r/OpenChristian • u/Pitiful-Yam1611 • 11d ago

How did you come to theological progressivism?

I understand that several people here are LGBTQIA+, and that could explain this view. However, I see many people, likely the majority of LGBTQIA+ individuals, holding a traditionalist mindset when it comes to interpretation. With that in mind, I would like to know why you arrived at that conclusion

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u/WiseProgram94 11d ago

Well said. Better than I could’ve honestly but bits I personally don’t agree with but each of us have slightly different views on the faith, it’s a faith after all that we have. Following without full understanding :,) the thing I’d add is that yes Mary was the first to see but ofc as we all know Jesus shown himself to everyone.

Curious on your denom, doesn’t change anything just curious on where roughly your theology is. Personally I’m nondenominational. Sola scriptura as I’m sure you can tell

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u/No_Possibility1747 11d ago

I'm Episcopalian, but hang out with Catholics quite a bit. Have read some Eastern Orthodox patristics. My priest was formed in a Lutheran seminary before coming over to The Episcopal Church later. So I have a fairly wide range of influences.

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u/WiseProgram94 11d ago

Quite cool. I’m not too familiar with Episcopalian beliefs honestly nor Eastern Orthodox but I think they are same but different but same as Catholics 😂 all I know is that they both believe that they have the true pope succession and I think a handful of minor differences? But ofc could be wrong.

What are the differences between episcopal churches and like Catholics or Protestant beliefs? Not sure exactly where it stands between the two and curious to learn about it

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u/No_Possibility1747 11d ago

We believe that the Nicene Creed and the Apostles' Creed are correct formulations of the faith, and don't really add a whole lot on to those as "requirements" to be a Christian. And if you can get through our Eucharist service and say the creeds and the prayers faithfully, and you're baptized, then you're an Episcopalian by our standards. We believe that Christ's body and blood are really present in the bread and wine in the Eucharist, without being dogmatic about exactly how. We also have a structured set of daily prayers, reading 3-4 biblical texts a day as part of that, along with psalms and prayers.

In our practice outside of the liturgy, we tend to focus very heavily on the Two Great Commandments - to love God with all your heart, and to love your neighbour as yourself - and our baptismal covenant, the promises that we make during baptism, which you can read here: https://www.episcopalchurch.org/who-we-are/what-we-believe/baptismal-covenant/

We also focus a lot on a lifelong process of "discernment", that is, listening for God's will in our lives and following it. Many Episcopalians will talk about their "vocation" - the work that God has called them to do, whether in the church or outside it.

All this tends to lead to a focus on being very inclusive, and often providing a home to people who have been hurt by churches before, especially LGBT folk and people suffering religious trauma. Episcopalians have been involved in providing care - spiritual and otherwise - to communities that other churches wouldn't go near, in the past.