Ex-Church of Christ Support Board

The following information was obtained by googling "Liberal Christianity". The information was cut & pasted from articles written from several sources.

Liberal Christianity, Progressive Christianity or Liberalism is movement of Christianity that is characterized by these points;

* diversity of opinion

* less emphasis on the literal interpretation of Scripture

* an intimate, personal, and sometimes ambiguous view of God

* wider scope in their views on salvation (including universalist beliefs)

* non-traditional views on heaven and hell

* an emphasis on inclusive fellowship and community

* an embracing of higher criticism of the Bible.
Characteristics of Liberal Christianity

Different and varied views are encouraged in Liberal Christianity as part of the goal to experience Christianity on a personal level. A less hardline approach towards doctrine is taken than in conservative Christianity; unique ways of approaching God and talking about Christianity are encouraged. With this sense of personal freedom and the emphasis on individual experience, dogmatic statements and claims of absolute truth on finer doctrinal points are not part of the dialogue amongst liberal Christians. Many liberal Christians can and do hold conservative positions; the contrast between Liberal Christianity and Conservative Christianity is that appeals to history, tradition, or authority have a notably lessened effect on dialogue in Liberal Christianity. The search for truth is an ongoing task rather than something that has been completed. The Apostle Paul's statement sums up this attitude that prevails in liberal Christian thinking, "For now we see through a glass, darkly;"1 Corinthians 13:12

A non-literal view of Scripture, is common amongst liberal Christians. Many view the Bible as a book written by men who were inspired by God, rather than an inerrant view of the Bible as a divinely inspired book, written by God through men. Historical contexts and higher criticisms of the Bible play an important part in how they relate their faith and beliefs to the modern world.

An intimate and personal view of God, is another hallmark of Liberal Christianity. Each person comes to their own understanding of the who, what, how and why questions relating to the nature and purpose of God. Each person has their own perception of how God moves and works in their lives.
Liberal Christianity tends to have a wider scope in their views on salvation (including universalist beliefs). This inclusiveness often extends to those outside of mainstream Christianity who do not declare themselves as 'Christians' in the orthodox sense of the word. Right action generally takes precedence over right belief.

Many non-traditional views on heaven and hell are prevalent amongst liberal Christians. These range from ideas about separation from God or temporal punishment to the belief that there is no hell. Views on heaven are similarly varied in their prevalence.

There is an emphasis on inclusive fellowship and community amongst liberal Christians. With their more inclusive views on God, salvation, women, homosexuality, Scripture, and creation, emphasis is placed on community-based life centered around values of compassion, mercy, and affirmation of human dignity; this is seen in contrast to the focus on sinfulness and moral rectitude one is more likely to find in conservative Christian thought.

In 140AD, Marcion founded Marcionism. In 144AD, Marcion was excommunicated for what today would be called Liberalism or Liberal Christianity. Marcion taught that the God of Moses and the Jews was not the Christian God. Marcion also brought doubts to the churches as to what scriptures should be accepted as canonical but however comprised his own list. This speeded up the wide acceptance of the canon. Marcionism is similar to but not identical to Gnosticism.

In contrast, traditional Christians define Liberal Christianity as "A movement that seeks to retain religious and spiritual values of Christianity while discounting the infallible authority of the Bible. Its origins are in the German Enlightenment, notably in the philosophy of Immanuel Kant and the religious views of Friedrich Schleiermacher. Liberals reject the stated authorship and historical accuracy of many books of the Bible. They are skeptical concerning many or all of the biblical miracles, preferring naturalistic explanations or viewing miracle accounts as legend or myth. They often deny or reinterpret in mythical terms such doctrines of orthodox Christianity as the virgin birth, atoning death, and even the resurrection of Jesus. Liberalism has been most influential in mainline Protestant denominations and is rejected in Evangelical and Fundamentalist Christianity." -Watchman Fellowship's 2001 Index of Cults and Religions

Liberal theology and religious language

Liberal theologians view religious language (i.e. descriptions of God, or of religious experience) as inevitably limited. Our language belongs to the world of phenomena, whereas religious experiences exist in the realm of noumena, so no matter how hard we try, our language can never describe God factually, but only in metaphors and analogies, symbols and myths etc.

