Liberal Christianity

Liberal Christianity or Modernism refers to a movement within American Protestant denominations to stress the social role of Christianity, as in the Social Gospel of the early 20th century. It stresses a basic continuity between man and God, emphasizing the immanence of God rather than His transcendence. It sees mankind as inherently perfectable, and calls on Christians to hasten that perfection by rooting out social evils and immorality, such as drunkenness and abject poverty, rather than primarily working for the conversion of the lost. It sees religious knowledge emerging from research and the use of reason. Thus the liberal emphasis is on religion as a personal relationship with God, but largely free from a Biblical doctrinal basis, in contrast to such resulting from faith in the Biblically substantiated gospel of grace, in conformity with orthodox theological beliefs. In liberal Christianity the spirit of the Bible is emphasized, but in such a way that its specific wording can be ignored or negated. Rather than the Bible being wholly inspired by God, it is seen as the work of numerous editorial redactors - homophobic ones in cases where pro-homosexual writers wish to see homoeroticism positively portrayed between Bible characters. This approach dominated most Protestant denominations in the early 1900's, and was challenged by Neo Orthodoxy and Fundamentalism after 1940. It yet prevails today among most mainline denominations. Two issues usually indicative of liberal denominations are abortion and homosexuality. For a more detailed treatment, see Homosexuality and Christianity.

Origins of liberal Christianity

The most influential liberal Christian theologians were 19th century Germans: Friedrich Schleiermacher and Albrecht Ritschl.

Schleiermacher emphasized that religion was a personal relationship with God, and downplayed historical Christian doctrines such as the doctrine of creation, doctrine of Incarnation, doctrine of eternal life, etc.

Schleiermacher sought to re-establish the importance of Christianity using Christian religious experience rather than scientific knowledge. Ritschl revised Schleirmacher's idea and tried to re-establish their authority using Kant's idea of moral experience and in the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God.

Doctrines that did not relate well to religious experience or moral experience tended to disappear.

Role of the Bible

Liberals view the Bible as the witness of God rather than the word of God. Strangely the view is supported by a rather literal - though this should not be confused with the form of Biblical literalism found in fundamentalist and conservative churches - interpretation of the words of Paul in his second letter to Timothy:

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,... 2_Timothy 3:16

Here Paul supports the view that scripture is a direct result of the authors contact with God ("witness") whilst stopping short of claiming actual divine authorship ("word"). Conservative Christians would answer that the Bible records God's promise to preserve His words, not merely His ideas.

As a result Liberal Theologians view the Bible as a text to be interpreted in its historical context through critical analysis. Examples include some churches within Anglican/Episcopalian, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, and United Church of Christ churches. The word "liberal" in liberal Christianity does not refer to any political agenda or set of beliefs, although liberal theological beliefs will often form the basis of liberal political beliefs.

As a further result, liberal Christians tend to take a pick-and-choose approach to the Bible, declaring that those passages that they like were intended by God to be followed today, while other parts are outdated or need to be interpreted correctly. Many liberal Christians believe that the Bible was combined from multiple sources or even that certain parts of the Bible that do not agree with liberal theology are later additions that do not belong in the Bible at all. In extreme cases, some liberal Christians even engage in politically correct censorship against those who quote Bible verses that tend to disprove a liberal Christian position.

Economic and historical aspects

In terms of economics, liberal Christianity emphasizes Testament eschatology towards the Kingdom of God into the liberal "law of progress." History does indeed show a growing maturity in technology, thought, and social relations, but conservatives argue there is nothing within the forces of history to suggest that good will triumph over evil. Conservatives say liberals deemphasize sin, i.e. evil triumphing over good.

The Liberal Christian scholar Edgar S. Brightman said, "I believe in God because I believe that history represents a steady, moral progress." This was turned around by the neo-orthodox scholar Langdon Gilkey when he stated "I believe in God because to me history precisely does not represent such a progress."

Liberal Christianity's Anti-Zionism

Strong elements in liberal Christianity have opposed Zionism since 1920, while at the same time combating intolerance and social hostility toward Jews inside the United States. Support for Zionism is a core belief of Fundamentaliam.

In American Protestantism and a Jewish State (1973) an Israeli government official Hertzel Fishman analyzed several years (1937-1967) worth of Christian Century and concluded that the magazine consistently and historically opposed a Jewish State in Palestine, obstructed immigration of Jewish refugees, minimized the Holocaust, tried to reduce Israel's boundaries and supported Arab 'rights'." Although Dr. Fishman found instances of the magazine denouncing individual acts of anti-semitism, he found that the magazine was consistent in its intolerance and opposition to collective acts of a Jewish "peoplehood."

Neo-Orthodoxy opposes Liberalism

The first-quarter 20th century neo-orthodoxy movement was a renewal of Christian doctrines that had been neglected by liberal Christianity within the American and European academy. At the heart of the neo-orthodox renewal appeals to symbolic and aesthetic interpretations of long forgotten Christian doctrines can be found in the works of Karl Barth, the Niebuhr brothers, and Paul Tillich.

Further reading

• Ahlstrom, Sydney E. A Religious History of the American People. (1972), the standard scholarly history. excerpt and text search
• Luker, Ralph E. "Liberal Theology and Social Conservatism: a Southern Tradition, 1840-1920." Church History v 10#2 1981. pp 193-207 p online edition
• Marty, Martin E. Modern American Religion, Vol. 1: The Irony of It All, 1893-1919 (1986); Modern American Religion. Vol. 2: The Noise of Conflict, 1919-1941 (1991)
• Noll, Mark. A History of Christianity in the United States and Canada (1992), by a conservative historian excerpt and text search

See also

• Third Great Awakening