progressive, liberal, emergent, post-liberal--what are the differences between them?

with the recent flurry of conversation in the emerging church i thought it was time i learned a bit more about the various movements coming out of the liberal stream since they are overlapping the emerging stream. mostly what i remember from my liberal childhood church was that it was a snoozefest. sorry, but it's true. anyway, since i was so not paying attention in sunday school, and likely you weren't either ;),

here's a rundown:

first, i started off with progressive is not liberal since the leading voices in the ec initially seemed to have gone in that direction. ht: theoblogy

then, i came across this interesting essay post-modern progressives, or liberalism ain't what it used to be by diana butler bass

i followed diana's link to will the real progressive christians please stand up? the author talks about 4 phases of christian history in america that have led to current differences in progressive christianity today. i really like what he says was happening with evangelicals in the 1800s:

The first [phase] is the evangelical movement of the middle third of the 19th century. Christians in this movement rejected the mainline church’s indifference to injustice: they considered freeing slaves, opposing the extremes of great wealth and poverty, and advocating the equality of men and women to be part of what it means for an individual to follow Christ.

i'm not sure why evangelicals later so obviously lost their focus on justice but hey what they were doing back then is great.

then come the liberals:

The second phase, after the Civil War (when evangelicalism became inward and apolitical), is the rise of liberal Christianity. The liberals affirmed the social commitment and hope for radical social change that evangelicalism had abandoned, but they also insisted that Christian faith must be rational and consistent with the data of social and physical sciences, however much these may challenge traditional beliefs.

thirdly, the neo-orthodox:

The third phase, after World War I (when liberalism lost its hope and much of its creativity), is neo-orthodoxy. The neo-orthodox called for a return to the central message of the Bible—interpreted in light of modern knowledge, not dogmatic superstition. And one crucial element of that message, they said, is that God’s ways are not our ways, God’s thoughts are not our thoughts. In other words, we cannot equate our views, including especially our theologies, with God’s point of view.

and lastly, the liberation theologies which sound pretty groovy to me:

The fourth phase influencing progressive Christianity today is a series of creative theological movements that began after World War II (when neo-orthodoxy lost its grip on American Christianity—isn’t it interesting how wars change theological thinking!). This series culminated in the variety of perspectives today called “liberation theology.” Whether in its Latin American, feminist, African American, or other manifestations, liberation Christianity holds that sin is social (structural) as well as individual, and that salvation promises wholeness for all dimensions of life—political and economic as well as personal and spiritual—in history as well as beyond it.

the author then goes on to talk about two types of progressives today: purists and accommodators. at this point your head is hopefully not spinning too much trying to keep everybody straight.

now, we move on to an excellent article by phyllis tickle: progressive vs. emergence christianity: from where i sit i really like phyllis' take on this and highly recommend this read so you don't even get any spoilers.

lastly, i had asked nate in another post whether there is a difference between post-liberal and progressive and he is going to kindly write up a post over at the christian humanist blog. it's up: postliberal and progressive: a primer from a postliberal english professor

it turns out those home boys have also been discussing these terms (evangelical, progressive, emergent and liberal) on their podcasts. i haven't listened to it but here ya go: theology nerd throwdown: hauerwas and the evangelicals