Protestant does not necessarily mean Evangelical

[Brad_Williams]

I opened the Catholic Answers archive this morning and found language that is all too common in Catholic circles: using ‘Protestant’ in place of ‘Evangelical.’ Here is the specific passage:
“When I was a Protestant evangelist, I had one goal: get someone to pray the “Sinner’s Prayer.” This prayer essentially asks God to forgive the person of his sins and invites Jesus to become Lord of his life. Once prayed, the work of the evangelist was successfully completed, and he could move on to the next potential convert.”

To the best of my knowlege, this concept of sanctification/salvation, popularized by the Evangelical movement, is not embraced by mainline Protestants. While most Protestant confessions beleive in the Solas of the Reformation, there are a wide array of interpretations.

I guess my concern is that many Catholic apologists create a Protestant strawman in the form of a reductio ad Baptistum, in which the legion of Protestant intellectual traditions are boiled down to a Billy Graham altar call.

 

[Fauken]

Can you link the actual post in question? I just copied that text you cited and did a search on the forum, and I didn’t get a single result.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

I’m not sure that using the word “Protestant” in a passage that, read in context, is clearly about evangelicals means that either the person who wrote the post, or the reader, is completely unaware of mainline Protestantism.

One thing to consider is that depending on what region of the USA or the world you are in, “Protestant” Is likely to refer to very different things. If you are in the UK, “Protestant” is probably going to mean Church of England and/or Scots Presbyterian. If you are in the southern USA, “Protestant” is likely to mean Baptist or Evangelical. If you are in certain northern areas of the USA, “Protestant” is likely to mean Lutherans. Etc. If the only Protestants you meet all day are Evangelicals, there’s not much motivation to differentiate between them and mainline Protestants because there are no mainline Protestants around.

Most people who are seriously into religion enough to participate regularly on this forum realize that there is a big difference between mainline Protestantism and the evangelical faiths that came along later, even if they don’t fully understand or research every single nuance of difference. It’s also the case that the Billy Graham evangelical faiths tend to be the most visible Protestants in USA because the megachurches, large TV broadcasts, and celebrity preachers like Graham himself fall in that category. We simply don’t have Lutheran pastors or Presbyterian ministers who are drawing a huge megachurch/ national/ TV audience.

Why are you concerned about this? Do you feel that Catholic apologists are not doing enough to reach out to mainline Protestants, or are you just feeling like the mainline Protestants are being disrespected in some way?

 

[Brad_Williams]

Not on the forum. It’s an article an article on CA called “the secret weapon of evangelization”

 

[0Scarlett_nidiyilii]

No, you’re right—the different Protestant Churches have their own beliefs and theologies, and are not the same.
But the most vocal Protestants tend to be of the Born Again/Fundamentalist/Evangelical type, they’re the ones a Catholic will most likely deal with.
Amish don’t try to convert you as you’re buying produce at their farmers market.

 

[BartholomewB]

Hi Brad. Welcome to CAF! The point you raise about the Catholic temptation to overgeneralize, whenever questions are asked about what “Protestants” do, is a recurring topic on these boards. Here are just two recent threads.

How do protestants defend sola scriptura? Sacred Scripture

Hi. I found the sola scriptura doctrine a little bit funny and obviously wrong. I am very curious if there is any protestants here or other people aware of how they defend this fallacious doctrine.

What is the difference in Protestants being "saved" and Catholic salvation? Non-Catholic Religions

The Protestants cannot “self proclaim and save” themselves. If they knew they were heaven bound, they would be JESUS. JESUS grants salvation, not a book. The bible teaches the Christian faith, which includes JESUS proclaiming that HE has formed a church, HIS church. Not multiple churches and not multiple flavors, nuances or essences of the HIS church - just ONE Church. Our Protestant brothers and sister have to answer the question to themselves, that if JESUS formed ONE church, and the p…

BTW, we are advised not to use our real names when we post here at CAF, because of possible harassment.

 

[Brad_Williams]

Thanks for the heads-up.

