{"id":2527,"date":"2011-12-01T14:33:00","date_gmt":"2011-12-01T14:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2011\/12\/getting-in-front-of-jesus-the-politics-of-progressive-christianity-part-i.html"},"modified":"2011-12-01T14:33:00","modified_gmt":"2011-12-01T14:33:00","slug":"getting-in-front-of-jesus-the-politics-of-progressive-christianity-part-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2011\/12\/getting-in-front-of-jesus-the-politics-of-progressive-christianity-part-i.html","title":{"rendered":"Getting in Front of Jesus: The Politics of Progressive Christianity (Part I)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

by Brad Braxton
Huffington Post<\/p>\n

Parishioners in the church of my childhood often sang the hymn, \u201cI have decided to follow Jesus\u2026No turning back, no turning back.\u201d The hymn cautioned disciples about turning away from Jesus. This essay explores the prospect of being disciples by getting in front of Jesus.
To follow a person usually means walking behind that person. Could it be, however, that we follow Jesus most faithfully when we walk ahead<\/i> of Jesus? I argue for a progressive Christianity that extends the meaning and mission of Jesus into the present and future, rather than promoting an obsession with the past. Defining \u201cprogressive Christian\u201d and \u201cprophetic evangelical\u201d (interchangeable terms for me) will facilitate a discussion of the politics of progressive Christianity.<\/p>\n

Progressive Christian<\/b>
According to some accounts, the term \u201cprogressive Christian\u201d surfaced in the 1990s and began replacing the more traditional term \u201cliberal Christian.\u201d During this period, some Christian leaders wanted to increasingly identify an approach to Christianity that was socially inclusive, conversant with science and culture, and not dogmatically adherent to theological litmus tests such as a belief in the Bible\u2019s inerrancy. The emergence of contemporary Christian progressivism was a refusal to make the false choice of \u201credeeming souls or redeeming the social order.\u201d
Read more here <\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Brad BraxtonHuffington Post Parishioners in the church of my childhood often sang the hymn, \u201cI have decided to follow Jesus\u2026No turning back, no turning back.\u201d The hymn cautioned disciples about turning away from Jesus. This essay explores the prospect of being disciples by getting in front of Jesus.To follow a person usually means walking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2251,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nGetting in Front of Jesus: The Politics of Progressive Christianity (Part I)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"by Brad BraxtonHuffington PostParishioners in the church of my childhood often sang the hymn, "I have decided to follow Jesus...No turning back, no\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2011\/12\/getting-in-front-of-jesus-the-politics-of-progressive-christianity-part-i.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Getting in Front of Jesus: The Politics of Progressive Christianity (Part I)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by Brad BraxtonHuffington PostParishioners in the church of my childhood often sang the hymn, "I have decided to follow Jesus...No turning back, no\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2011\/12\/getting-in-front-of-jesus-the-politics-of-progressive-christianity-part-i.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rhetoric Race and Religion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-12-01T14:33:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Andre E. 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