[Posted to the newsgroups alt.christnet.christianlife,alt.christnet.evangelical, aus.religion.christian 19.5.2004. You all might be interested to follow the discussion in any of those newsgroups. Rowland]. Those of you who inhabit these three newsgroups will have noted that people can call themselves 'Christians' yet differ markedly (sometimes heatedly) on matters of basic Christian faith and life. There are about 13 basic ways to answer the question 'What is a valid philosophy of religion/Christianity?' (See eg. http://jmm.aaa.net.au/articles/9664.htm or http://jmm.aaa.net.au/articles/9018.htm ) Here we have at least one mystic, many fundamentalists, a few conservative evangelicals, a couple of 'progressive (or Lausanne) evangelicals' and one regular liberal Christian (Mark Tindall). And others... Now what's the difference? Basically one of 'authority'. When a matter of belief comes up fundamentalists (I'm not using these labels pejoratively) instinctively ask 'What does the Bible say?' Progressive evangelicals ask 'What is Jesus' approach in terms of his practice and teaching, particularly as outlined in the synoptic gospels?' Liberals ask 'What is a rational view of all this, in the light of modern biblical and theological scholarship?' Fundamentalists want clarity of doctrine. Humans are basically sinful and need to repent. They remember Jesus saying to the woman caught in adultery 'Go and sin no more' but tend not to emphasise what he said to her before that: 'I do not condemn you.' The Great Commission is taken primarily from Matthew 28:18-20. Progressive evangelicals ('conservative' evangelicals are closer to fundamentalists on this point) tend to major on Jesus' compassion and his emphasis on love rather than people's sinfulness - and his violent reactions to the legalisms/biblicisms of the pharisees, for example. Their commission: primarily Luke 4:18-19. Liberal Christians are skeptical about many aspects of the authenticity of the N T documents, and the historicity of miracles attributed to Jesus - particularly the traditional views of his Deity and physical resurrection. Want more? Visit http://jmm.aaa.net.au/articles/12125.htm et seq. Yours irenically! Shalom! Rowland Croucher
top of page