Fifty years ago, the worst insult an evangelical could hurl was "worldly." But times have changed, and, as a new book devoted to exploring "the landscape of evangelical piety and thought" makes clear, evangelicals are now very much engaged in the world.

This collection of essays, which emerged out of a 1998 conference at Harvard, makes clear that evangelicals are very much engaged in the broader culture. Gordon-Conwell Seminary's David Wells explores the unique contributions that evangelical theologians and intellectuals are making to contemporary American academic culture. Richard Mouw, president of Fuller Theological Seminary (and Beliefnet columnist), praises evangelicals for "thinking and acting in recent decades in a manner that takes our public lives more seriously." Mark Noll, in an essay on hymnody, says that "evangelicalism at its best" works to ameliorate social ills like slavery and poverty.

This slim book packs a punch.