Posted on 07/02/2005 7:19:22 PM PDT by sionnsar
I took an amusing survey on line this afternoon that is meant to categorize one's theological worldview. Of course, they didn't have "Anglo-Catholic" as a category and I turned out as a "Roman Catholic", but a species of evangelical was a very close second for me. Hence I was reassured that my own self-understanding as an "evangelical Catholic" is not far from the mark. You can see my results below. On the whole I really am a hybrid of Catholic traditions and "evangelical holiness" (which is a descendant of Anglicanism, after all). You can take the test yourself here.:
"You scored as Roman Catholic. Church tradition and ecclesial authority are hugely important, and the most important part of worship for you is mass. As the Mother of God, Mary is important in your theology, and as the communion of saints includes the living and the dead, you can also ask the saints to intercede for you.
Roman Catholic 89%
Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 86%
Neo orthodox 79%
Reformed Evangelical 54%
Fundamentalist 50%
Classical Liberal 39%
Charismatic/Pentecostal 32%
Emergent/Postmodern 25%
Modern Liberal 14%"
Part of the reason is that the questions are a bit limited and also a bit unclear. But part of the reason is that the old Wesleyan Methodists are really traditional Anglicans, who are more Catholic than they really want to admit . . . ;-)
Wow, interesting.
It's the 14% modern liberal I'd worry about if I were you. ;-)
Wonder how a Muslim would come out? I have to forward the test and see...think they would tell?
***It's the 14% modern liberal I'd worry about if I were you. ;-)***
Watch that "Neo orthodox 79%" - just as bad!
:(
I was curious about that category, not knowing what it actually meant. I wondered if it is something akin to 'neo-conservative'?
In any case, the questions, as AmericanMother notes, are ambiguous and some of them are variations on one another such that a clear 'no' in one case would permit a guarded 'yes' in another resulting in a contradictory view.
The questions I'm referring to here are:
8. 'The Bible is God's primary revelation of himself.'
41. 'The person of Christ, rather than the Bible, is the central focus of God's self-revelation.'
Now, given that I basically can only know Christ by reading the Bible (at least in the intellectual sense), the question of which is fundamental depends on the context, which is missing in the first question. I suppose it is intended to imply the Protestant doctrine of Sola Scriptura, but need not.
Basically, this isn't even a scientifically designed survey, much less one whose results might provide information about the population. I wouldn't put too much stock in the result.
In Christ,
Deacon Paul+
Neo-orthodox does not quite believe that Jesus was God for a period of time in His earthly life. It also believes that the Bible contains the Word of God but itself as a whole is NOT completely the Word of God. It is half way between fully biblical Christianity and liberal pseudo-Christian religion but IMHO it is basically liberalism-lite.
I think there are some Neo-orthodox people who could be saved, but most of them are just as lost as unbelievers down the street.
***I was curious about that category, not knowing what it actually meant. I wondered if it is something akin to 'neo-conservative'?***
It's a fairly new (1920) liberal/orthodoxy hybrid exhibiting a desire to return to the "meaning" of Scripture without the literal. More info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoorthodoxy
As an example, Karl Barth, when asked if he believed the snake in Genesis spoke replied, "It doesn't matter if he really spoke, what matters is what he said."
*** Basically, this isn't even a scientifically designed survey,***
Agreed - it was rather poorly thought out.
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