Edit filter log

'{{for|the political movement|Christian left}} {{Historical Christian theology}} {{Christianity}} '''Liberal Christianity''', also known as '''liberal theology''', covers diverse philosophically and biblically informed religious movements and ideas within [[Christianity]] from the late [[Christianity in the 18th century|18th century]] onward. ''Liberal'' does not refer to [[Progressive Christianity]] or to a [[liberalism|political philosophy]] but to the philosophical and religious thought that developed as a consequence of the [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]]. Liberal Christianity, broadly speaking, is a method of biblical [[hermeneutics]], an undogmatic method of understanding [[God in Christianity|God]] through the use of scripture by applying the same modern hermeneutics used to understand any ancient writings. Liberal Christianity did not originate as a belief structure, and as such was not dependent upon any Church [[dogma]] or [[creed|creedal statements]]. Unlike [[Conservative Christianity (disambiguation)|conservative varieties of Christianity]], liberalism has no unified set of propositional beliefs. Instead, "liberalism" from the start embraced the methodologies of Enlightenment science as the basis for interpreting the Bible, life, faith and theology. The word ''liberal'' in liberal Christianity originally denoted a characteristic willingness to interpret scripture according to modern philosophic perspectives (hence the parallel term [[modernism]]) and modern scientific assumptions, while attempting to achieve the Enlightenment ideal of objective point of view, without preconceived notions of the authority of scripture or the correctness of Church dogma.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09212a.htm|title= http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09212a.htm| title=Catholic Encyclopedia: Liberalism|accessdate=2007-01-27|work= }}</ref> Liberal Christians may hold certain beliefs in common with [[Catholic Christianity]], [[Orthodox Christianity]], or even [[Christian fundamentalism]]. ==Liberal Christian exegesis== The theology of liberal Christianity was prominent in the [[Biblical criticism]] of the 19th and 20th centuries. The style of [[Bible|Scriptural]] [[hermeneutics]] (interpretation of the Bible) within liberal theology is often characterized as non-propositional. This means that the Bible is not considered a collection of factual statements, but instead an anthology that documents the human authors' beliefs and feelings about God ''at the time of its writing''—within a historical or cultural context. Thus, liberal Christian theologians do not claim to discover truth [[proposition]]s but rather create religious models and concepts that reflect the class, gender, social, and political contexts from which they emerge. Liberal Christianity looks upon the Bible as a collection of narratives that explain, epitomize, or symbolize the essence and significance of Christian understanding.<ref>Montgomery, John Warwick. ''In Defense of Martin Luther.'' Milwaukee: Northwestern, 1970, p. 57. “Luther’s Hermeneutic vs. the New Hermeneutic.” Quoted in http://www.wlsessays.net/authors/W/WestphalConfession/WestphalConfession.PDF {{Dead link|date=March 2010}}</ref> Liberal Christianity was still hard to separate from political liberalism in the last third of the 19th century. Thus, an Irish bishop was sent by papal authority to Quebec in the 1870s to sort out the two. Several ''curés'' had threatened to withhold the sacraments from parishioners who cast votes for [[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal]]s, and others had preached that to vote for Liberal candidates was a mortal sin.<ref>{{cite book|author=Robert Collins|title=The Age of Innocence 1870/1880|publisher=Jack McClelland|isbn=0-919644-19-8|pages=87–88|accessdate=2011-11-02|year=1977|series=Canada's Illustrated Heritage}}</ref> In the 19th century, self-identified liberal Christians sought to elevate Jesus' [[humanism|humane teachings]] as a standard for a world [[civilization]] freed from [[Cult (religious practice)|cultic traditions]] and traces of [[Hellenistic polytheism|"pagan" belief]] in the [[supernatural]].<ref>Burton L. Mack, ''The Lost Gospel: The Book of Q and Christian Origins'' (HarperCollins, 1993), p. 29 [http://books.google.com/books?id=mBQNEEJvexcC&pg=PA29&dq=%22the+problem+of+miracle+and+myth%22&lr=&as_drrb_is=q&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=&num=100&as_brr=3&as_pt=ALLTYPES online.]