Quote:
Originally Posted by 11of101
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-den...l_Christianity
Boston University religion scholar Stephen Prothero argues that non-denominationalism hides the fundamental theological and spiritual issues that drove the division of Christianity into denominations in the first place behind a veneer of "Christian unity." He argues that non-denominationalism encourages a descent of Christianity—and indeed, all religions—into comfortable "general moralism" rather than being a focus for facing the complexities of churchgoers' culture and spirituality.
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Eeeeh. Methinks Prothero doth protest too much. General moralism is not that bad a thing to begin with. If the non-denominational movement was questioning the person and work of Christ, and diluting the message of salvation that would be an issue. But except on some fringes I don't see that as a threat. In fact, it is in the community church movement where the truth of the gospel is being proclaimed most vigorously.
Like it or not, the community church movement is largely driven by people who formerly called themselves Baptists and who aren't ashamed of the label, they just choose not to use it. Baptists historically have upheld the truth of the gospel as good as any brand of Christianity.
It sounds like non-denominational Christianity is not doctrinaire enough for Prothero. As to it encouraging ignorance of scripture (a point he further made in Wikipedia), I wonder if he ever considered that division over doctrine (i.g. rank denominationalism) is
evidence of ignorance of Scripture. That is, given the choice of the errors of rank denominationalism and rank non-denominationalism, I'll take the latter any day.