The Evangelical Church as Symbolic Catholicity A Functional-Analytical Model of Denominational Roles

This paper proposes an original symbolic-functional model to conceptualize diversity within contemporary evangelical Christianity. Instead of viewing denominational pluralism as fragmentation, the model interprets five evangelical streams—Baptists, Presbyterians, Methodists, Charismatics/Pentecostals, and Non-denominationals—as complementary theological roles within a unified spiritual organism. The model invites a reimagining of ecclesial diversity as functional richness rather than doctrinal rupture grounded in symbolic theology and supported by contemporary thinkers such as Tillich, Fowler, Volf, and McGrath.