Yes, I agree.Josh wrote:I feel this is a teaching that nearly all Christians would agree on, but one that tends not to be emphasised in some circles. Particularly, a revivalist influence shifts a lot of focus to an initial crisis conversion experience.
And I think there's a certain tendency for us to think that every great Christian insight we encounter in our tradition belongs to our tradition if it was new to us when we first heard it. I'm pretty sure I first heard this one in a sermon by Tom Stark at University Reformed Church in East Lansing, Michigan - as Calvinist as they come.
If I were to try to identify the most important philosophical and theological differences between Anabaptists and Evangelicals, I suspect I would focus on:
1. Church and State
2. Systematic Theology - this is important to most people who call themselves fundamentalists or Evangelicals, but most Mennonites / Anabaptists are suspicious of systematic theology
3. Appeals to history - we often appeal to Anabaptist / Mennonite historical figures, they often appeal to Luther or Calvin or Wesley, depending on which tradition
There are a lot of other differences that are about how we live out our faith, and others that are largely cultural. But are there other philosophical / theological differences that distinguish us as much as these?