Megavangelicals
I think I coined a word the other day on Beauty Tips For Ministers,
"megavangelicals"
Here it is in its original and first appearance:
http://beautytipsforministers.blogspot.com/2006/10/i-cant-stop-smelling-myself.html
I like and admire evangelicals. We make a serious mistake by using "fundamentalist" and "evangelical" synonymously. To be an evangelical religious person is not necessarily to be fundamentalist or even conservative. It means to be a spreader of the good news of one's faith.
I coined the word "megavangelical" to refer to those evangelicals -- whether very conservative or sort of stealthily conservative (like Joel Osteen) who aren't necessarily fundamentalists but who are the type of Christian that believe that God wants us to be personally economically prosperous, who think that the accumulation of great personal wealth isn't at all a bad thing, and who think that the point of prayer is to get God to do very specific, personally rewarding things for us, because God is a GREAT GOD, hallelujah!
I think you get where I'm going with this, but feel free to help me further clarify this new term, which I think has legs. No one else has used this word, have they? I'd be so embarrassed if Alban Institute has already been talking about megavangelicals for dozens of years.
[I just googled the term and got no hits. I think we have a winner here, ladies and gentlemen.-- P.B.]
"megavangelicals"
Here it is in its original and first appearance:
http://beautytipsforministers.blogspot.com/2006/10/i-cant-stop-smelling-myself.html
I like and admire evangelicals. We make a serious mistake by using "fundamentalist" and "evangelical" synonymously. To be an evangelical religious person is not necessarily to be fundamentalist or even conservative. It means to be a spreader of the good news of one's faith.
I coined the word "megavangelical" to refer to those evangelicals -- whether very conservative or sort of stealthily conservative (like Joel Osteen) who aren't necessarily fundamentalists but who are the type of Christian that believe that God wants us to be personally economically prosperous, who think that the accumulation of great personal wealth isn't at all a bad thing, and who think that the point of prayer is to get God to do very specific, personally rewarding things for us, because God is a GREAT GOD, hallelujah!
I think you get where I'm going with this, but feel free to help me further clarify this new term, which I think has legs. No one else has used this word, have they? I'd be so embarrassed if Alban Institute has already been talking about megavangelicals for dozens of years.
[I just googled the term and got no hits. I think we have a winner here, ladies and gentlemen.-- P.B.]
posted by PeaceBang at 10:21 AM
3 Comments:
Great word! I'll sign the petition to get it into the Oxford Concise!
And a great distinction. Know God through your environment! Get proof! Solve all your problems with this added tool!
It really goes to show how disconnected the human environment is from 'reality.' We have 'created' our own, and its so artificial that we can't even begin to distinguish what is 'natural' and what is a product of our imagination. The American Dream is what God wants for us! Rather whole, actually, when that is all that you have to create your own meaning.
Over on Beliefnet.com they call that orientation the "prosperity gospel", and the middle-of-the-road evangelicals are just as contemptuous of it as you are.
There was a recent article about this in Time, I think.
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