ant wrote:Can you please define "progressive christian" for me, please?
There is no tight definition, but if you look over the Patheos "Progressive Christian" channel you will see some of the range of differences and some of the common traits.
In general, Progressive Christianity has different concerns from Evangelical Christianity, and different points of reference from progressive Roman Catholics. Progressive Christians tend to be liberal in theology, seeing the inspiration of Scripture as something like how we usually use "inspiration" rather than as supernatural revelation. We tend to see "salvation" as something happening in this life and this world, and "sin" in terms of social systems as much as, or more than, personal morals. As a result of all this, social justice is a strong theme and most Progressive Christians affirm same-sex marriage and LGBTQ people in general. Be careful about identifying it with progressive politics: many Progressive Christians are anti-abortion and many, especially in the peace churches such as the Mennonites, can be quite traditional about gender roles.
My wife's cousin, Delwin Brown, wrote a successful book in 2004 entitled "What Does a Progressive Christian Believe?" I have read it and found it very interesting, but I no longer remember many of the specifics. I was struck by the way he found common conclusions among theologians employing very different methods and assumptions. That is the way Christianity as a whole is supposed to work, actually, that concepts like grace and the Body of Christ are supposed to prove out to be very much the same whether you start from experience, philosophy, pious exposition of scripture or radical sociological deconstruction.
