In giving up or changing so many core “traditional” Christian beliefs, how can we still call ourselves “Christian”?

In an episode two weeks back, one of our guests challenged us to look at what now defines our Christianity This was in response to us listing one traditional Christian tenet after another which we were now redefining, softening, or even rejecting. Apparently, even an atheist was wondering if we were giving up too much, and taking a path which diverged so sharply from main-stream Christianity!?

Around the same time, another one of our listeners posted to our private Facebook discussion group an interesting article published in Salon magazine: “Not quite losing my religion: Being a liberal evangelical isn’t always easy“. Many of the things in that article resonated so much with me personally, and with the question/challenge articulated by our guest two weeks ago.

Both those events were the spark that led to this episode. And Scott and I thought the author of that article — Nathaniel Manderson — was the perfect guest to bring on to unpack the topic: his life story that eventually led to him becoming an ordained Baptist minister who passionately challenges many aspects of Evangelical thinking in his articles for Salon magazine was a perfect fit for the topic and for our podcast.

We ping-ponged our way through many questions around this central question of what it means to be a Christian:

• the claim that it can be (must be?) seen as a “personal relationship” with the Divine
• why do we feel the need to put an infinite Being into a finite box (personhood)? … is it to control God?
• could you have Christians who don’t believe in a Theistic God?
• does calling God “a creative life force” diminish him too much … or does personifying him diminish him?
• what does it mean to say that Jesus is divine?
• did Jesus always know that he was more than a Jewish Messiah bringing a message of liberation for Israel, or did he grow to realize his bigger broader mission to all humanity over the course of his teaching ministry?
• can we be sure that the words of Jesus were recorded accurately (and/or that we have misinterpreted some of them)?
• what does the label “Evangelical” really mean, and is it still worth hanging on to it?

As always, tell us what you think …

Find out more about Nathaniel Manderson at his webpage at Salon.

Episode image from Cruz&Co Business and Taxation Services.

If you enjoyed this episode, you may also like Episode #42, where we talk specifically about the “Personal Relationship”, or Episode #39 which explores what Evangelicalism is all about.

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