Comments on: The Two Christianities: Reader Feedback… http://ceruleansanctum.com/2007/04/the-two-christianities-reader-feedback.html Looking for the 1st century Church in 21st century America Sun, 12 Feb 2012 12:37:15 +0000 hourly 1 By: Caleb Woodbridgehttp://ceruleansanctum.com/2007/04/the-two-christianities-reader-feedback.html#comment-26214 Caleb Woodbridge Thu, 19 Apr 2007 07:59:14 +0000 http://ceruleansanctum.com/2007/04/the-two-christianities-reader-feedback.html#comment-26214 There's an excellent series of talks by Andrew Fellows of L'Abri Fellowship (http://www.englishlabri.org) on "Narcissism: The Worldview of Self", which analyses the narcissism of the current self in detail. I think it's available from Soundword in the US, but people in the UK can download the talks free from http://www.bethinking.org/ One of the things I'm wondering about is whether there's a connection between our modern narcissism and Externally Motivated Christianity. EM faith has obviously existed right back to Bible times, but does our self-centred culture have a particular tendency to produce it? There’s an excellent series of talks by Andrew Fellows of L’Abri Fellowship (http://www.englishlabri.org) on “Narcissism: The Worldview of Self”, which analyses the narcissism of the current self in detail. I think it’s available from Soundword in the US, but people in the UK can download the talks free from http://www.bethinking.org/

One of the things I’m wondering about is whether there’s a connection between our modern narcissism and Externally Motivated Christianity. EM faith has obviously existed right back to Bible times, but does our self-centred culture have a particular tendency to produce it?

]]> By: Dan Edelenhttp://ceruleansanctum.com/2007/04/the-two-christianities-reader-feedback.html#comment-26205 Dan Edelen Thu, 19 Apr 2007 04:42:25 +0000 http://ceruleansanctum.com/2007/04/the-two-christianities-reader-feedback.html#comment-26205 Bonnie, I think one of the defining differences here is that IM Christianity relies on the Spirit for guidance far more than EM Christianity does. In fact, EM Christianity doesn't like not having a Scripture to fall back on for everything. Having to discern directions and truths by the Spirit alone makes the EM Christian uneasy. Bonnie,

I think one of the defining differences here is that IM Christianity relies on the Spirit for guidance far more than EM Christianity does. In fact, EM Christianity doesn’t like not having a Scripture to fall back on for everything. Having to discern directions and truths by the Spirit alone makes the EM Christian uneasy.

]]> By: Dan Edelenhttp://ceruleansanctum.com/2007/04/the-two-christianities-reader-feedback.html#comment-26204 Dan Edelen Thu, 19 Apr 2007 04:39:41 +0000 http://ceruleansanctum.com/2007/04/the-two-christianities-reader-feedback.html#comment-26204 Oengus, You're absolutely right. No single idea here is new. For me, though, it's being able to pull the pieces together and look at the whole. The overhead view is what was the big "ah-ha" for me. I think God put all the pieces together. Better yet, being able to draw distinct camps between the two made for analysis options I hadn't entertained in the past. I used to see the two as a jumble, but now that I understand the motivations, they separate more cleanly. Oengus,

You’re absolutely right. No single idea here is new.

For me, though, it’s being able to pull the pieces together and look at the whole. The overhead view is what was the big “ah-ha” for me. I think God put all the pieces together. Better yet, being able to draw distinct camps between the two made for analysis options I hadn’t entertained in the past. I used to see the two as a jumble, but now that I understand the motivations, they separate more cleanly.

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