Message #3111

[AndyHB]

Ironically, if we go back to many of the real 'social action' developments - such the campaign against slavery, prison reform, workers rights, street work, etc. it was predominantly the evangelical wing of the church who led these - though the fundie/liberal divide didn't exist at the time since neither of these 'terms' existed; if anything, the evangelicals were thought of as the liberals of their times!!

That said, I think that the divide that ecu refers to is something that existed in the mid-1900s (probably from post- WW1 to about the late50s/early 60s).  It was the likes of John Stott, David Watson, Bishop David Shepherd, Tim Dudley-Smith, (Arch)Bishop George Carey, Michael Baughen and even my own father (in the Anglican arena) who redeveloped the link with social action from the 60s onwards.  There were evangelical leaders in the Baptist, Methodist and other non-conformist denominations who mirrored their work - but I don't know their names as well as I know the Anglicans'.  As such, I suspect that the divide is now more anecdotal than actual.  If anything the divide is now between the ultras on either end of the spectrum, where either social action is the be all and end all of the theology being espoused, or " ... all that hell to think about ... " at the other end.

It should also be noted that this is very much a UK view: the situation in the US is probably nearer our mid-1900s scenario, but with some groups such as Wimber's Vineyard groups both strongly "all that hell to think about" AND social action.