Am I a Classical Liberal?

[jedishampoo]

This religious theology thing was done by everyone so I tried it out. I really don't know what classical liberal means... I agree with some of what it said but I had trouble answering the questions because some of them needed a "WTF" category. Like who is Bishop Spong? ;) Actually, I would be interested to have some of my churchgoing friends answer some questions...

My churchgoing experiences have been sorta varied. Does this sort of quiz go beyond actual churches to more of a philosophical standpoint? Like where would Unitarian be in this scale? That's where my parents took us, when they bothered to take us to church at all. I liked it. There was no hell and lots of shell necklaces and hand-holding and singing. :)

My parents pulled me out of a Baptist youth group when I was 13 because I had nightmares about their Rapture movies. I even went to a really great Pentecostal church when I was in my early 20s, and I learned a lot. But apparently I don't believe anything they had to say? Pentecostal is more of a Fundamentalist thing, isn't it, usually? But they didn't care if I wore shorts and didn't speak in tongues. Hmmm...

You scored as Classical Liberal. You are a classical liberal. You are sceptical about much of the historicity of the Bible, and the most important thing Jesus has done is to set us a good moral example that we are to follow. Doctrines like the trinity and the incarnation are speculative and not really important, and in the face of science and philosophy the surest way we can be certain about God is by our inner awareness of him. Discipleship is expressed by good moral behaviour, but inward religious feeling is most important. </td> Classical Liberal 79% Emergent/Postmodern 68% Modern Liberal 57% Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 54% Neo orthodox 39% Charismatic/Pentecostal 32% Reformed Evangelical 25% Roman Catholic 11% Fundamentalist 7% What's your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.com

Comments

[dm-lunsford.livejournal.com]

I'll take a stab at some of your questions.

Does this sort of quiz go beyond actual churches to more of a philosophical standpoint?

It seems that was the intent. I found that I was able to make much more "informed" decisions about some of the questions after having recently taken my Church History course. I can easily see how if someone didn't have much background in that and was just basing answers on their "church experience" that the result could come out a little surprising. And I find, even in my relatively limited experience, that even within any one particular theological view the various churches that fall within that view can be all over the spectrum.

Like where would Unitarian be in this scale?

Okay, I confess I know very little about Unitarian churches. But, based on the brief description you did give of what you remember from services there, I can see how "Liberal" might fit that as an overall category.

Baptist and Pentecostal groups... yeah, I'd say that, in general, they tend to lean more toward the Fundamental side. But they don't have to. The key to Fundamentalism is the whole literal interpretation of Scripture. But that can really be such a fine line of variation when you compare it with Evangelical, which is also very much with an emphasis on the authority of Scripture as means of revelation. I think these two groups often get lumped together by folks who don't understand the nuance of difference between them. (Probably why I scored a whopping 25% Fundamentalist - which I don't consider myself at all - on my own quiz because some of the Scripture questions I noticed really don't make the distinction clearly enough.)

I'd be interested to read the description for "Modern Liberal" to compare it with what this quiz author has for "Classical Liberal" and see how they differ. But from what I remember from my Church History class Liberalism in terms of theological view does stress the kinds of things mentioned in the description above.

Now, did any of that help or have I just confused you all the more? ; )

:)

[jedishampoo.livejournal.com]

Actually that was very helpful! I'll bet the church history class was fascinating and enlightening. Something like that might be helpful to people who are "against" one type of church or another because of not knowing enough about them. I never really understood what "baptist" or "methodist" meant as opposed to most other things, or what it means to be catholic. I really did learn a lot in the pentecostal church but as far as differences of interpretation of scripture go, I am pretty clueless.

I loved the pentecostal church that I went to. (Most people are surprised to hear that.) Of course I'm not sure how representative of "pentecostal" or fundamentalist that church was, but they have been my only churchgoing experience as an adult. They were really into scripture and bible school and most of the women were "dresses and no makeup," but they welcomed me in my shorts and sandals anyway. ;)

Thanks for your input!! :)