Friday, November 22, 2024

*** This is a rough transcript of today’s show ***

It is the 22nd of November 2024. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

A very happy Friday- I had a few questions I thought I was going to get to on this mailbag week, but as I answered certain questions, they led to other questions, and I thought I would take something of a direct line with these questions largely dealing with some of the differences, or varieties of Christianity throughout time and space.  

Today’s mailbag question comes from Michael in Marshalltown, Iowa (or, from there at least), which was a place that looked familiar… yes- the hometown of Adrian Constantine Anson, AKA Cap Anson, the Baseball Hall of Fame inductee. He played on a team in Marshalltown with Billy Sunday, the baseball player turned evangelist, and in the next century, Jim Rayburn founded Young Life from Marshalltown.

Michael’s question was big- and I like those and it is narrowed down to its essence when he asks, “What are the biggest differences between [American] churches today?”. This is, essentially, the most asked question: “Who is who?” And I don’t think in a “so we can find them and trap them!” Way but because we’re all curious about our brothers and sisters- sometimes dear friends and family members who are Christians but don’t “look exactly like us.”

Well- let me give you some ballpark, round numbers. The US Religion Census studied about 400 distinct religious bodies in America. Overwhelmingly Christian. But among those 400, there were, self-described, over 1,000 groups (because some people don’t like to be counted with others). The good news is that about 20 of these groups have over a million adherents and make up for 90% of these-so we can generalize a bit.

The major distinction is Catholic and Protestant- and we’ve got the Pope to thank for making that one an easy distinction. As for us non-Pope folk, well… You have the “Magisterial” Reformers we discussed recently, Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli. That covers the German-Swiss and some French lands. Their reform is exported to the British Isles, where it becomes a favorite of the “Presbyterians,” “Puritans,” and others.

But the general distinction is “Lutheran” (following the Lutheran confessions) and Reformed (generally Calvinistic).

You have a group of Baptists that grow out of the reformed, and then you have the “radicals”- still Protestant but following the likes of the Anabaptists (think Mennonites, Quakers, Brethren, etc.). And I don’t want to forget the Anglicans (sometimes called Episcopalians) who came out of the Reformation and started with Henry VIII. The “Methodists” break from these Anglicans as a kind of “Evangelical” response to the perceived formalism of the Anglicans.

Most Protestant churches will have a “confession of faith” or “what we believe,” and they will explicitly or implicitly tie themselves to one of these streams of Reformation churches.

And then there are the “evangelical” and “mainline” versions of most of these churches. We will follow that “evangelical” thread in a minute.

But there is no wonder that when I hear about people's experiences at different churches, it tends to center on the Sunday morning “experience.” Is it “high church” or “low church” (essentially, how formal or fancy), and are they “sacramental”? What is the place of the preached word? Is it a brief homily or a 45-minute exposition, verse-by-verse?  

The short answer, Michael, is that the American Protestant church has become an amalgamation of so many traditions, practices, and denominational structures with varying levels of theological independence and usually more independence when it comes to worship. My advice is to check out a church's website- what they say about themselves and then check out a local congregation, and then it takes time- every congregation is different, and pastors are different (even if they both share a strong conviction or confession of faith). I think we do best to lay out the strands one by one, as we’ve been doing for, well, some 1800 shows- and identify the threads and various “ingredients” that make up our modern churches.

The real conundrum for understanding the modern American church- and by “modern,” I mean the past century (And by American, I include our Canadian cousins) is what constitutes an “Evangelical”- literally “a gospeller” you might know this is a contentious topic. One historian called an evangelical “someone who likes Billy Graham,”… which might be as good a definition as it is a quip. And what do you know, this weekend on the Weekend edition is the long-awaited “Billy Graham Episode”- his life but more than a biography, we will examine how, in many ways, the modern American church (the one that is shifting and changing under our feet) is a product of a bunch of things- but perhaps primarily, America’s Pastor: Billy Graham.

Thanks for the question, Michael, and hopefully, we can get even more clarity on the modern church with the show tomorrow. You can send me your questions, comments, pickling recipes, crime tips, etc., to danv@1517.org.

The last word for today is from the daily lectionary and 1 Corinthians 15:

20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. 24 Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 22nd of November 2024, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man unashamed to be in full Pumpkin Spice mode- he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who reminds you that pumpkin spice is not pumpkin but rather a spice blend that evokes pumpkin pie. I’m an egg nog latte guy and 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.