Trevor, > Is "evangelical" a word whose meaning is changing? The OED may explain it > as "of or according to the teaching of the gospel or the Christian > religion". But for some, evangelical may have more of a meaning of > religious fundamentalism, religious intolerance, even religious bigotry.
I raised the issue of definitions with a member of EMU following Assembly. I said "The New Oxford English Dictionary states that to evangelise is to "Proclaim the gospel; act as an evangelist." to be evangelical is to be "of, pertaining to, or in accordance with the teaching of the gospel or Christian religion"." he replied: "We evangelicals use the word in a different way - the one sanctioned by the Oxford Church Dictionary (I think that is what it is called). The specialist meaning of evangelical deals with belief in the atonement Christ made for sin, belief in the Scripture as regulating our faith and obedience because it is God's word to us. We are not at liberty to ignore passages at random (or for particular purposes). We haven't hijacked the word 'evangelical', unless the Oxford Church Dictionary has. It is a recognised meaning - a specialist meaning, admittedly. Our name unashamedly claims this specialist meaning in our EMU constitution." I wonder if that will help at all? It has in some ways been helpful for me to have evangelical and 'E'vangelical - ie I am an evangelical member of the Uniting Church in Australia, but I am not an Evangelical Member within the Uniting Church in Australia. Regards Wesley ------------------------------------------------------ - You are subscribed to the mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] - To unsubscribe, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the message body 'unsubscribe insights-l' (ell, not one (1)) See: http://nsw.uca.org.au/insights-l-information.htm ------------------------------------------------------
