Comments on: (Un)Defining Evangelicalism http://blog.tonyj.net/2009/11/undefining-evangelicalism/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=undefining-evangelicalism Now THIS Is Some Theoblogy Thu, 29 Jul 2010 16:47:46 -0700 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: Jim http://blog.tonyj.net/2009/11/undefining-evangelicalism/comment-page-1/#comment-5053 Jim Tue, 17 Nov 2009 04:14:27 +0000 http://blog.tonyj.net/?p=667#comment-5053 Hmmm. I think Patrol misses the point. Evangelicals operate under the conviction that belief, not ethics or mystery, leads to salvation. "Power" (especially if that really means popularity) is probably less interesting to them than saving souls, which they think happens through belief. If the quest for power involves sacrificing what they think of as the salvific elements in their religion, they aren't likely to listen. Telling them that they "face near-certain extinction" if they maintain their (in their eyes) salvific beliefs is a scare tactic that will only win over cowards. Hmmm. I think Patrol misses the point. Evangelicals operate under the conviction that belief, not ethics or mystery, leads to salvation. “Power” (especially if that really means popularity) is probably less interesting to them than saving souls, which they think happens through belief. If the quest for power involves sacrificing what they think of as the salvific elements in their religion, they aren’t likely to listen. Telling them that they “face near-certain extinction” if they maintain their (in their eyes) salvific beliefs is a scare tactic that will only win over cowards.

]]> By: Larry http://blog.tonyj.net/2009/11/undefining-evangelicalism/comment-page-1/#comment-5050 Larry Tue, 17 Nov 2009 02:10:18 +0000 http://blog.tonyj.net/?p=667#comment-5050 Right, Ted, that's why the Catholics, Orthodox and Anglicans don't disagree about anything. Right, Ted, that’s why the Catholics, Orthodox and Anglicans don’t disagree about anything.

]]> By: Ted Seeber http://blog.tonyj.net/2009/11/undefining-evangelicalism/comment-page-1/#comment-5049 Ted Seeber Tue, 17 Nov 2009 01:36:49 +0000 http://blog.tonyj.net/?p=667#comment-5049 How can you have "theological purity or conformance to a “lost” orthodoxy" without a hierarchy to define that theological purity and conformance to orthodoxy? There is a reason why all the truly orthodox churches have an episcopate. There is a reason why it took a Pope to define the New Testament. There is a reason why the councils had to happen. And there's a reason why the first anabaptist movement failed. All of these reasons are tied together; if you don't know your history, you are bound to repeat it. How can you have “theological purity or conformance to a “lost” orthodoxy” without a hierarchy to define that theological purity and conformance to orthodoxy?

There is a reason why all the truly orthodox churches have an episcopate. There is a reason why it took a Pope to define the New Testament. There is a reason why the councils had to happen. And there’s a reason why the first anabaptist movement failed.

All of these reasons are tied together; if you don’t know your history, you are bound to repeat it.

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