Picking a Label to Replace “Progressive”

Picking a Label to Replace “Progressive” August 4, 2011

So, yesterday’s post has generated lots of great suggestions for a label to replace “Progressive” Christian.  Below is a survey in which you can vote for your favorite.  But before we get there:

  • Yes, we need a label.  Words shape us; words do things; words have power.  It’s no mistake that conservatives have captured the term “evangelical.”  They did that because they know that words matter.
  • Calling yourself a “Christian” or a “follower of Christ” is fine, but when your local paper quotes you in an article about the next presidential election, they’re going to put a qualifier on that, whether you like it or not.  Trust me, the organizers of the Wild Goose Festival didn’t want it to be considered primarily a gathering of “emergent Christians,” but that’s what it said in every news report.
  • We can’t be “post-evangelical” or “post-conservative,” because then we’re just defining ourselves over against others.
  • Of the suggestions that came in, I have chosen five for a vote.  I eliminated the non-theological terms (except for one), and I eliminated the theological-but-obscure (soterial, basieleia, hodosian).
  • I already have my favorite, but let’s see what you think.

Please vote below, and feel free to justify you vote in the comments (and rally others to your cause!):


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