I hear the term “progressive Christianity” bandied about a little more frequently these days. Maybe like me, you’re not exactly sure what the term means. I had a general idea, but Wikipedia helped out with a more formal definition:

“Progressive Christianity is the name given to a movement within contemporary Christianity characterized by willingness to question tradition, acceptance of human diversity with a strong emphasis on social justice or care for the poor and the oppressed (see Minority groups) and environmental stewardship of the Earth. Progressive Christians have a deep belief in the centrality of the instruction to “love one another” (John 15:17) within the teaching of Jesus Christ. This leads to a focus on compassion, promoting justice and mercy, tolerance, and working towards solving the societal problems of poverty, discrimination, and environmental issues. They stress Collective Salvation as a requirement toward salvation of society.”

Other than the collective salvation bit, I always thought that’s what “plain old Christianity” was supposed to stand for. Reading the Gospels sure makes one think so.