A year ago, I took the theological worldview test, as well as the year before.
My findings a year ago were:
Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan: 93%
Charismatic/Pentecostal: 71%
Neo orthodox: 68%
Fundamentalist: 61%
Classical Liberal: 54%
Reformed Evangelical: 54%
Emergent/Postmodern: 50%
Roman Catholic: 43%
Modern Liberal: 36%
Now they are:
Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan: 93%
Neo orthodox: 79%
Reformed Evangelical: 68%
Fundamentalist: 68%
Charismatic/Pentecostal: 57%
Classical Liberal: 50%
Emergent/Postmodern: 50%
Roman Catholic: 46%
Modern Liberal: 11%
So the changes are:
Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan: unchanged
Charismatic/Pentecostal: down 14%
Neo orthodox: up 11%
Fundamentalist: up 7%
Classical Liberal: down 4%
Reformed Evangelical: up 14%
Emergent/Postmodern: unchanged
Roman Catholic: up 3%
Modern Liberal: down 25%
So overall, I'd say that I've become more conservative in the past year. Given Asbury Seminary's strongly postmodernist perspective, that's surprising. But at the same time, Asbury also teaches the themes of Total Depravity and Entire Sanctification, which could result in these numbers.
My Neo orthodox and Reformed Evangelical numbers have also gone up, most likely as my humanistic intellectual habits are drummed out of me. I'm not sure why my Pentecostal score has dropped so sharply.
The increase in my Roman Catholic score is most likely due to a more developed Wesleyan sacramental theology.
In fact, I'd say that reading 1,500 pages of the Wesley brothers is responsible for most if not all of these changes.
Sunday, April 01, 2007
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10 comments:
"Given Asbury Seminary's strongly postmodernist perspective, that's surprising"
lol!
&:~D
Modern Liberal: 11%
Does that mean you reject 11% of the Bible?
1 Year ago we did this, since I hat tipped you shortly afterward? Has it been that long? Time flies when you are talking about God, or does it not fly and in conversations regarding God, since we talk of Him, there is a little Alpha and Omega rubbing off on us? Never mind, I am not opening that can of worms. :)
PAX
JD
That wasn't intended as sarcasm, Gavin. Although the degree varies from professor to professor, postmodernism is strongly pushed here at ATS.
Although, strangely, I've only heard the word 'emerging' said three times while here, and two of the times, I was the person saying it.
Does that mean you reject 11% of the Bible?
Probably. Those 'thou shalt not' parts can get inconvenient at times.
1 Year ago we did this, since I hat tipped you shortly afterward? Has it been that long? Time flies when you are talking about God, or does it not fly and in conversations regarding God, since we talk of Him, there is a little Alpha and Omega rubbing off on us? Never mind, I am not opening that can of worms. :)
It's more than talking about God, but also with God. Theological formulation is rudderless without personal devotion. A lot of these changes come from God patiently working out my humanism.
Well, I took the test again, answering straightforwardly as possible to the questions (which meant choosing a middling answer for items about which I had no opinion). The results may surprise you:
Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 75%
Emergent/Postmodern 68%
Neo orthodox 54%
Modern Liberal 50%
Classical Liberal 46%
Charismatic/Pentecostal 43%
But then, I took it again. Taking into account what they were REALLY asking as opposed to just the straightforward question.
That is, when they said:
"God says it. I believe it. That settles it."
Well, I certainly agree with that notion and answered correspondingly on the first time through. But that quote is a reference to an unquestioning dogmatic approach to the Bible, which I reject.
Or, when they said:
We are called to pursue holiness, without which no one will see the Lord
Well, I certainly agree with that, too. But what I'm guessing they mean by that phrasing is that we are called to a certain type of personal piety (as opposed to being a called apart people, as holiness is better defined). And so, I changed my answer on the second time through.
I also didn't use any Middling answers, just agrees/strongly agrees and disagrees/strongly disagrees. So, where I don't really know much about Spong and have never read his writings and so chose a middle answer, I took a guess that I might like him based on what I've heard about him and changed my answer correspondingly.
The results this time?
Emergent/Postmodern 89%
Modern Liberal 68%
Classical Liberal 64%
Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 57%
Neo orthodox 43%
Roman Catholic 32%
Charismatic/Pentecostal 14%
Reformed Evangelical 14%
Fundamentalist 4%
As last time, I'll protest the absence of any Anabaptist category.
More than anyone wanted to know, I know...
That's really interesting, Dan. I've seen many people take the test and score as Wesleyan/Holiness to their surprise. The test may slant that way, or else Wesleyan theology is more pervasive than people realize.
The test is clearly designed to follow particular theological buzzwords such as "The Bible says it, I believe it, that settles it" is a Fundamentalist-leaning word, even though a whole heap of Fundamentalists tend to have very imaginative interpretations of teachings like "Turn the other cheek".
Hey Dan, shoot me an e-mail at locustsandhoney2005 at yahoo dot com. I want to talk with you about something.
"The increase in my Roman Catholic score is most likely due to a more developed Wesleyan sacramental theology."
Nah, fess up...it's my bloggy influence.
"It's more than talking about God, but also with God. Theological formulation is rudderless without personal devotion. A lot of these changes come from God patiently working out my humanism."
I guess next time, when I think of something, and it sounds funny to me in my head, I probably should not write it down. My comments, "Time flies when you are talking about God, or does it not fly and in conversations regarding God, since we talk of Him, there is a little Alpha and Omega rubbing off on us?" were a subtle, extremely subtle attempt to point out that the closer we come to God, the more the relative time/space continuum does not exist. Since God always was and always is, so to do we come closer to eternal existence without treading on God's space.
Like I said, funny to me, but too subtle overall. I do understand your comments though. Oswald Chambers talks about that in his reflections:
"Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One Who is leading. It is a life of Faith, not of intellect and reason, but a life of knowing Who makes us 'go.' The root of faith is the knowledge of a Person, and one of the biggest snares is the idea that God is sure to lead us to success." THE WAY OF ABRAHAM IN FAITH, March 19th
Maybe that is what you are coming to understand, and something I, as you, are beginning to get.
PAX
JD
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