Mainstream Christianity assumes common characteristics among Christian traditions in something other than ecclesiastical terms, usually for the purpose of distinguishing these common characteristics from a form that is eccentric in the terms of comparison provided in the context in which the comparison is made.
The terms provided may be historical prevalence, cultural dominance, traditional continuity, or some other measurable criterion, other than ecclesiastical. For example, "Mainstream Christianity" might compare two streams of development, one of which came to dominate among the adherents to Christianity in both Eastern and Western traditions. "Mainstream Christianity" is always used in this measurable sense in comparison to New religious movements, which distinguish themselves from other Christians in some way. In these cases, it is their deviation from the norm that is being pointed out by the term, "Mainstream Christianity". It is a term of sociological comparison.
I don't see what this has to do with "subjectivity" - since there has to be some criterion of measurement, in order for the term to be meaningful for comparison; and I have no idea what this has to do with "rejecting pluralism". — Mark (Mkmcconn) ** 04:21, 27 February 2007 (UTC)
- I took off the sentence which seemed to be charges and counter-charges, besides including some mind reading. I'm not sure that this article really belongs on WP at all since it is more like a dictionary entry than an encyclopedia article. Steve Dufour 14:54, 9 March 2007 (UTC)
- Please check out Wikipedia:Wikipedia is not a dictionary. This article seems to be about the expression "mainstream Christianity", not about mainstream Christianity itself. Steve Dufour 15:03, 9 March 2007 (UTC)