</ref> As a result, liberal Christians placed less emphasis on miraculous events associated with the life of Jesus than on his teachings. The effort to remove "[[superstition#Superstition and religion|superstitious]]" elements from Christian faith dates to intellectually reforming Renaissance Christians such as [[Erasmus]] (who compiled the first modern [[Textus Receptus|Greek New Testament]]) in the late 15th and early-to-mid 16th centuries, and, later, the natural-religion view of the [[Deists]], which disavowed any revealed religion or interaction between the Creator and the creation, in the 17–18th centuries.<ref>Linda Woodhead, "Christianity," in ''Religions in the Modern World'' (Routledge, 2002), pp. 186 [http://books.google.com/books?id=4bUrlnqS4X8C&pg=RA1-PA186-IA4&dq=miracles+%22liberal+christians%22+jesus+OR+christ&lr=&as_drrb_is=q&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=&num=30&as_brr=3&as_pt=ALLTYPES online] and 193.</ref> The debate over whether a belief in miracles was mere superstition or essential to accepting the [[Christology|divinity of Christ]] constituted a crisis within the 19th-century church, for which theological compromises were sought.<ref>''The Making of American Liberal Theology: Imagining Progressive Religion 1805–1900'', edited by Gary J. Dorrien (Westminster John Knox Press, 2001), ''passim'', search [http://books.google.com/books?id=L50mveyi6WoC&printsec=frontcover&dq=miracles+%22liberal+christians%22+jesus+OR+christ&lr=&as_drrb_is=q&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=&num=30&as_brr=3&as_pt=ALLTYPES&source=gbs_summary_r&cad=0 miracles.]</ref> Attempts to account for miracles through scientific or rational explanation were mocked even at the turn of the 19th–20th century.<ref>F.J. Ryan, ''Protestant Miracles: High Orthodox and Evangelical Authority for the Belief in Divine Interposition in Human Affairs'' (Stockton, California, 1899), p. 78 [http://books.google.com/books?id=N5A-AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA78&dq=%22liberal+Christians%22+intitle:Protestant+intitle:Miracles&lr=&as_drrb_is=q&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=&as_brr=0&as_pt=ALLTYPES online.] Full text [http://books.google.com/books?id=N5A-AAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=intitle:Protestant+intitle:Miracles&lr=&as_drrb_is=q&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=&as_brr=1&as_pt=ALLTYPES downloadable.]</ref> A belief in the authenticity of miracles was one of five tests established in 1910 by the [[Presbyterian Church]] to distinguish true [[belief|believers]] from false [[creed|professors of faith]] such as "educated, 'liberal' Christians."<ref>Dan P. McAdams, ''The Redemptive Self: Stories Americans Live By'' (Oxford University Press, 2006), p. 164 [http://books.google.com/books?id=kKsMZxwux7wC&pg=PA164&dq=miracles+%22liberal+christians%22+jesus+OR+christ&lr=&as_drrb_is=q&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=&num=30&as_brr=3&as_pt=ALLTYPES online.]</ref> Liberal Christian theologians increasingly turned away from historical understandings of the Bible and Christianity. The German-trained critic, and one of the founders of the biblical archaeology movement, William Foxwell Albright of Johns Hopkins University, was a radical historical critic of the Bible, but his work in biblical archaeology in the Holy Land in the 1920s and 1930s convinced him that "these things really happened." Although Albright described himself forthrightly as "a Christian humanist" (a term also used by Renaissance scholars such as Erasmus of Rotterdam),<ref>Albright, W.F. From the Stone Age to Christianity.</ref> his defense of the authenticity of the historical traditions of the Old Testament, especially surrounding the conquest of Canaan in the [[Book of Joshua]], led later liberal scholars to denounce him as a "crypto-Fundamentalist", so hostile had liberal theology become toward the idea that biblical accounts of history might be accurate. However, Albright left behind a legacy of informed, critical historical scholarship, advanced by a cadre of well-trained and well-placed teachers and scholars in the United States and Israel. These scholars rejected the anti-historical tack taken by liberal theology. Indeed, contemporary liberal Christians continue to abnegate historical interpretations of the Bible. Many prefer to read Jesus' miracles as [[metaphor]]ical narratives for understanding the power of God.<ref>Ann-Marie Brandom, "The Role of Language in Religious Education," in ''Learning to Teach Religious Education in the Secondary School: A Companion to School Experience'' (Routledge, 2000), p. 76 [http://books.google.com/books?id=2RDl15wDdYYC&pg=PA76&dq=%22liberal+Christians+who+view+the+miracles+as+purely+symbolic+a+metaphor%22&lr=&as_drrb_is=q&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=&as_brr=0&as_pt=ALLTYPES online.]