Evangelicals, Practices, and the Univocity of Being : Avoiding the Pitfall of Gnosticism

• The argument of this chapter is that the evangelical ideals of simplicity and spontaneity are rooted in a univocal understanding of being. If there is only one kind of being, which God and creation are imagined toshare, then God cannot be thought of as present in and through created matter but rather instead of it. Thus the tendency in the Free churches and Evangelicalism in general to perceive complex practices and materiality as competing with God’s presence, as well as to favor simplicity and spontaneity.But the reluctance towards practices has resulted in an inability to withstand the cultural pressures of modernity. As a consequence Evangelicalism has turned into a mirror image of secular modernity. Furthermore, skepticism towards the material and a preference for authenticity is theologically problematic since it is, as this chapter will demonstrate, akin to a Gnostic worldview.

Ämnesord

HUMANIORA  -- Filosofi, etik och religion -- Religionsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Philosophy, Ethics and Religion -- Religious Studies (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Evangelicalism

Practices

Ontology

Duns Scotus

Prayer

Spontaneity

Rituals

Nominalism

Brad Gregory

Modernity

Gnosticism

Kyrkohistoria

Church History

Systematic Theology

Systematisk teologi

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