These myths, analogies etc. are important in forming religious communities and traditions, and can be a useful way of expressing a particular thought or feeling about God, but we cannot hope for them to sum up God's nature (God is non-reducible, non-naturalisable and essentially ineffable).
One of the original Liberal theologians, Friedrich Schleiermacher argued that theology's place was to describe internal feelings, rather than external truths or facts.


Liberal hermeneutics

The interpretation of the Bible (hermeneutics) within liberal theology is non-propositional. This means that liberal theologians do not take the Bible as an inventory of factual statements such as 'God divided the light from the darkness', but rather interpret the Bible as a document of the human authors' beliefs and feelings about God at the time of its writing, within a historical and cultural context.

Therefore, religious models and concepts must be updated to reflect the class, gender, social and political etc. context from which they emerge, so that they will appear relevant and interesting. Liberal theologians would not make the claim that any particular apostle's account of their religious experiences could be any more true, or more relevant to an individual than the experience of the individual themselves.

Liberal theology has also been the theistic group most prominent in Biblical criticism in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Cootie -
Marcion was NOT 'liberal'. He was just opinionated. He wouldn't be an a 'liberal 'congregation today - he'd be the guy starting the new cult with him at the top of the heap, teaching radical doctrines and demanding total adherence.

Marcion taught that the god of the Old Testament was not the true God but rather that the true and higher God had been revealed only with Jesus Christ. Marcion wrote the Antitheses to show the differences between the god of the Old Testament and the true God.

Marcion was excommunicated from the Roman church c. 144 CE, but he succeeded in establishing churches of his own to rival the catholic Church for the next two centuries.

Marcion is often thought to have first established an explicit canon. Marcion's canon consisted of the Euangelion, or the Gospel of the Lord, and the Apostolikon, ten epistles of Paul, not including the pastorals. There is debate over whether Marcion truncated Luke and Paul or whether later orthodox scribes may have expanded them in some cases.

One of his major doctrines was the God of the Jews was 'evil' and therefore creation was 'evil' and Jesus came (the good God) to save the world from the evil God. That's not 'liberal'.
Also he radically edited the 'scriptures' (not yet fully canonized) and left all all of Peter, James and John and parts of the letters attributed to Paul, plus he edited the gospels to suit himself too. That's not 'libera'l.

Don't go assuming that everybody that disagreed with (or disagrees with) a traditional or 'fundamentalist' position is therefore necessarily a 'liberal'. Liberals are what they are, but they aren't just defined by disagreeing with authorities.

I didn't write the article, I just cut and pasted it. Marcion wasn't a true Gnostic either, but embraced a lot of that thinking. Based on Dr. Robert Price research I can accept that Marcion was the likely creator of what would eventually become known as Christianity. I think Marcion was also the creator of Paul and the author of Paul's fictional missionary journey's. I think it's likely, as Dr. Price believes, when Marcion died his followers continued writing in his name.

I see liberal Christianity as a version of Christianity that does not take the bible literally. I also see it as a version of Christianity that embraces logic, reason, & science. Additionally, it isn't legalistic. I would call it the thinking man's version of Christianity.

Hi Cootie

Can you supply the link to the site you cut and pasted the article from, please. I will paste it into your opening post, so its clear that you are quoting.

teresa wrote:Hi Cootie

Can you supply the link to the site you cut and pasted the article from, please. I will paste it into your opening post, so its clear that you are quoting.

I didn't write down which articles I copied, but I did edit my original post to indicate the information was obtained from a Google search. Sorry, I thought it was obvious the information was copied, but apparently not.