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Christian countercult movement
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Christian countercult movement
The Christian countercult movement, or the Christian anti-cult movement, is a social movement among certain Protestant evangelical, fundamentalist, Christian ministries ("discernment ministries"), and individual activists who oppose religious sects that they consider cults.
Christian countercult activism mainly stems from evangelicalism or fundamentalism. The countercult movement asserts that particular Christian sects are erroneous because their beliefs are not in accordance with the teachings of the Bible as understood by the countercult group. It also states that a religious sect can be considered a cult if its beliefs involve a denial of any of what the countercult group consideres essential Christian teachings (such as salvation, the Trinity, Jesus himself as a person, the ministry and miracles of Jesus, his crucifixion, his resurrection, the Second Coming and the Rapture).
Within evangelical Protestantism, countercult ministries often evaluate groups whose teachings are considered to diverge from orthodox Christian doctrine, including organizations that self‑identify as Christian as well as certain non‑Christian traditions; commonly discussed targets in countercult literature include The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Jehovah's Witnesses, Christian Science, the Unification Church, and, in some treatments, Seventh-day Adventism, alongside critiques of Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and New Age movements.
Countercult literature usually expresses specific doctrinal or theological concerns, often with a missionary or apologetic purpose. It presents a rebuttal by emphasizing the teachings of the Bible as understood by the countercult group against the beliefs of what they consider non-fundamental Christian sects. Christian countercult activist writers also emphasize the need for Christians to evangelize to followers of cults. Some Christians also share concerns similar to those of the secular anti-cult movement.
The movement publishes its views through a variety of media, including books, magazines, and newsletters, radio broadcasting, audio and video cassette production, direct-mail appeals, proactive evangelistic encounters, professional and avocational websites, as well as lecture series, training workshops and counter-cult conferences.
Christians have applied theological criteria to assess the teachings of perceived non‑orthodox movements throughout church history. The Apostles themselves were involved in challenging the doctrines and claims of various teachers. The Apostle Paul’s Galatians confronts teachers urging Gentile believers to adopt circumcision and/or other aspects of the Mosaic Law, a dispute also reflected in the Jerusalem Council narrative (cf. Acts 15; Galatians 1:6–10). Many interpreters read the First Epistle of John as responding to early docetic or proto‑Gnostic teachings that denied Jesus’ coming in the flesh, reflected in the letter’s tests of christological confession and appeals to eyewitness testimony (1 John 1:1; 1 John 2:22; 1 John 4:2).”
The early Church in the post-apostolic period was much more involved in "defending its frontiers against alternative soteriologies—either by defining its own position with greater and greater exactness, or by attacking other religions, and particularly the Hellenistic mysteries." Much of the early Christian literature is devoted to the exposure and refutation of perceived unorthodox theology, mystery religions and Gnostic groups. Irenaeus, Tertullian and Hippolytus of Rome were some of the early Christian apologists who engaged in critical analyses of unorthodox theology, Greco-Roman pagan religions, and Gnostic groups.
In the Protestant tradition, some of the earliest writings opposing perceived unorthodox groups (such as the Swedenborgians)[citation needed] can be traced back to John Wesley, Alexander Campbell, and Princeton Theological Seminary theologians like Charles Hodge and B. B. Warfield. The first known usage of the term cult by a Protestant apologist to denote a group as heretical or unorthodox is in Anti-Christian Cults by A. H. Barrington, published in 1898.
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Christian countercult movement
The Christian countercult movement, or the Christian anti-cult movement, is a social movement among certain Protestant evangelical, fundamentalist, Christian ministries ("discernment ministries"), and individual activists who oppose religious sects that they consider cults.
Christian countercult activism mainly stems from evangelicalism or fundamentalism. The countercult movement asserts that particular Christian sects are erroneous because their beliefs are not in accordance with the teachings of the Bible as understood by the countercult group. It also states that a religious sect can be considered a cult if its beliefs involve a denial of any of what the countercult group consideres essential Christian teachings (such as salvation, the Trinity, Jesus himself as a person, the ministry and miracles of Jesus, his crucifixion, his resurrection, the Second Coming and the Rapture).
Within evangelical Protestantism, countercult ministries often evaluate groups whose teachings are considered to diverge from orthodox Christian doctrine, including organizations that self‑identify as Christian as well as certain non‑Christian traditions; commonly discussed targets in countercult literature include The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Jehovah's Witnesses, Christian Science, the Unification Church, and, in some treatments, Seventh-day Adventism, alongside critiques of Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and New Age movements.
Countercult literature usually expresses specific doctrinal or theological concerns, often with a missionary or apologetic purpose. It presents a rebuttal by emphasizing the teachings of the Bible as understood by the countercult group against the beliefs of what they consider non-fundamental Christian sects. Christian countercult activist writers also emphasize the need for Christians to evangelize to followers of cults. Some Christians also share concerns similar to those of the secular anti-cult movement.
The movement publishes its views through a variety of media, including books, magazines, and newsletters, radio broadcasting, audio and video cassette production, direct-mail appeals, proactive evangelistic encounters, professional and avocational websites, as well as lecture series, training workshops and counter-cult conferences.
Christians have applied theological criteria to assess the teachings of perceived non‑orthodox movements throughout church history. The Apostles themselves were involved in challenging the doctrines and claims of various teachers. The Apostle Paul’s Galatians confronts teachers urging Gentile believers to adopt circumcision and/or other aspects of the Mosaic Law, a dispute also reflected in the Jerusalem Council narrative (cf. Acts 15; Galatians 1:6–10). Many interpreters read the First Epistle of John as responding to early docetic or proto‑Gnostic teachings that denied Jesus’ coming in the flesh, reflected in the letter’s tests of christological confession and appeals to eyewitness testimony (1 John 1:1; 1 John 2:22; 1 John 4:2).”
The early Church in the post-apostolic period was much more involved in "defending its frontiers against alternative soteriologies—either by defining its own position with greater and greater exactness, or by attacking other religions, and particularly the Hellenistic mysteries." Much of the early Christian literature is devoted to the exposure and refutation of perceived unorthodox theology, mystery religions and Gnostic groups. Irenaeus, Tertullian and Hippolytus of Rome were some of the early Christian apologists who engaged in critical analyses of unorthodox theology, Greco-Roman pagan religions, and Gnostic groups.
In the Protestant tradition, some of the earliest writings opposing perceived unorthodox groups (such as the Swedenborgians)[citation needed] can be traced back to John Wesley, Alexander Campbell, and Princeton Theological Seminary theologians like Charles Hodge and B. B. Warfield. The first known usage of the term cult by a Protestant apologist to denote a group as heretical or unorthodox is in Anti-Christian Cults by A. H. Barrington, published in 1898.