</ref> Not all theologians with liberal inclinations reject the possibility of miracles, but many reject the [[polemic]]ism that denial or affirmation entails.<ref>''The Making of American Liberal Theology: Idealism, Realism, and Modernity, 1900-1950'', edited by Gary J. Dorrien (Westminster John Knox Press, 2003), ''passim'', search [http://books.google.com/books?id=rfV6FmMFzdoC&printsec=frontcover&dq=miracles+intitle:the+intitle:making+intitle:of+intitle:American+intitle:liberal+intitle:theology&lr=&as_drrb_is=q&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=&as_brr=0&as_pt=ALLTYPES&source=gbs_summary_r&cad=0 miracles], especially p. 413; on Ames, p. 233 [http://books.google.com/books?id=rfV6FmMFzdoC&pg=PA423&dq=miracles+intitle:the+intitle:making+intitle:of+intitle:American+intitle:liberal+intitle:theology&lr=&as_drrb_is=q&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=&as_brr=0&as_pt=ALLTYPES#PPA233,M1 online]; on Niebuhr, p. 436 [http://books.google.com/books?id=rfV6FmMFzdoC&pg=PA423&dq=miracles+intitle:the+intitle:making+intitle:of+intitle:American+intitle:liberal+intitle:theology&lr=&as_drrb_is=q&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=&as_brr=0&as_pt=ALLTYPES#PPA436,M1 online.]</ref> From the beginning, liberal Christian theologians were adamant about rejecting orthodox Christian teaching on subjects such as the Virgin Birth, the Resurrection, and the authority of Scripture in favor of a secular-scientific world view. In this sense, many "liberal" theologians were confused with "critical biblical scholarship" which arose in Germany in the late eighteenth century with scholars such as J.G. Eichorn of Goettingen. Yet the German tradition of critical historiography was hardly liberal in all quarters, and many of its leading lights were actually monarchists (such as [[Julius Wellhausen]], and his teacher, [[Heinrich Ewald]], both of Goettingen.) The liberal claim of following historical-critical scholarship has gradually broken down, since liberals classically identified critical scholars such as [[Martin Noth]] <ref>Ueberlieferungsgeschichtliche Studien and Geschichte Israels</ref> and Lothar Perlitt <ref>Die Bundestheologie im Alten Testament</ref> as "liberal" when these scholars were quite conservative theologically. An overarching analysis shows that liberal Christianity did align itself during the late 19th century with the "Progressive Movement" in Western culture and politics. Objectively then, liberal Christianity identified the Left wing of Western culture as the locus of God's revelation in history, following the doctrine of "progressive revelation", and to no little degree that of process philosophy. Moreover, the failure of modern science to provide universal ethical norms outside the Bible for people to follow<ref>Above; cf. Pietschmann, Das Ende des naturwissenschaftlichen Zeitalters.</ref> led to a crisis of moral authority within liberal Christianity, and one that has yet to be resolved. ==Influence in the United States== Liberal Christianity was most influential with [[Mainline (Protestant)|mainline]] Protestant churches in the early 20th century, when proponents believed the changes it would bring would be the future of the Christian church. Its greatest and most influential manifestation was the Christian [[Social Gospel]].Thus, the Social Gospel's most influential spokesman, the American Baptist Walther Rauschenbusch, identified four institutionalized spiritual evils in American culture (which Rauschenbusch identified as traits of "supra-personal entities", organizations capable of having moral agency): these were individualism, capitalism, nationalism and militarism. <ref>Rauschenbusch, A Theology for the Social Gospel, 1917.</ref> Other subsequent theological movements within the Protestant mainline (in the US) included political [[liberation theology]], philosophical forms of [[postmodern Christianity]], and such diverse theological influences as [[Christian existentialism]] (originating with Søren Kierkegaard<ref>1846. Concluding Unscientific Postscript, authored pseudonymously as Johannes Climacus.</ref> and including other theologians and scholars such as Rudolf Bultmann<ref>History of Synoptic Tradition</ref> and Paul Tillich <ref>The Courage to Be.</ref>) and even conservative movements such as [[neo-evangelicalism]], [[neo-orthodoxy]], and [[paleo-orthodoxy]]. Dean M. Kelley, a liberal sociologist, was commissioned in the early 1970s to study the problem, and he identified the reason for the decline of the liberal churches: their excessive politicization of the Gospel, and especially their direct identification of the Gospel with Left-Democrat political causes.