Moderate Christianity
{{Short description|Christian movement based on spiritual wisdom}}
Moderate Christianity is a theological movement in Christianity that seeks to make decisions based on spiritual wisdom.
Origin
Moderation in Christianity is related to the spiritual wisdom that is addressed in Epistle of James in chapter 3 verse 17.Scot McKnight, The Many Faces of Faith: A Guide to World Religions and Christian Traditions, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, USA, 2011, p. 313 In the First Epistle to Timothy,Chapter 3, verse 2. moderation is also referred to as temperance and is a required characteristic to be bishop in the Church. William MacDonald, Believer's Bible Commentary, Thomas Nelson Inc, USA, 2008, p. 2087
Characteristics
Moderate Christianity is characterized by its concern to bring hope to the world, to include cultural diversity and creative collaboration, by not being fundamentalist or liberal, by being predominantly conservative even while being guardedly open to newer developments and trends; by being committed to judicious discernment and avoiding extremism in its decisions.Sébastien Fath, Du ghetto au réseau: Le protestantisme évangélique en France, 1800-2005, Édition Labor et Fides, Genève, 2005, p. 160 Stephen R. Rock, Faith and Foreign Policy: The Views and Influence of U.S. Christians and Christian Organizations, Bloomsbury Publishing USA, USA, 2011, p. 12Klauspeter Blaser, Les théologies nord-américaines, Labor et Fides, Genève, 1995, p. 46Jacques Prévotat, Jean Vavasseur-Desperriers, Les chrétiens modérés en France et en Europe (1870-1960), Presses Univ. Septentrion, France, 2013, p. 15
Catholicism
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Moderate Catholic Christianity mainly became visible in the 18th century, with Catholic groups taking more moderate positions, such as supporting ecumenism and liturgical reforms. J. Derek Holmes, Bernard Bickers, A Short History of the Catholic Church, Burns & Oates, UK, 2002, p. 179 These moderates are also overwhelmingly in favor of state autonomy and the independence of Church doctrine from the state. Jacques Prévotat, Jean Vavasseur-Desperriers, Les chrétiens modérés en France et en Europe (1870-1960), Presses Univ. Septentrion, France, 2013, p. 16 After Vatican Council II, moderate Catholics distanced themselves from traditionalist Catholicism. Timothy Miller, America's Alternative Religions, SUNY Press, USA, 1995, p. 104
Evangelicalism
Moderate evangelical Christianity emerged in the 1940s in the United States in response to the fundamentalist movement of the 1910s. Robert H. Krapohl, Charles H. Lippy, The Evangelicals: A Historical, Thematic, and Biographical Guide, Greenwood Publishing Group, USA, 1999, p. 197 In the late 1940s, evangelical theologians from Fuller Theological Seminary founded in Pasadena, California, in 1947, championed the Christian importance of social activism. David R. Swartz, Moral Minority: The Evangelical Left in an Age of Conservatism, University of Pennsylvania Press, USA, 2012, p. 18 George Thomas Kurian, Mark A. Lamport, Encyclopedia of Christianity in the United States, Volume 5, Rowman & Littlefield, USA, 2016, p. 929 The study of the Bible has been accompanied by certain disciplines such as Biblical hermeneutics, Biblical exegesis and apologetics. George Demetrion, In Quest of a Vital Protestant Center: An Ecumenical Evangelical Perspective, Wipf and Stock Publishers, USA, 2014, p. 128Roger E. Olson, The Westminster Handbook to Evangelical Theology, Westminster John Knox Press, USA, 2004, p. 49 Moderate theologians have become more present in Bible colleges and more moderate theological positions have been adopted in evangelical churches. James Leo Garrett, Baptist Theology: A Four-century Study, Mercer University Press, USA, 2009, p. 45 Robert Warner, Reinventing English Evangelicalism, 1966-2001: A Theological and Sociological Study, Wipf and Stock Publishers, USA, 2007, p. 229 In this movement called neo-evangelicalism, new organizations, social agencies, media and Bible colleges were established in the 1950s.J. Gordon Melton, Martin Baumann, Religions of the World: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Beliefs and Practices, ABC-CLIO, USA, 2010, p. 1081-1082Axel R. Schäfer, Countercultural Conservatives: American Evangelicalism from the Postwar Revival to the New Christian Right, University of Wisconsin Press, USA, 2011, p. 50-51