Origin and Usage of The Term
The term "mainstream Christian" in academic usage is not equivalent to "mainline Protestant" and is often used as an attempt to find non-loaded sociological vocabulary in distinguishing "orthodoxy" and "heresy." Hence in christological and doctrinal reference "mainstream Christianity" is often equivalent to "Trinitarianism." In Britain and Australia the term "mainline Protestant" is not used, and "mainstream" does not mean "liberal" Protestant.
The term "Mainline Protestant" was coined during debates between modernists and fundamentalists in the 1920s. Several sources claim that the term is derived from the Philadelphia Main Line, a group of affluent inner suburbs of Philadelphia that were settled along the Pennsylvania Railroad Main Line, and that most residents of these suburbs belonged to mainline denominations, though this may be a folk etymology. Today, most mainline Protestants remain rooted in the Northeastern and Midwestern United States. Charles H. Lippy (2006) defines the term as follows: "the term "mainline Protestant" is used along with "mainstream Protestant" and "oldline Protestant" to categorize denominations that are affiliated with the National Council of Churches and have deep historic roots in and long-standing influence on American society."
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