19
The Anabaptist theologian thus positioned himself as
the prophet of a servant organization. His commitments to
peace, social justice, and a global vision influenced both
the continuing Coalition programs as well as new
initiatives that he helped to inaugurate between 1988 and
1994. Some presidents of Coalition schools, sensing that
Augsburger was attempting to shift the organization's
boundaries to the left, questioned his agenda on issues
like pacifism and multiculturalism.
28
Augsburger likewise raised some eyebrows with his
critique of evangelicalism, which he presented at the
Coalition's annual meeting in 1994. Although the Coalition
was a product of the post-fundamentalist, new evangelical
resurgence following World War II, Augsburger argued that
the movement had become a "sub-culture" or an "ethnicity"
that betrayed some serious limitations. He specifically
cited individualism, pietism, privatism, nationalism,
inerrancy of word (versus inerrancy of meaning), a Greek
view of personality, and Aristotelianism as the besetting
sins of many American evangelicals.
29
Augsburger clearly
27
"Presidents Gather for 1993 Annual Meeting," The
News, March 1993, 3.
28
Alvin O. Austin, interview by author, 31 January
2000, Washington, D.C.