What’s In a Name?
Amy Frykholm, the associate editor of The Christian Century, is pondering whether mainline Protestantism needs a name change. A re-branding, if you will. Evangelicals have their brand name, after all, and “mainline” just doesn’t work for her:
“Mainline” emerged as a label in the early part of the twentieth-century to distinguish a certain kind of Protestant from a fundamentalist. Some have speculated that the name comes from the Philadelphia Main Line, a suburban rail line that passed by one denominational church after another. But its two parts, “main” and “line” are both utterly unhelpful in describing the people, theology, social commitments or religious identities contained under that category today.
If anything, so-called mainline Protestants are less “main” and less “line” than they’ve ever been.
Ain’t that the truth. But what about “liberal”?
“Liberal” likewise is useless. At our particular moment, it is primarily a political term. While it can apply to theology and abstractly to philosophy, that isn’t its main rhetorical purpose now, and it lumps people from a broad spectrum under a term that is awkward and uncomfortable for most of them. Many people in this category would not consider themselves “liberal” in theology, but they might in politics. Or they might be liberal in theology, but decidedly not so in politics. Or they might claim neither or both, or have no idea why it matters.
Whatever. So what do we call these institutions that are neither “mainline” nor “liberal,” neither fish nor fowl? I have a few suggestions:
1) Apostate
2) Heretical
3) Heterodox
4) Obsolete
5) Debating societies
6) Democratic Party affiliates
Feel free to vote for any of these, or suggest your own. I’ll be sure to send the results of this survey on to Ms. Frykholm.
PS: I should mention an exchange in the comments that I enjoyed. One commenter said, “How about inclusive protestantism, or maybe open-table protestants…” Another responded, “How about Ichabod?” Well done, Mark McNeil. Well done.
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18 comments
Unregenerate, maybe? Totally depraved seems a little harsh, but I guess it applies to all of us, not just mainliners. For an alliterative alternative, how about ululating universalists? I’m thinking here about the noise they make when they don’t get their way in either the ecclesiastical or political arena.
[1] Posted by Daniel on 7-23-2012 at 01:43 PM · [top]
1. “Faux Christians”
2. “People Playing Church”
3. “Fancy Dress Phonies” (for mainline cults that seem to believe the more elaborate, colorful or outrageous the vestments you wear, the more holy you must be; rainbow stoles come to mind as well as most anything worn by Katherine Jefferts Schori).
4. “Competing with the Knights of Pythias for Members”
[2] Posted by Jim the Puritan on 7-23-2012 at 02:08 PM · [top]
I would add:
1. “Un-Biblical”
2. “Don’t confuse me with the facts”
3. “Tolerant to my point of view only”
[3] Posted by B. Hunter on 7-23-2012 at 02:23 PM · [top]
Gven their ability to keep up with the times, I would propose (depending on whether we want to editorialize) either “Groovy Hip Cat” or “Uncool Jive Turkey” Potestants.
[4] Posted by Daniel Muth on 7-23-2012 at 06:06 PM · [top]
Irrelevant
The ultimate irony is that chasing after the type of public stances the NYT and the WaPo said would make the “relevant” to the “modern” western liberals, their numbers are dwindling to the point that no one cares, other than for the circus quality of their gatherings.
[5] Posted by Bill2 on 7-23-2012 at 06:53 PM · [top]
Comfort Room Christians.
Social Gospel Cowboys.
Finger Crossers.
Shrimpers.
Geld-Lings.
OGE’s (Organic Gas Emitters).
Little Jack Horners
Kudzus.
Democratic Party Rejects.
Parasites.
Plecostomi.
Rainbow Crashers.
[6] Posted by J Eppinga on 7-23-2012 at 07:03 PM · [top]
Laodiceans
[7] Posted by Just a Baptist on 7-23-2012 at 10:06 PM · [top]
Libchurchers. (And I’ve been calling them that for some time.)
[8] Posted by Newbie Anglican on 7-24-2012 at 07:52 AM · [top]
I have used the term “Episcopagans” to describe these liberal sorts in TEC for many years. The denomination could be called “The Episcopagan Church”. For all of these denominations as a group, they could be called “Faux Undulating Churches of Kinkiness”.
I chose the “k” word because of the synonyms for kinkiness…. well ...... ummm….... describe these people so well!
Main Entry: perversion [per-vur-zhuhn, -shuhn]
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: sexual abnormality
Synonyms: aberration, anomaly, corruption, debauchery, deviance, fetish, immorality, kink, kinkiness , sexual deviation
[9] Posted by SC blu cat lady on 7-24-2012 at 09:12 AM · [top]
The Flatline Churches
Churches of the Carbon-free Lampstand
Expellicals
Biblical Free Church
Ad Hominism
The Entropical Churches
The Illinformed Movement
The Reformed Illinformed Movement
The Morphodox Church
Excommunicables
Fuzzymentalism
[10] Posted by tired on 7-24-2012 at 10:39 AM · [top]
Miasmatics
The Merging Church
Disciples of Vice
Grays, Covens, and Church
Ecu-person-ical protestant
The Holy Mess Movement
[11] Posted by tired on 7-24-2012 at 11:19 AM · [top]
That’s mean, SCBCL. Not to mention, well, you know…
[12] Posted by David Fischler on 7-24-2012 at 11:54 AM · [top]
LOL! I wondered if any would catch that…....
[13] Posted by SC blu cat lady on 7-24-2012 at 12:13 PM · [top]
What can I say, I just have that kind of mind…
[14] Posted by David Fischler on 7-24-2012 at 01:16 PM · [top]
Hey David, I have hated *that* word since I first learned what it meant. That is how much I hate what has happened to TEC. Sometimes this vile, degrading word is the only one the really expresses my hatred towards these “Episcopagans”. sigh…..
[15] Posted by SC blu cat lady on 7-24-2012 at 02:48 PM · [top]
Kind of like the First Unitarian Church of Kennebunkport, ME.
[16] Posted by Jim the Puritan on 7-24-2012 at 02:53 PM · [top]
LOL! I guess so if you say so, Jim.
[17] Posted by SC blu cat lady on 7-24-2012 at 04:04 PM · [top]
Sunday Christians
[18] Posted by catwrangler on 8-12-2012 at 05:18 PM · [top]
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