Monday, August 21, 2023
Today on the Christian History Almanac podcast, we head to the mailbag to answer a question about Christian denominations.
It is the 21st of August, 2023. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org. I’m Dan van Voorhis.
Happy Monday to everyone- I’m recording this a little early because we have, here in Southern California, our first-ever Hurricane/Tropical Storm warning! I’m curious why everyone is buying water… how does a hurricane stop water… also, I don’t know how water gets to my house outside of the generic answer, “pipes?”.
Ok, I got an email from Will in Rome, Georgia- I dig the hubris of the state that has both an Athens and a Rome, although I read that the name was chosen out of a hat. And so many movies have been filmed there- Georgia is becoming the new Hollywood.
So- Will wrote and told me he appreciated my show a few weeks back on the “Variety of Christian Experiences” and then wrote, “As a recent convert from Roman Catholicism, I was wondering if you might give me a brief rundown of the Protestant denominations…” Ok- so first- I’m always interested in the language of “conversion.” And this is, of course, a personal issue, but I wonder about “converting” between denominations and traditions. Perhaps if you were part of a church body but didn’t believe yourself to have an active faith, you come to a new church and believe you have come to a living faith. I think of people like John Wesley, who says he was “converted” after he was already working as a missionary. I wonder, and this is personal, but if we might think of conversions or “repentances”- I think of the 1st of Luther’s 95 Theses- that our whole life is one of constant repentance- not out of fear, but because that’s how the Holy Spirit works. We grow, we change, we repent- and, at least for me- I often don’t recognize it until I look back.
Ok- let me give you a quick rundown- you have the “mainline” churches so called because, in many towns, they would be on the “mainline” for the local transportation. these were the big churches- Episcopal, its Methodist offshoot (that’s the Wesleys), the Presbyterians, the Lutherans, and usually some kind of Baptist. Most of these churches have gone through a split- so you find smaller, conservative offshoots for each- often a number of them (splintering in a church is a lot like eating a potato chip- it’s hard to have just one). And then you have the “nondenominational” churches and others usually inspired by the ‘radical reformations’- Church of Christ, Churches of God, many Pentecostal and charismatic bodies. It’s probably most useful to see modern Protestant churches in America as first either mainline or not. Last century many churches split off as ‘fundamentalist’- they held to the “fundamentals” consisting of an inerrant Bible, emphasis on the miraculous in Scripture, and a tendency to read things as literally as possible. Unfortunately, or so some thought, it became too much of a cultural position (don’t drink, don’t dance, etc.), and so some of these churches became “evangelical,” that is, a theology that is close to the Fundamentalists but a more open approach to culture and lifestyle decisions. So- mainline, fundamentalist, and evangelical are the big bins in which you’ll find not only the church bodies like Lutheran, Presbyterian, and the like but also non-denominational churches can find themselves there. Perhaps unfortunately, in the past few years, “evangelical” has come to connote a political position so that we might need new terms- but for now, as think the three designations are the most helpful. And, of course, churches vary- pastors and elder boards, and worship leaders affect what happens on the ground every Sunday, and so the best thing to do if you’re curious about a church is to visit a few services (or today, you can live stream so much). And our course, as you might expect from a guy like myself who sees the church very broadly- I commend the old adage- in essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, and in all things charity (or love). Thanks, Will, for your question- you can send me yours at danv@1517.org.
The last word for today comes from the daily lectionary and Psalm 130:
Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord;
Lord, hear my voice.
Let your ears be attentive
to my cry for mercy.
If you, Lord, kept a record of sins,
Lord, who could stand?
But with you there is forgiveness,
so that we can, with reverence, serve you.
I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits
,
and in his word I put my hope.
I wait for the Lord
more than watchmen wait for the morning,
more than watchmen wait for the morning.
Israel, put your hope in the Lord,
for with the Lord is unfailing love
and with him is full redemption.
He himself will redeem Israel
from all their sins.
This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 21st of August 2023, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.
The show is produced by a man whose favorite movie filmed in Rome is “Spirit Halloween: the Movie” (that’s right, a movie about those ubiquitous Halloween stores) Christopher Gillespie.
The show is written and read by a man who prefers the suddenness of an earthquake then the waiting for some dumb storm- I’m Dan van Voorhis.
You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.
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