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Sorry for my bad English. I'm translating a book about behavior. What does "evangelical" mean in the following context:

The manager, heavily tattooed and evangelical about juicing, answered Emily’s questions, then made an offer Emily couldn’t refuse.

When I looked up evangelical in Oxford's online dictionary, it means something about religion. So that doesn't seem to fit.

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  • 1) There is no need to apologize for bad English – that's what ELL is here for! 2) You should take a look at our Details, please post, and pay particular attention to the part about how Yoichi asks questions. Instead of apologizing for your English, tell us what you found when you looked up "evangelical" in the dictionary, and why you're still confused. Not only will you be asking better questions, but there's a good chance you'll get better answers, too.
    – J.R. ♦
    Dec 28, 2015 at 9:04
  • @J.R. When I looked it up in Oxford's online dictionary, it means something about religion. So I doubted it.
    – haile
    Dec 28, 2015 at 10:22
  • @haile, It's a metaphor when used outside a religious context, and means anyone who feels so strongly about something (in your example, the beneficial health value of juicing) that they try to convert others just as religious evangelicals/evangelists try to convert others to their particular religious sect.
    – MMacD
    Apr 4, 2017 at 15:18

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Evangelical is a Christian religious term. It refers to someone who spreads religious knowledge (an evangelist). The term has taken on another meaning in American religious life where it denotes a particular style of Christianity (conservative and fundamentalist are other terms).

New usage stemming from the above meaning gives dictionary.com this definition:

marked by ardent or zealous enthusiasm for a cause.

So in your sentence the manager spreads information about 'juic-ing' with religious enthusiasm. I assume juic-ing refers to 'juicing' meaning to make a drink from the juice of fruits and vegetables.

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    Evangelism is about spreading the “good news” (evangel) about something or other.
    – tchrist
    Dec 28, 2015 at 4:26
  • @tchrist thankyou for the clarification. I wasn't sure if 'good news' or gospel would be universally understood so I avoided the term.
    – Maree
    Dec 28, 2015 at 10:58

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