etymological roots in the Greek word for "gospel" or "good news": ε’υαγγέλιον (''evangelion''), from ''eu-'' "good" and ''angelion'' "message". By the English Middle Ages the term had expanded semantically to include not only the message, but also the New Testament which contained the message, as well as more specifically the Gospels which portray the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. The first published use of ''evangelical'' in English came in 1531 when William Tyndale wrote "He exhorteth them to proceed constantly in the evangelical truth." One year later Sir Thomas More produced the earliest recorded use in reference to a theological distinction when he spoke of "Tyndale () his evangelical brother Barns". During the Reformation, Protestant theologians embraced the label as referring to "gospel truth". Martin Luther referred to the ''evangelische Kirche'' ("evangelical church) to distinguish Protestants from Catholics in the Roman Catholic Church.〔〕 Into the 21st century, ''evangelical'' has continued in use as a synonym for (mainline) Protestant in continental Europe. This usage is reflected in the names of Protestant denominations such as the Evangelical Church in Germany (a union of Lutheran and Reformed churches) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. In the English-speaking world, ''evangelical'' became a common label used to describe the series of revival movements that occurred in Britain and North America during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Christian historian David Bebbington writes that, "Although 'evangelical', with a lower-case initial, is occasionally used to mean 'of the gospel', the term 'Evangelical', with a capital letter, is applied to any aspect of the movement beginning in the 1730s." The term may also occur outside any religious context to characterize a generic missionary, reforming, or redeeming impulse or purpose. For example, the ''Times Literary Supplement'' refers to "the rise and fall of evangelical fervor within the Socialist movement".〔 〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Evangelicalism」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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