Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Saving Evangelicalism from Evangelicals
Jollyblogger recently apologetically, and philosophically, looked at some comments on postmodernism and concluded his post this way:
Evangelical Christianity, which is the most public face of Christianity in this nation, has been reduced to little more than an entertaining club where existing members decide whether you are in or out based on an indeterminate set of criteria that has more to do with interpersonal or organizationally competitive considerations that it does with the claimed reasons for why the movement or institution exists.
This fact can be seen in everything from the market-oriented approach to mega-church building to the political behavior of Evangelicals in the last election. What it means to be an Evangelical seems to have little to do with religious confession.
I find myself wondering what is next. Many, particularly bloggers, et. al., would claim it is some sort of "virtual" church. I can't go there, strikes me as an oxymoron. The tools of electronic communication and community building are wonderful, but they are just that - tools, they are no substitute for the real thing.
What lies ahead is going to be interesting. At this point, that's all I know.
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Having said that I applaud his applause for "thick confessional identities." One needn't look to postmodernism as the cause of the thinning of confessional identities, good ol' run of the mill evangelicalism has been thinning out confessional identity long before postmodernism became cool. Smith's instruction here could go a long way toward saving evangelicalism from evangelicals.OK, in plainer English - Evangelicalism has been weakening what it means to be a "Christian." What I find most fascinating is flowing out of the second Great Awakening, Evangelicalism was intended to save Christianity from its denominational self, finding the "true" gospel, not that watered-down, denominationalized version of it. And now it has come full circle - I agree with David, Christianity needs to be saved from Evangelicals.
Evangelical Christianity, which is the most public face of Christianity in this nation, has been reduced to little more than an entertaining club where existing members decide whether you are in or out based on an indeterminate set of criteria that has more to do with interpersonal or organizationally competitive considerations that it does with the claimed reasons for why the movement or institution exists.
This fact can be seen in everything from the market-oriented approach to mega-church building to the political behavior of Evangelicals in the last election. What it means to be an Evangelical seems to have little to do with religious confession.
I find myself wondering what is next. Many, particularly bloggers, et. al., would claim it is some sort of "virtual" church. I can't go there, strikes me as an oxymoron. The tools of electronic communication and community building are wonderful, but they are just that - tools, they are no substitute for the real thing.
What lies ahead is going to be interesting. At this point, that's all I know.
Technorati Tags:evangelicalism, evangelicals, confession, church, future
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