<ref>Kelley, Dean M. (1972) Why Conservative Churches are Growing</ref> The 1990s and 2000s saw a resurgence of non-doctrinal, theological work on biblical [[exegesis]] and theology, exemplified by figures such as [[Marcus Borg]], [[John Dominic Crossan]], [[John Shelby Spong]],<ref>Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism</ref> [[Karen Armstrong]] and [[Scotty McLennan]]. ==Theologians and authors== <!-- please keep this list in alphabetical order - it makes it easier to read and edit--> ===Protestant=== *[[Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher]] (1768&ndash;1834), often called the "father of [[liberal theology]]," he claimed that religious experience was [[introspection|introspective]], and that the most true understanding of God consisted of "a sense of absolute dependence".<ref>Alister McGrath. ''Christian Theology: An Introduction''. 5th rev. ed. Wiley, 2011. Look in the index for "Schleiermacher" or "absolute dependence" and see them nearly always juxtaposed.</ref> * [[Charles Augustus Briggs]] (1841&ndash;1913), early advocate of [[Higher criticism|higher criticism of the Bible]]. *[[Henry Ward Beecher]] (1813&ndash;1887), American preacher who left behind the [[Calvinist]] orthodoxy of his famous father, the [[Lyman Beecher|Reverend Lyman Beecher]], to instead preach the [[Social Gospel]] of liberal Christianity. *[[Adolf von Harnack]], (1851–1930), German [[theologian]] and [[Ecclesiastical history|church historian]], promoted the Social Gospel; wrote a seminal work of historical theology called ''Lehrbuch der Dogmengeschichte'' (History of Dogma). *[[Charles Fillmore (Unity Church)|Charles Fillmore]] (1854–1948), [[Christian mysticism|Christian mystic]] influenced by [[Ralph Waldo Emerson|Emerson]]; co-founder, with his wife, [[Myrtle Fillmore]], of the [[Unity Church]]. *[[Walter Rauschenbusch]] (1861-1918) American Baptist, author of "A Theology for the Social Gospel", which gave the movement its definitive theological definition. *[[Harry Emerson Fosdick]] (1878&ndash;1969), a [[Northern Baptist]], founding pastor of New York's [[Riverside Church]] in 1922. *[[Rudolf Bultmann]] (1884&ndash;1976), German biblical scholar, liberal Christian theologian until 1924.{{Clarify|date=March 2012}} Bultmann was more of an existentialist than a "liberal", as his defense of Jesus' healings in his "History of Synoptic Tradition" makes clear. *[[Paul Tillich]] (1886&ndash;1965), seminal figure in liberal Christianity; synthesized liberal Protestant theology with [[Existentialism|existentialist]] [[philosophy]], but later came to be counted among the "neo-orthodox". *[[Leslie Weatherhead]] (1893&ndash;1976), English preacher and author of ''The Will of God'' and ''The Christian Agnostic'' *[[James Pike]] (1913-1969), [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopal Bishop]], [[Episcopal Diocese of California|Diocese of California]] 1958-66. Early television preacher as Dean of St. John the Divine Cathedral in New York City; social gospel advocate and civil rights supporter; author of "If This Be Heresy" and "The Other Side;" in later life studied Christian origins and spiritualism. *[[Lloyd Geering]] (1918–), New Zealand liberal theologian. *[[Paul Moore, Jr.]] (1919–2003), 13th [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopal]] [[Bishop]], [[New York City|New York]] [[Diocese]] *[[John A.T. Robinson]] (1919&ndash;1983), [[Anglican]] [[Bishop]] of [[Woolwich]], author of ''[[Honest to God]]''; later in life returned to orthodoxy, and dedicated himself to demonstrating very early authorship of the New Testament writings, publishing his findings in ''[[John Robinson (bishop of Woolwich)#Redating the New Testament, 1976|Redating the New Testament]]''. *[[John Hick]] (1922-2012) British [[philosophy of religion|philosopher of religion]] and liberal theologian, noted for his rejection of the [[Incarnation]] and advocacy of [[latitudinarianism]] and [[religious pluralism]] or non-exclusivism, as explained in his influential work, ''[[The Myth of God Incarnate]]''. *[[William Sloane Coffin]] (1924&ndash;2006), Senior Minister at the Riverside Church in New York City, and President of SANE/Freeze (now [[Peace Action]]).