Why I Wrote Against Liberal Theology
I recently announced a new book discussion here—beginning around January 20–to give everyone time to order and receive the book (Against Liberal Theology: Putting the Brakes on Progressive Christianity [Zondervan]).
I’m already receiving some predictable responses that call for explanation of the book.
For many years I have put up with people, especially Christians, misusing the label “liberal” in conversations about theology. What most people don’t know is that liberal theology is a tradition; it is not just any type of theology that a person disagrees with because it seems too revisionist. For example, during the great evangelical controversy over open theism I heard and read some conservative evangelicals calling open theism “liberal theology.” It isn’t.
One reason I wrote the book was to explain what liberal theology is and is not. A main point of the book is that liberal Protestant theology is a tradition, a tradition with a center if not a circumference. I explain the tradition using many example in the book and I quote from them to illustrate and demonstrate what liberal theology is and why they belong to that tradition.
Another reason I wrote the book was to warn progressive Christians about the end point of the progressive trajectory in theology. I don’t think all progressive Christians are liberal in their theology, but progressive Christianity certainly leads in that direction.
Progressive Christianity is not a tradition. There is no tradition of progressive Christianity (as distinct from liberal theology). I would call progressive Christianity an ethos, a theological disposition, an inclination, and it inclines toward liberal theology.
Liberal theology, unlike garden-variety progressive Christianity, is not Christian. You may recoil at that claim, but I beg you to read the book to find out why I make it. True liberal theology…
… But I stop there and just ask you to read the book! I find it very difficult to describe true liberal theology in a few words. To understand it, you need to read my book which is based on extensive reading, study, research, dialogue with liberal theologians and even involvement in liberal churches.
Another reason I wrote the book is to show the real reasons for the schisms in so-called “mainline Protestant churches (denominations).” People think the ones happening now (and that have happened recently) are only about gay marriage and LGBTQ inclusion. That is only the tip of the iceberg! The real reason is liberal theology that has taken over in most mainline Protestant seminaries and pulpits. A United Methodist minister said to his congregation on Easter Sunday morning “Christ is risen! If you know what I mean.” Discerning people in his congregation knew what he meant. Christ is not risen bodily but only in the faith of the disciples (Bultmann’s and Tillich’s “restitution theory” of the resurrection).
If you think you know what liberal theology is, read the book. It may change your mind. If you don’t know what liberal theology is, read the book. It will inform you.
It is my opinion that real, true liberal theology is poison to Christianity and is why the so-called mainline Protestant denominations have been dying out for decades. But it filters into even some evangelical denominations. Many of my students were on a path toward and even into liberal theology, often in reaction to their fundamentalist upbringing.
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