Christianity · branch
Progressive Christianity
Keeps the practice, the story and the ethics while reading the metaphysics as metaphor. Scripture is human testimony rather than dictation, other paths are treated as genuinely valid, and the point of the whole thing is how you live now.
What makes it unusual
The axes on which this tradition sits furthest from the middle of the matrix — which is to say, the positions that actually distinguish it.
- B3 Institutional authorityleaning individual conscience decidesFurther toward "individual conscience decides" than most traditions in the matrix.
- B2 Reading of sacred textmetaphorical, or no text at allFurther toward "metaphorical, or no text at all" than most traditions in the matrix.
- E1 Exclusivitymany valid pathsFurther toward "many valid paths" than most traditions in the matrix.
- C2 Shape of timeone life, then judgmentFurther toward "one life, then judgment" than most traditions in the matrix.
All seventeen positions
Each cell carries a centre, a dispersion — how much internal variation the tradition genuinely tolerates — and the source the position rests on. Disagree with one? Say so; corrections are public and recorded.
The same seventeen values as a single shape, read clockwise from A1 at the top. The outline is where the tradition sits; the wider band around it is the variation it genuinely tolerates, so a tight outline is a tight tradition.
- position
- tolerated variation
A · The divine
| Axis | Position | Value | ±σ |
|---|---|---|---|
| A1 Divine realitynothing beyond the natural → a divine reality certainly exists | between nothing beyond the natural and a divine reality certainly existsBorg, Spong and the Center for Progressive Christianity’s Eight Points | 0.62 | 0.22 |
| A2 Personhoodimpersonal principle or order → a personal being one can address | between impersonal principle or order and a personal being one can addressBorg, Spong and the Center for Progressive Christianity’s Eight Points | 0.52 | 0.24 |
| A3 Pluralitystrictly one → many powers and spirits | strictly oneBorg, Spong and the Center for Progressive Christianity’s Eight Points | 0.10 | 0.10 |
| A4 Locuswholly beyond the world → fully present within it | leaning fully present within itBorg, Spong and the Center for Progressive Christianity’s Eight Points | 0.82 | 0.12 |
B · Knowledge and authority
| Axis | Position | Value | ±σ |
|---|---|---|---|
| B1 Source of truthrevealed and fixed → reason and direct experience | leaning reason and direct experienceBorg, Spong and the Center for Progressive Christianity’s Eight Points | 0.75 | 0.14 |
| B2 Reading of sacred textliteral and binding → metaphorical, or no text at all | metaphorical, or no text at allBorg, Spong and the Center for Progressive Christianity’s Eight Points | 0.90 | 0.10 |
| B3 Institutional authorityclergy and tradition decide → individual conscience decides | leaning individual conscience decidesBorg, Spong and the Center for Progressive Christianity’s Eight Points | 0.80 | 0.12 |
C · Self and destiny
| Axis | Position | Value | ±σ |
|---|---|---|---|
| C1 Survival of the selfends at death → continues in some form | between ends at death and continues in some formBorg, Spong and the Center for Progressive Christianity’s Eight Points | 0.52 | 0.26 |
| C2 Shape of timeone life, then judgment → cyclical return | one life, then judgmentBorg, Spong and the Center for Progressive Christianity’s Eight Points | 0.10 | 0.08 |
| C3 The human conditionfallen and in need of rescue → ignorant but fundamentally sound | leaning ignorant but fundamentally soundBorg, Spong and the Center for Progressive Christianity’s Eight Points | 0.75 | 0.15 |
D · Practice
| Axis | Position | Value | ±σ |
|---|---|---|---|
| D1 Mechanism of the ultimate goodgiven as grace → achieved by effort or insight | between given as grace and achieved by effort or insightBorg, Spong and the Center for Progressive Christianity’s Eight Points | 0.58 | 0.18 |
| D2 Centrality of ritualessential and prescribed → optional or absent | between essential and prescribed and optional or absentBorg, Spong and the Center for Progressive Christianity’s Eight Points | 0.52 | 0.18 |
| D3 The bodyto be disciplined → to be celebrated | leaning to be celebratedBorg, Spong and the Center for Progressive Christianity’s Eight Points | 0.72 | 0.15 |
E · World and others
| Axis | Position | Value | ±σ |
|---|---|---|---|
| E1 Exclusivityone true path → many valid paths | many valid pathsBorg, Spong and the Center for Progressive Christianity’s Eight Points | 0.90 | 0.10 |
| E2 Origin of the cosmosan intentional act → beginningless or natural | between an intentional act and beginningless or naturalBorg, Spong and the Center for Progressive Christianity’s Eight Points | 0.38 | 0.20 |
| E3 Locus of belonginga people, inherited → an individual choice | leaning an individual choiceBorg, Spong and the Center for Progressive Christianity’s Eight Points | 0.80 | 0.12 |
| E4 Standing of naturecreation, given for use → animate and itself sacred | leaning animate and itself sacredBorg, Spong and the Center for Progressive Christianity’s Eight Points | 0.72 | 0.14 |
Further reading
- Borg, The Heart of Christianity — The “historical-metaphorical” reading that drives B2 to 0.90.
- The Eight Points of Progressive Christianity — A non-creedal statement, which is itself the point.
Compared with
- Progressive Christianity and Reform Judaism
- Progressive Christianity and Reconstructionist Judaism
- Progressive Christianity and Quaker Christianity (Religious Society of Friends)
- Progressive Christianity and Oriental Orthodoxy
- Progressive Christianity and Gaudiya Vaishnavism
- Progressive Christianity and Dvaita Vedanta
Where do you sit?
The questionnaire places your own answers on these same seventeen axes and reports how close you are to this tradition and to 64 others. Take it — eight to fourteen questions, nothing transmitted.