<ref>Peace Action web page accessed at http://www.peace-action.org/history</ref> *[[Christopher Morse]] (1935 - ) Professor Emeritus of Systematic Theology, Union Theological Seminary, noted for his theology of faithful disbelief. *[[John Shelby Spong]] (1931–), [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopalian]] bishop and very prolific author of books such as ''[[A New Christianity for a New World]]'', in which he wrote of his rejection of historical religious and Christian beliefs such as [[Theism]] (a traditional conception of God as an existent being), the [[afterlife]], [[miracles]], and the [[Resurrection]]. *[[Richard Holloway]] (1933-), Bishop of Edinburgh 1986-2000.{{Clarify|date=March 2012}} *[[Rubem Alves]], (b. 1938) [[Brazil]]ian, ex-[[Presbyterian]], former minister, retired professor from [[UNICAMP]], seminal figure in the [[liberation theology]] movement. *[[Matthew Fox (priest)|Matthew Fox]] (b. 1940), former Roman Catholic priest of the [[Order of Preachers]]; currently an American Episcopalian priest and theologian, noted for his synthesis of liberal Christian theology with [[New Age (religion)|New Age]] concepts in his ideas of "creation spirituality", "original blessing", and seminal work on the "Cosmic Christ"; founder of [[Creation Spirituality]]. *[[Marcus Borg]] (1942-2015) American [[Biblical criticism|Biblical scholar]], prolific author, fellow of the [[Jesus Seminar]]. *[[Michael Dowd]] (b. 1958) [[Religious Naturalist]] theologian, evidential evangelist, and promoter of [[Big History]] and the [[Epic of Evolution]]. * Douglas Ottati, Presbyterian theologian and author, former professor at [[Union-PSCE]], current professor at [[Davidson College]]. ===Roman Catholic=== *[[Thomas Berry]] (1914-2009), American [[Passionist]] priest, cultural historian, geologian, and cosmologist. *[[Hans Küng]], (b. 1928) Swiss theologian. Had his license to teach [[Catholic theology]] revoked in 1979 because of his vocal rejection of the doctrine of the [[Papal infallibility|infallibility of the Pope]], but remains a priest in good standing. *[[John Dominic Crossan]], (b. 1934) [[List of former Roman Catholics|ex-Catholic]] and former priest, New Testament scholar, co-founder of the [[criticism of religion|critical]] liberal [[Jesus Seminar]]. *[[Joan Chittister]], (b. 1936) [[Order of Saint Benedict|Benedictine]] lecturer and social psychologist. *[[Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza]] (born 1938) German [[feminist]] [[theologian]] and Professor at [[Harvard Divinity School]] *[[Leonardo Boff]], (b. 1938) [[Brazil]]ian, ex-[[Franciscan]] and former priest, seminal author of the [[liberation theology]] movement, condemned by the Church; his works were condemned in 1985, and almost again condemned in 1992, which led him to leave the Franciscan order and the priestly ministry. ===Other=== *[[William Ellery Channing]] (1780&ndash;1842), [[Unitarianism|Unitarian]] liberal theologian in the United States, who [[Anti-trinitarianism|rejected the Trinity]] and the strength of [[Biblical authority|scriptural authority]], in favor of purely [[rationalism|rationalistic]] "[[natural theology|natural religion]]". *[[Scotty McLennan]] (b. 1948) [[Unitarian Universalist]] minister, [[Stanford University]] professor and author. ==See also== {{columns-list|3| *[[Biblical hermeneutics]] *[[Christian atheism]] *[[Christian heresy in the modern era]] *[[Conflict thesis]] (or ''warfare thesis'') *[[Death of God theology]] *[[Fountain Street Church]] *[[European Liberal Protestant Network]] *[[Christian existentialism|Existentialist theology]] *[[Free Christians (Britain)]] *[[Historical Jesus]] *[[Historical criticism|Historical-critical method]] (or ''higher criticism'') *[[Historicity of the Bible]] *[[Jesus Seminar]] *[[Liberal Anglo-Catholicism]] *[[Liberal Catholic Church]] *[[Liberation theology]] *[[Modernism (Roman Catholicism)]] *[[Pietism]] *[[Postliberal theology]] *[[Postmodern Christianity]] *[[Progressive Christianity]] *[[Religious pluralism]] *[[Secular theology]] *[[Unitarian Universalism]] }} ==References== {{reflist}} ==External links== *[http://www.progressivechristianalliance.org/ The Progressive Christian Alliance] *[http://www.pcnbritain.org.uk/ Progressive Christian Network Britain] *[http://freechristianity.net/ Project for a Free Christianity] *[http://www.bible.org/page.asp?page_id=177 Liberalism By M. James Sawyer , Th.M., Ph.D.] *[http://www.biblebelievers.com/machen/index.html Christianity and Liberalism by J. Gresham Machen (1881-1937)] *[http://www.thechristianleft.org/ The Christian Left -- ''An Open Fellowship of Progressive Christians''] *[http://www.hostdiva.com/liberalchristians/ The Liberal Christians Network] {{Christianity footer|collapsed}} [[Category:Christian philosophy]] [[Category:Christian theological movements]] [[Category:Liberalism]] [[Category:Age of Enlightenment]] [[Category:Christian terminology]]'