Can a Theological Liberal be "Evangelical"?

In large parts of the world Evangelical simply used to mean Lutheran.
Even nowadays you still have to check: "You say you are Evangelisch, does that mean you're Lutheran, or does it mean your theology was influenced by Conservative Englishspeaking Protestants at some point?"

 

Dr. Bob
"So "Evangelical Lutheran Church of America" is laughable"
"
The nowadays defunct Lutheran church of the Netherlands was called the Evangelisch-Lutherse Kerk. The Lutheran church of Germany still is the Evangelisch-Lutherse Kirche. In fact the Lutherans had already adopted the label evangelical before it came in vogue among the Evangelical crowd.

"I know from work I did in USSR in the 70's that "Evangelical" in Europe was far different and included ANY group not Orthodox or Jews!"
"
That was a peculiar aspect of Soviet law and certainly not applicable on the other side of the iron curtain.

 

The meaning has certainly changed over the centuries. 'Evangelical' used to be synonymous with Lutheran (and still is in some circles), just as 'Reformed' meant Calvinist (and still does in some circles)

Yours in Christ

Matt

 

MATT BLACK says: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The meaning has certainly changed over the centuries. 'Evangelical' used to be synonymous with Lutheran (and still is in some circles), just as 'Reformed' meant Calvinist (and still does in some circles)

I wonder if the moniker arose from Luthers' sola scriptura assertion? (Which in some manner of speaking is embraced by American evengelicals) It is to this day true that in Germany, "Evangelisch" refers to the churches, offspring of Luthers' movement. Also interesting is that to this day, the difficulty in finding agreement with those of the Catholic church of Rome, lies in the acceptance or rejection of this premise.