EP138 - A Different Religion — Progressive Christianity, Deconstruction & the Faith Once Delivered

Is progressive Christianity a reform movement within the faith, or a different religion wearing Christian vocabulary? Guest Brad Wampler (Rooted in Logos) joins us to read the movement's own Eight Points aloud, trace the lineage from Schleiermacher through the emergent church, and follow the funding trail from a 1922 Rockefeller-backed pamphlet to The After Party curriculum a century later.

KEY TOPICS:

The Eight Points of Progressive Christianity, from the movement's own self-definitionMachen's 1923 verdict: not a variant of Christianity, but a different religion that keeps the vocabularyThe deconstruction pipeline: church hurt → unanswered questions → relocated authority → exitExegesis vs. eisegesis, the Five Solas, and why sexuality is the flagship applicationBarna's October 2025 numbers: a generational reversal led by young menSCRIPTURE REFERENCES: Jude 3, Jude 22-23, Gen 3:1, Gen 1:27, Gen 2:24, Matt 19:4-6, John 14:6, Gal 3:28, 1 Cor 6:11, 1 Cor 6:18, Matt 7:21-23, Acts 17:11, 1 Thess 5:21

RESOURCES MENTIONED:

Machen, Christianity and Liberalism (1923)Fosdick, "Shall the Fundamentalists Win?" (1922)Spong, Why Christianity Must Change or Die (1998); McLaren, A New Kind of Christianity (2010); Rohr, The Universal Christ (2019)The After Party curriculum (Redeeming Babble)Habermas, On the Resurrection; Qureshi, Seeking Allah, Finding JesusBarna Group research, October 2025Rooted in Logos podcast (Tuesday mornings)— R&B Talks: 2 Guys. 2 Chairs. Real Christ-Centered Conversation.