evangelist

evangelist [Gr.,=Gospel], title given to saints Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The four evangelists are often symbolized respectively by a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle, on the basis of Rev. 4.6-10. In modern times the term is applied to Protestant preachers who go about preaching personal conversion. The greatest effort of evangelism was undoubtedly the Great Awakening . Methodism is essentially evangelical in its origins; John Wesley and George Whitefield were the great Methodist evangelists. George Fox, founder of the Quakers (see Friends, Religious Society of ), was also an evangelist. Dwight Moody was a prominent 19th-century American evangelist. Billy Graham is a notable modern example. See also camp meeting ; revival, religious .

Evangelist the writer of one of the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John); St John is also known as St John the Evangelist.

evangelist Philip, one of the Seven (Acts 6: 1–7), is called an evangelist (Acts 21: 8) because he preached the gospel. Before long, evangelists were a distinct order in the Church (Eph. 4: 11), and later still (from the 3rd cent.) the writers of the four gospels are known as evangelists.