The tagline under the title of this blog claims that I am, "blogging from the classical Christian perspective." The term "classical Christianity" is not one that gets much widespread use, but I employ it because it expresses my belief system a little better than simply "evangelical" or "fundamentalist" (see above). By identifying myself as a classical Christian I simply want to be associated with that body of orthodox Christian belief that has been around for the last 2,000 years, the body of beliefs that conform generally to the great creeds of the faith. I want to identify myself with the likes of Augustine and Aquinas, Luther and Calvin, Edwards and Wesley. And even though the characters in this gallery of the pious certainly don't agree on everything, classical Christianity is what emerges from their common doxastic denominators.

I would certainly use the term "evangelical" to refer to myself, as that is the group of Christians that most people would lump me with, but by using this vocabulary I am trying to specify what kind of evangelical I am. A large portion of modern evangelicalism has significantly different emphases than classical Christianity. Much of the modern church seems (to me) to be too politically-oriented, or too materialistic, or too liberal, or too conservative, or too anti-intellectual, or too anti-experiential. But that's nothing a good dose of the clear water of orthodoxy can't cure.

I also want to point out that on my view classical Christianity is not something that is so bogged down in tradition that it has no ability to adapt or change. In other words, I want the term to have a progressive emphasis as well. One can hold to the orthodox faith while striving to point out and correct the weaknesses and heresies that have crept in through whatever contemporary cultural zeitgeist the church finds itself in. Approaches to ministry, to culture, to evangelism, to missions, and even to theology that do not seek the chance to refine themselves into ever more accurate manifestations of authentic Christian faith are approaches that stagnate and die. God and His truth may never change, but our world and our actions in it must be ever adapting, ever refining themselves into versions that more faithfully represent the eternal kingdom.

Maybe one day I'll sit down and bang out a more developed definition of classical Christianity (all you Christian book editors reading this can start lining up now), but for now this meager outline will have to do.