There are a number of 'streams', pathways or expressions of faith within the Christian tradition, and each of these has a valuable contribution to make to the whole. (I believe Richard Foster's Streams of Living Water covers this subject really well, but as it's a bit chunky and I'm a bit lazy, I've not got round to reading it. :-)
Stream | Key part of human being | Key part of Bible | Emphases / focuses |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contemplative/ mystical | Soul/spirit, heart; (emotions) | John's gospel/letters; mystical prophets (Ezekiel) | 'Prayer of the heart'; finding God in stillness, silence, solitude and in nature, art, music; meditation, contemplation of the divine; creativity/poetry |
| Charismatic/ pentecostal | Emotions (joy), spirit | Acts; miraculous elements in gospels / Old Testament | Being filled with the Holy Spirit; manifestations/gifts of the Spirit - prophecy, tongues, healing etc; power, miracles, signs and wonders; spiritual warfare and deliverance |
| Sacramental/ ceremonial | Body - senses; soul | O.T. ceremonies (Exodus, Kings) | Tradition, ritual, liturgy, ceremony, order, sacrament, iconography, hierarchy, saints |
| Evangelical | Mind, will | Whole Bible; Paul's letters | 'Sola Scriptura', Bible as all-sufficient Word of God; 'correct' doctrine/theology (e.g. of atonement); need for personal salvation through faith in Christ; discipleship and personal morality; importance of preaching, teaching and missionary work (evangelism) |
| Activist / social justice | Emotions - compassion; Body - action | Luke's gospel; Matthew 25; prophets of justice (Amos, Isaiah) | 'Social' gospel - justice for poor, liberation for oppressed, care for environment; political activism, usually left-wing |
I think Foster identifies others; and I've included creative/poetic within the contemplative stream but some would see it as separate.
Each stream or pathway has something good to contribute to the whole; each also has its weaknesses and dangers, particularly in over-emphasising its own focuses to the exclusion of the others.
The streams are - can and should be - complementary, not mutually exclusive. They also often overlap - it's perfectly possible to be a charismatic evangelical, a sacramental contemplative or an evangelical activist. (It's more difficult to be a sacramental evangelical or a contemplative activist, but maybe not impossible.)
Similarly, some of the streams tend to be particularly associated with certain church denominations - e.g. Baptists tend to be evangelical, Orthodox and Catholics to be sacramental; pentecostals tend to have their own groupings like the Assemblies of God.
It's easy to look on people from a different stream as odd, or plain wrong. It would be great if we could instead see them as different in a good way, offering us fresh approaches and insights into our shared faith.
Polarities
As well as the streams, there are also the extremes or polarities - most notably the fundamentalist/liberal spectrum. Extreme fundamentalism tends to be characterised by over-rigidity and narrowness - scriptural literalism, doctrinal dogmatism, narrow exclusivism, strict moralism and often judgemental legalism. Fundamentalism is usually associated most with the evangelical stream, and least with the mystical.Extreme liberalism in contrast is so broad and inclusive that it often loses any distinctive Christian character; often there is very little doctrine and little or no belief in God, the supernatural, miracles or the divine inspiration of the Bible.
Another polarity is that between logical/rational and emotional/intuitive/symbolic - basically left and right brain. Again, evangelicalism usually tends towards the rational end; contemplative and sacramental streams towards the intuitive/symbolic.
I susect then that people often gravitate towards a particular stream of faith (and therefore to a particular denomination) mainly because of their own personality type, and also upbringing. And also perhaps to do with what stage they are at on their faith journey, which I'll look at in my next post...
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