Part 2: The Ecumenical and Evangelical Protestant Churches in America

In this class Pastor Dan defines some of the differences between evangelical and ecumenical protestant churches and examines how these differences developed over time.

In general, ecumenical seminaries absorbed the intellectual changes that took place in western culture during the Enlightenment of the 17th and 18th centuries. This was a time when reason and science became more important that church doctrine or theology in western culture’s understanding of the world and humanity. These scientific discoveries continued into the 19th century with Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution and the 20th century with the “Big Bang” theory of the origins of the universe.

The protestant churches responded to these developments in one of two ways. To some groups, these scientific theories seemed to be in conflict with the bible text, and many decided to stand firm with the biblical witness. Others kept science at arms-length and avoided getting into debates about a war between the Bible and science. For them, the Bible was about morality and the salvation of our eternal souls; a guide for ethical behavior and a pathway to Heaven. On the other hand, there were many theologians who saw no contradiction between religion and science. Rather, they reinterpreted scripture in a way that took scientific theories into account.

The new methods in biblical interpretation began in the 18th century and became widespread in the 19th and 20th centuries. These theological understanding was adopted by ecumenical Protestants, and was a significant factor in the split in Protestantism in America. Additionally, the 20th century marked the emergence of the field of psychology. The ecumenical churches made room for psychological theories, while evangelicals tended to use scripture for the purpose of counseling its members. At this time, some scholars began looking carefully at the historical and cultural context of biblical text, asking questions such as: when was this written, who wrote it, and what is the theological meaning of the text. Many evangelical churches have held on to the strictly divine inspiration of scripture while the ecumenical churches affirmed that scripture was inspired during a specific time in history and by people who had specific concerns.

In the 19th century, most American writers, philosophers, and many scientists came from New England. Many of these helped the churches absorb the developments in learning that resulted from the Enlightenment. For this reason, northern denominations were far more likely to become ecumenical Protestants than those in the south. Southern denominations were more conservative culturally and thus more likely to become evangelical.