Roger E. Olson's Blog
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Roger E. Olson's Blog
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This post was updated on .
 http://www.patheos.com/community/rogereolson "My evangelical Arminian theological musings" I am a Christian theologian of the evangelical Baptist persuasion. I am also a proud Arminian! And I’m influenced by Pietism. Minnesota is my home state and I have lived in Iowa, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Germany and now Texas. My current professional status since 1999 is Professor of Theology at George W. Truett Theological Seminary of Baylor University. ... http://www.patheos.com/community/rogereolson/biography-2/ |
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Another hallmark of neo-fundamentalism
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What is "theological liberalism?"
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This post was updated on .
In reply to this post by Alex
What is "theological liberalism?"
http://www.patheos.com/community/rogereolson/2011/07/14/what-is-theological-liberalism/ ...Schleiermacher introduced into the stream of Christian theology a "Copernican revolution" in theological method that regarded it as necessary to adjust traditional Christianity to the culture of the Enlightenment--what we call "modernity." To be sure, Schleiermacher did NOT do this uncritically. However, he clearly felt it necessary to rescue Christianity from the "acids of modernity" by redefining Christianity's (and religion's) "essence" so that it did not and perhaps could not conflict with the "best" of modern thought. He redefined Christianity as PRIMARILY about human experience. That is, as he put it, doctrines are nothing more than attempts to bring human experiences of God (God-consciousness) to speech. Schleiermacher placed universal God-consciousness at the center of religion and Christ's God-consciousness communicated to the church at the center of Christianity. All doctrines and all teachings of Scripture became revisable in the light of human God-consciousness. What Schleiermacher accomplished was to separate religion (including Christianity) from the realm of "facts" discoverable by science and philosophy. He rescued religion and Christianity from the acids of modernity by reducing them and restricting them to an entirely different realm. Also, rather than objective divine revelation standing at the center or bottom of the theological enterprise, human experience was placed there. This was Schleiermacher's "Copernican revolution" in theology. All liberal theology (whether by ethos or tied specifically to a liberal theological movement such as Ritschlianism) is defined by that move first made by Schleiermacher. Ritschl borrowed heavily from the philosopher Immanuel Kant to distinguish between two types of propositions--facts (which belong to the sciences) and values (which belong to religion). Religion, including Christianity, has to do with the way things ought to be (the Kingdom of God) and not with the way things are. If Ritschl was right, religion (rightly understood) and modern philosophy and science (kept where they belong) cannot conflict. Harnack is the paradigm of the classical liberal Protestant theologian. He reduced Christianity to a minimal ethical core--it's true "essence"--which cannot be undermined by science or philosophy. The liberal theologians did not throw out belief in the Trinity or the deity and humanity of Jesus Christ, etc. They simply reduced their importance (they are not of the essence) and reinterpreted them non-metaphysically. ...The leading Ritschlian public figure was Harry Emerson Fosdick, Jr., pastor of Riverside Church in New York City and author of numerous books of liberal theology. Fosdick's countenance graced the cover of Time magazine twice in the 1920s. He was widely considered THE leading spokesman for liberal theology in America. After WW1 in Europe and after WW2 in America theological liberalism underwent some changes. The main one was the death of its historical optimism and adoption of a more realistic sense of human existence and history (largely under the influence of Reinhold Niebuhr). But it retained its basic attitude toward modernity as an authority for theology's critical and constructive tasks. (This was often more implicit than explicit.) Gradually the liberal theological movement associated with Ritschl and his followers died out. But the ethos it embodied remained--entering into the warp and woof of mainline Protestant life and thought. Today it is represented by public intellectuals such as Marcus Borg and John Shelby Spong. Several theologians are attempting to breathe new life into it. Among them are Gary Dorrien (perhaps THE leading scholar of liberal theology especially in America), Peter Hodgson, Donald Miller (of USC, not the author of Blue Like Jazz), and John Cobb. So what are the usual, if not universal, hallmarks of true liberal theology or family resemblances among true liberal theologians? First, here are books you MUST read if you want to discuss liberal theology intelligently. (Read at least one of these.) Alan P. F. Sell, Theology