Evangelical

Jane_the_Bane

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Well, "radical" started out as a neutal-to-positive term, too, denoting early 19th century liberal reformers campaigning for changes to society at its very root, for example by replacing monarchism and feudalism with parliamentary democracy.

This does not render current usage of the term *wrong*, however, nor is it pejorative to call an extremist just that.
 
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Jane_the_Bane

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As noted, my own native language can differentiate between "evangelisch" (= belonging to said protestant tradition going back to Luther and the reformation) and "evangelikal" (=fundamentalists belonging to predominantly US-American sects, promoting such things as YEC, forced births, the patriarchy, homophobia, far-right politics and a general disdain for science and intellectualism).

In short, "evangelisch" is what I think of when I remember the reasonable Lutheranism I grew up with. "Evangelikal" reminds me of the Handmaid's Tale.
 
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juvenissun

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"Evangelist" is not the same as "Evangelical", which is not the same as "literalist".

Evangelist = announcer of the Good News, particularly the authors of the four canonical gospels (or euangelion= good news).

Evangelical = member of a worldwide, transdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity which maintains the belief that the essence of the Gospel consists of the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ's atonement; more colloquially and recently: a fundamentalist, but with a nicer-sounding name

literalist = a sub-set of Evangelicalism; fundamentalist believer who claims to take the Bible literally (even though that aspiration is usually proven wrong, as even these radicals have to interpret the text and do so to tweak it in the direction they want).

Good clearance. But it is useless to me so far. I am in the union of all those three domains.
 
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Jane_the_Bane

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Good clearance. But it is useless to me so far. I am in the union of all those three domains.
Unless you are a time-traveling 1st century Christian who penned a book of the Bible, you'll have a hard time earning the title "Evangelist". (No, doing missionary work and "preaching the gospel" is not the same.)
 
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juvenissun

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Unless you are a time-traveling 1st century Christian who penned a book of the Bible, you'll have a hard time earning the title "Evangelist". (No, doing missionary work and "preaching the gospel" is not the same.)

It is the same NOW.
 
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hedrick

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That would be the pejorative misuse of the term.
Historically, evangelical used to be used to focus on things like justification by faith. But I think today it is used by most people to include ideas like inerrancy. Would you consider someone who believed "doctrine of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ's atonement" and supported gay marriage and evolution an evangelical? I think it would be unusual to do so.
 
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Radagast

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fundamentalists belonging to predominantly US-American sects, promoting such things as YEC, forced births, the patriarchy, homophobia, far-right politics and a general disdain for science and intellectualism

That's not an accurate depiction of US Evangelicals -- speaking as an Evangelical who is a scientist.
 
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Radagast

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Historically, evangelical used to be used to focus on things like justification by faith. But I think today it is used by most people to include ideas like inerrancy

Inerrancy was one of the "fundamentals" of a century ago. But of course it was also a doctrine held by the Reformers.
 
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Radagast

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Unless you are a time-traveling 1st century Christian who penned a book of the Bible, you'll have a hard time earning the title "Evangelist". (No, doing missionary work and "preaching the gospel" is not the same.)

Actually, you are incorrect. See Acts of the Apostles 21:8, Ephesians 4:11, and 2 Timothy 4:5.
 
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Jane_the_Bane

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Inerrancy was one of the "fundamentals" of a century ago. But of course it was also a doctrine held by the Reformers.
Yeah, 500 years ago, when the scientific method didn't exist and even experts and scholars could only assume that the Bible was their best bet.
The situation was profoundly different when the original fundamentalists laid down their principles. They placed themselves in direct opposition to the modern world, establishing themselves as reactionary iconoclasts who want to pluck out the world's eyes to stop it from seeing a planet that's older than 6000 years, where a global flood never took place and species evolved by natural selection instead of being supernaturally created for their ecological niches.
 
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