LIBERAL PROTESTANTISM
According to the ESV Study Bible
article on "The Bible in Christianity," "Liberal Protestantism"
is best understood by its roots. This article says that "Liberal Protestantism
arose out of the Enlightenment of the eighteenth century." It is
clear that the movement was started by German philosophers and
theologians.
Immanuel Kant's (1724-1804)
understanding of epistemology underwent a fundamental change, and he
concluded that he could not know for certain what he was actually seeing, and even the simplest
thing that is seen is a product of the mind. So, Kant
considered that "the thing in itself" cannot be known.
Rather, only "the thing as it appears" can be known.
Friederich Schleiermacher (1768-1834) is
considered the father of modern theological liberalism (his picture is
above). He applied
Kant's paradigm shift in thinking to theology. So God would be
equivalent to "the thing in itself," and therefore would be beyond human ability
to know or comprehend. One can only know his/her own
experience of God. "Theology, then, cannot be
the study
of God himself but should rather be understood as the
study of
the human experience of God, in different ways and throughout
different cultures." Thus, God-awareness, not God himself, became
the heart of religion. As a direct result of this paradigm shift,
subjective experience took precedence over "Scripture, tradition, church
declarations, and creedal statements."
The ESV Study Bible goes on to summarize "The Effect of Liberalism on
the Doctrine of Scripture." They state,
One very important part of this shift was a radically different view of
the Bible. Previously, the Bible had been thought of as divine
revelation. That is, the God who created humankind and sent his
Son to redeem them from their sin had actually revealed truth about
himself and his plan of salvation, and this revelation was given in
God's own Word, the Bible.
The Bible became the "product of various religious cultures and peoples,
who recorded their own experiences with God as they imagined him to be."
Therefore, the Bible, in the view of this Liberal Protestantism, could
no longer be considered as presenting truth that is binding on anyone
today. It could not longer be considered as "divine truth,"
because God is beyond knowing.
In the 19th century, this Liberal Protestantism extended its
influence to the criticism of the origins of the world
and of man as well as Jesus' origin, miracles, atoning death and
resurrection. Any supernatural explanation was considered
unscientific and unnecessary since a naturalistic understanding
prevailed. In 1859
Charles Darwin published
On the
Origin of Species and this ended any necessity of God for life on earth
in the minds of liberals.
Albrecht Ritschl (1822-1889)
considered the moral value of Jesus as of great worth, even if
the historicity of Christ's life could not be verified.
Adolf von Harnack (1851-1930) thought that orthodox Christianity was
"wrongly preoccupied with doctrines and standards of belief
while missing the primary thrust of Jesus' teachings, namely,
the moral responsibility to live out the righteousness of the
kingdom." If one concentrated on the latter instead of the
former, the law of love would govern all relationships.
The 20th century saw an increasing influence of Liberal
Protestantism and sustained attacks on such teachings "as the
special creation of Adam and Eve, the literal fall of Adam into
sin, the virginal conception of Christ, the incarnation of
Christ as fully God and fully human, the miracles that
Christ and others performed, the substitutionary atoning death
of Christ, and the bodily resurrection of Christ." In
addition, there were attacks on "the full divine inspiration,
inerrancy, and authority of Scriptures, which teaches these
doctrines as historically and theologically real and true."
Liberal Protestantism rejected such concepts as sin, wrath and
hell. Therefore, the gospel of the Bible was changed into
"the social gospel."
Saving of souls was replaced with relieving people's present
physical and social needs. The "good news" that liberals
proclaimed was of a loving God who, through Christ's example of
care for the poor and outcast, calls his people to help bring in
the kingdom by showing love to others.
Thus, human reason and scientific naturalism replaced
revelation, and "orthodoxy simply had to be discarded if Christianity
was to survive in this brave new world."
Because of World War I, the optimism of Liberal movement was diminished
and a more conservative version of this movement called "neo-orthodoxy"
was created.
However, the Liberal movement continued to be very strong in all the
mainline denominations. Gordon Kaufman,
"...professor of theology and divinity at Harvard Divinity School, in
1981 published a book whose title beautifully captures the liberal
mind-set--
The Theological Imagination: Constructing the Concept of
God."
Thus, Scripture was replaced by the liberal scholar's experience,
reason, and imagination. They are their own authority, and their
values simply mirror secular values. The biblical gospel and the
biblical faith has been lost to this movement. Unfortunately,
adherents to this view are now the leaders in universities and
seminaries.