in Turmoil, William R. Hutchison, The Modernist Impulse in American Protestantism, Kenneth Cauthen, The Impact of American Religious Liberalism, Gary Dorrien, The Making of American Liberal Theology (3 volumes), Peter Hodgson, Liberal Theology: A Radical Vision, John Cobb, Progressive Christians Speak, and Donald E. Miller, The Case for Liberal Christianity. So what do all these people from Schleiermacher to Dorrien have in common? I think the liberal theological ethos is best expressed in a nutshell by liberal theologian Delwin Brown (a convert to liberal theology from evangelicalism) in his dialogue with Clark Pinnock in Theological Crossfire: An Evangelical/Liberal Dialogue. There Brown asks THE CRUCIAL QUESTION of modern theology: "When the consensus of the best contemporary minds differs markedly from the most precious teachings of the past, which do we follow? To which do we give primary allegiance, the past or the present?" Brown rightly gives the evangelical answer: "We ought to listen to the hypotheses of the present and take from them what we can, but ultimately the truth has been given to us in the past, particularly in Jesus, and the acceptance of that is our ultimate obligation. Everything the contemporary world might say must be judged by its conformity to biblical revelation." (Of course evangelicals differ among ourselves about WHAT biblical revelation says, but all evangelicals agree that the revelation of God given in Jesus and the biblical message takes precedence over the best of modern thought WHEN THERE IS AN UNAVOIDABLE CONFLICT between them.) Then, Brown speaks for all liberal theologians when he gives the liberal answer to the crucial question: "Liberalism at its best is more likely to say, 'We certainly ought to honor the richness of the Christian past and appreciate the vast contribution it makes to our lives, but finally we must live by our best modern conclusions. The modern consensus should not be absolutized; it, too, is always subect to criticism and further revision. But our commitment, however tentative and self-critically maintained, must be to the careful judgments of the present age, even if they differ radically from the dictates of the past." (p. 23) ... Pinnock well expresses ALL evangelicals' response to Brown, this in the context of a disagreement about eschatology in which Brown expressed skepticism about belief in a final triumph of good over evil. Pinnock to Brown: "Here we are back to where we started in the book, back to the difference between us concerning the nature of the authority of the Bible. ...You allow the Bible a functional but not a cognitive authority; that is, you will not bow to the content of Scripture but accept it only as a power that authors your life in some (to me) vague way. This means in the present case that you are not able to rest your hope on the revealed promises of God concerning eternal life in Christ beyond death. Usually I appreciate your modesty in the way you do theology, but when it comes down to your not affirming clear promises of God in the gospel, the modesty is being taken too far. Lacking guidance from the Scriptures and as if to underline my anxiety, you are forced to resolve the issue rationally and then cannot do so. Thus is the problem of liberal theology highlighted." (p. 249) In a nutshell, then, the liberal theological ethos accords to "the best of modern thought" the weight of authority in theology alongside or stronger than biblical revelation (and certainly than tradition). This is what Yale historical theologian Claude Welch meant when he wrote that liberal theology is "maximal acknowledgement of the claims of modernity." ... There are, of course, other family resemblances among theological liberals such as a tendency to emphasize the immanence of God over God’s transcendence, skepticism about anything supernatural or miraculous (if not rejection of those categories entirely), out-and-out, open universalism (a true denial of hell as opposed to a hope for eventual ultimate reconciliation), an emptying of the "dogma" category and corresponding reduction of all Christian beliefs to the opinion category. ... Alex's comment: This is an essential reading in theology!  這文章道出自由神學之精義並簡明地解通自由神學與保守神學之爭：乃今、古之爭。 |
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How serious a heresy is universalism?
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Should Christians sing hymns/songs they don’t agree with?
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Hell is not part of the gospel
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Christian Smith's "The Bible Made Impossible" the most important challenge to evangelicalism
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Atheism
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Religious identities geographically displayed
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What distinguishes “evangelical” from “fundamentalist?”
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A Christian Humanist Manifesto
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Why I Am Not a "Liberal Christian"
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