 

[KathleenT]

I use Protestant to mean any non-Catholic Christian. This is generally how most Catholics I know use the word.

I don’t see anything wrong with what the poster wrote or how it is a straw man.

 

[Fauken]

I don’t see anything wrong with what the poster wrote or how it is a straw man.

Evangelicals are Protestants, but not all Protestants are Evangelicals. That’s what he takes issue with: it is not correct to believe all Protestants hold what Evangelical groups believe.

 

[Brad_Williams]

It is imprecise. Apologetics uses reason to argue for one’s beliefs. Gross over generalizations are fallacious.

 

[twf]

I think it is an important point. CAF is VERY American-centric. When we see articles about the Pope reaching out to Protestants, in a European context, or the German Bishops proposing limited inter-communion with Protestants, people here freak out and start going on about how Protestants reject the real presence, etc etc. In that context we are talking about Lutherans who are liturgical and who do confess a belief in some sort of real presence.

 

[Brad_Williams]

My only concern is that it’s intellectually dishonest to treat Protestantism as a monolith. There are many denominations that are much closer to Catholic theology than they are to other Protestants’ take on Christianity.

 

[Hodos]

I opened the Catholic Answers archive this morning and found language that is all too common in Catholic circles: using ‘Protestant’ in place of ‘Evangelical.

I think part of the problem is that the word “evangelical” has been redefined primarily by the secular community who didn’t understand what the evangel is to begin with. The evangel is the good news of the gospel. Evangelical therefore means, of or according to the gospel.

 

[Wannano]

Brad_Williams:

I opened the Catholic Answers archive this morning and found language that is all too common in Catholic circles: using ‘Protestant’ in place of ‘Evangelical.

I think part of the problem is that the word “evangelical” has been redefined primarily by the secular community who didn’t understand what the evangel is to begin with. The evangel is the good news of the gospel. Evangelical therefore means, of or according to the gospel.

All Christians whether Catholic or Non-Catholic are called to be evangelical.

 

[Hodos]

All Christians whether Catholic or Non-Catholic are called to be evangelical.

I would agree that all Christians are called to be evangelical.

 

[OnAJourney]

The problem is that the term has become tied with the baggage of evangelic protestants, who can be a bit pushy

 

[Wannano]

The problem is that the term has become tied with the baggage of evangelic protestants, who can be a bit pushy

It is really a confusing term. For sure, a lot of “wing-nuts” appear on the scene from the far extreme edge of “Evangelicalism”. I watched a youtube presentation showing a ranting man screaming at Catholics as they entered a building for a seminar. He was telling Catholics that their religion was false and taking them to hell. The interviewed Catholics referred to him as an Evangelical with a derogatory meaning. So now here on CAF I have experienced this in reverse from a few Catholics who rant and rave that non-Catholics are divisive, schismatic and going to hell…are these the Catholic evangelicals?

 

[JonNC]

It is imprecise. Apologetics uses reason to argue for one’s beliefs. Gross over generalizations are fallacious.

Which is why the use of the term Protestant, when speaking of doctrine and practice, is folly.

 

[OnAJourney]

So now here on CAF I have experienced this in reverse from a few Catholics who rant and rave that non-Catholics are divisive, schismatic and going to hell…are these the Catholic evangelicals?

I’m not quite sure if evangelical would fit in that context. Maybe? I happen to think that discussions almost always get muddled in that area. Perhaps fundamentalist might take primacy over evangelical in that situation

 

[Tis_Bearself]

I think in a lot of cases the Catholic speaking doesn’t mean to be intellectually dishonest. It’s more just a form of shorthand, especially in the context of making a post online.

As someone else also said, the most challenges to Catholicism tend to come from Evangelicals relying on Scripture. The average Lutheran or Presbyterian I meet is not trying to tell me my beliefs are wrong or asking where in Scripture it says blablabla. So the apologetics tend to be skewed towards answering Evangelical criticisms, the more so because CAF is US-based.