This view is called "landmarkism" and derives its theology from a 19th c
text whose name I'll have to look up. Landmarkism traces its geneology
through a number of dissenting groups from the end of the apostolic age
until Reformation. If I remember my seminary notes from ages ago,
these groups shared a number of features, according to the
landmarkists, including a strong christology "from above," persecution
at the hands of the "papists," and a traditional view of the atonement and
the resurrection (which in their minds = substitutionary atonement and
bodily resurrection). If I can dig out my notes, I'll try to give a more
detailed report.
And since we're sharing teaching methods in this string, since I too
encounter a great many students who equate a particular form of right
wing evangelicalism with "Christianity" in my New Testament as
Literature course, I've begun to use an exercise that brings into focus
the problem of the NT "text" and its manifestations throughout the
period: I handcopy a couple of chapters from the NT, one in block and the
other in cursive (something fairly dense, like Matthew 12-13 and
Romans 5-6) without identifying the passage. Then I hand them out to
class members to copy, again by hand. The person who has copied the
passage turns the "original" back to me and passes on the "copy" to the
next person in class. In a class of 30 students or so, the copies have
begun to circulate to the "original" copyist after about a month of the
semester. We then begin to compare copies.
You can see where this might then go in class discussion. It's usually
turning point in the class. At the very least, even the most dogmatic
students gain an new understanding of historical and textual vagaries of
the 27 texts of the NT and begin to realize that the NT is not one book
but a compilation of many.
Dan Kline
On Sat, 3 May 1997 [log in to unmask] wrote:
> Greetings to all:
>
> Like Mark Williams (Calvin College), I, too, have encountered many Baptists
> who believe they were never among the "Protestants".
>
> Do any of you know the sources this belief is based on? Has there been any
> serious research in this area?
>
> Many thanks
>
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