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Wednesday, August 25, 2004

New Words Needed

I've grown tired of the words liberal, conservative and fundamentalist. I think I can safely say that those words in a discussion about varying Christian perspectives are no longer useful. They have become inflammatory.

And all of those words are subjective. In the Episcopal culture I have experienced here in the Diocese of CNY, everything that is evangelical, they call fundamentalist. I hate being called that. I've finally trained my rector to understand that. He gets it.

For me, fundamentalists are those whose women must where head coverings in church, or can't wear pants, or churches that use the KJV only, or believe that if you are saved you must speak in tongues, or believe that people cannot marry outside of their race, or believe that people of other races are inferior.

But then there are academic persons, for whom fundamentalism refers to a specific religious movement of the later part of the 19th century and early 20th. And there are a few others, who see the term as a positive one. A Christian fundamentalist is one who focuses on the essential beliefs of Christianity. Still others see it as derogatory, that fundamentalist means extremist.

There it is for you a spectrum of beliefs on fundamentalism. So if the term is really so subjective when used in religious discussion, why use it anymore? Has it lost its value? For me, the answer is yes.

But I still need new words. Liberal and conservative are terms falling to the same fate as fundamentalist. I need words that help create dialog with others of the Christian faith. and maybe even more so, to dialog with those outside of the Christian faith. What words do you use? I wonder, are there non-perspective based words that could help us describe ourselves and our relationship to other religious groups? Give me some helpful terms.

Comments on "New Words Needed"

 

Blogger theultrarev said ... (10:35 PM, August 25, 2004) : 

Yeah, I've been chewing on this all day since I posted earlier. I suppose all words that are descriptive uitilze perspective.

But I want words that less pejorative. Sometimes I want to describe and compare, without disparging. Liberal, conservative and fundamentalist seem to have fallen into a realm where they enflame as much as they describe.

 

Blogger Luke said ... (7:51 PM, September 07, 2004) : 

I have a word:

Me.

Unique. Loved. Sharing some things that aren't immediately obvious; not sharing some things that might sesem obvious...

 

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