Red-Letter Christians
Red-Letter Christians constitute a non-denominational movement within Christianity. "Red-Letter" refers to New Testament verses and parts of verses printed in red ink, to indicate the words attributed to Jesus without the use of quotations.
History
While many Christians throughout church history have defined themselves as emphasizing the teachings of Jesus, this modern movement was initiated by Jim Wallis and Tony Campolo in 2007.[1][2] They believe Christians should be paying attention to Jesus' words and example by promoting biblical values such as peace, building strong families, the elimination of poverty, and other important social justice issues.[3] They believe that these are the issues that Jesus spoke of directly, and therefore these issues should be social and political priorities. Other issues such as the question of abortion and homosexuality are viewed as important but over-emphasized by both liberals and conservatives.
According to Campolo, "The purpose of this gathering was not to create a religious left movement to challenge the religious right, but to jump-start a religious movement that will transcend partisan politics."[4] Campolo has released a book to help explain this, called Red Letter Christians, A Citizen's Guide to Faith and Politics (Regal Books, February 2008).
The two most prominent figures associated with the movement are Jim Wallis and Tony Campolo.[5]
See also
- Christian humanism
- Christian values
- Evangelicalism
- Jesuism
- Ministry of Jesus
- Progressive Christianity
- Sojourners Magazine
References
- Nick Tabor, Can this preacher's progressive version of evangelical Christianity catch on with a new generation?, starherald.com, USA, January 18, 2020
- Rosie Dawson, Red Letter Christians gear up for UK launch, religionnews.com, USA, January 4, 2019
- "About us: Red Letter Christians". Sojourners. Archived from the original on 16 September 2007.
- Campolo, Anthony ‘Tony’ (2006-02-27). "What's a 'Red-Letter Christian'?". Beliefnet. Retrieved 2017-01-13.
- Red letter Christians (official World Wide Web site).