what the heck is an evangelical?

[@cædmon.c]

ATTENTION: I am kind of thinking out loud in this video, and I'm curious to hear what your thoughts on the matter are. If you've got thoughts about or critiques of my proposed alternative to the term "evangelical," please put 'em here!

[@jake9886]

Hail Mary, full of grace.

[@cædmon.c]

hey I'm all for catholicity but not that catholic lol

[@tokeivo]

I love that the two most crazy takes where almost offhand remarks. That you think good governments are by religious people. And that you're anti reproductive rights. I keep forgetting how crazy some people are...

[@cædmon.c]

Amen! Those things are taken for granted in my slice of Christendom (and with good reason). If you stick around this corner of the internet, you might find out that those takes aren't so crazy after all...

[@tomfrombrunswick7571]

So traditional Christianity is based on the idea of the oral tradition. God spoke to his disciples. They then created a church. This church was organized into Bishops. Priests and Deacons. The basis of the religion was a series of beliefs about the fact that Jesus's death allowed people to achieve eternal life. The key to this was membership of the Church and carrying out rituals described as sacraments. About 300 years into it's history the Church had collected a series of writings which became the Bible. The Bible however was not the front and center of what Christianity was about. Rather doctrine came from Church counsels. IN the west the collapse of the Empire meant that the Emperor no longer was effectively head of the Church. This allowed the bishop of Rome who was a temporal ruler of a small state as well as a religious figure to become the centralized head of the church. The Pope in the west could promulgate doctrine. Fast forward and we have Martin Luther who upended Christian tradition. The idea of the church the oral tradition and the importance of the sacraments was all wrong. The Bible was now central and men (it was some time ago) could work out what religion was about. Fast forward to the early 20th Century. America had invented Mormonism. It now invented some new stuff. One was the idea of the Rapture. The next was the idea of Fundamentalism. That is again that the Bible was central. The Bible was now not only central but was inerrant, univocal and divinely inspired. Now you have Kent Hovind, Ken Ham and Frank Turek filling the field with their version of Christianity. In short fundamentalism has no connection at all with "traditional" Christianity it is one of America's contributions to the world

[@cædmon.c]

I actually agree with your conclusion, but would challenge some of the premises. Firstly, Luther and the other Reformers had a very high sacramental theology that Protestants have lost. I lament the fact that this understanding has been watered down in popular protestantism, and my friends and I are proposing a recovery of a more sacramental world and life view. When I take the Eucharist weekly, I believe that I am truly recieving the body and blood of the Lord (although in a different way than Roman Catholics or Eastern Orthodox folks might suppose). Secondly, what oral traditions are you talking about? Surely not those doctrines codified by the Roman Church (such as the assumption of Mary)? Surely not the icon veneration that the East embraces (which has been proven to be a later development)? We can say with certainty that many traditions that are called "apostolic" are later accretions, so you might run into issues using your framework. The traditional protestant claim about the Bible is not that tradition has NO authority, but rather that scripture is the only infallible record of the apostolic teaching. I recommend @truthunites for more info. God bless you, friend!

[@tomfrombrunswick7571]

@@cædmon.c Like the way you speak in a rational and measured way. Good luck with your podcast

[@cædmon.c]

Thank you!