Book of Kells, Chi Rho folio, c. 800 · public domain

Christianity

Tradition·Founded 30 CE·est. ~2.4 billion worldwide

Judaism → Christianity → 11 branches

Branch
The Interior of Christianity

Being born again.

A datable before and after. The evangelical tradition treats it as the pivot of a life and asks for the date; the sacramental traditions locate the same change at an infant baptism nobody remembers, and the two have never really understood each other.

Reached throughThrough conviction of sin, then a decision — at a revival, an altar call, or alone
What it is likeA weight lifted, and a datable before and after
What it signifiesThat the change is God's doing and not self-improvement; the evangelical tradition treats it as the pivot of a life
Understanding it — context, not catechism: how this passage is held

Two irreconcilable accounts of the same claimed change. The evangelical account locates it in a moment you can date — a revival meeting, an altar call, a bedroom at two in the morning — and treats the date as evidence; asking someone when they were saved is a normal question in that world. The sacramental account locates it at a baptism the person cannot remember, and treats the subsequent life as its working out, which makes the question incoherent. John Wesley's account of his heart being strangely warmed at Aldersgate in 1738 is the classic text and shaped the expectation for the whole English-speaking evangelical world afterwards. The tension is not only between denominations: sacramental churches contain plenty of people who report a conversion, and evangelical churches contain plenty who cannot name a date and quietly worry about it.

The same ground, other faiths

claims that share this one's ideas
Entire sanctification — God deals with the disposition, not only the record. The Church of the Nazarene · core tenet Go deeper →
A Amitabha — the buddha of infinite light. Buddhism · figure Meet them →
M Marudevi on the elephant. Jainism · figure Meet them →
Shabbat — the palace in time. Judaism Go deeper →

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