Is my theology liberal? While acknowledging the dangers of labels, its worth asking. I'm in a stage of life where I'm (re-)examining the rationality of my theology. i.e. Why do I believe what I believe? This is something I would argue everyone should continuously engage in. Not least because we're so influenced by our upbringing, others around us, and the media, that to be honest we need to keep reasoning everything to have a strong foundation. In some respects this process has always led me to push back against the expectations of the institutional church, because some (much?) of what's pushed at us is framed irrationally in the light of the mission and reality of living a relationship with God. So at times I feel a tug toward the ideas of liberal theology. But what is liberal theology? Recently I came across this quote from Gary Dorrien's books on American liberal theology, where he says: "Fundamentally [liberal theology] is the idea of a genuine Christianity not based on external authority. Liberal theology seeks to reinterpret the symbols of Christianity in a way that creates a progressive religious alternative to atheistic rationalism and to theologies based on external authority. Specifically, liberal theology is defined by its openness to the verdicts of modern intellectual inquiry, especially the natural and social sciences; its commitment to the authority of individual reason and experience" Now I like phrases such as "a genuine Christianity not based on external [human] authority" - it appeals to the rebellious elements in me. Further, statements such as "the authority of individual reason and experience" are also very tempting because I believe God made me rational in order to reason, and to neglect to do so is an offence to what God created. In addition, liberal theology gives me a sense of power, which is always gratifying. Liberal theology is also often outspoken on social justice - a good thing in my book. Although often such "justice" seems to focus on issues such as same sex relationships or syncretism that dilutes the definitiveness of Christ. Only some strands of liberal theology show deep and committed engagement to the global social ills of poverty and oppression. Liberal theology is comforting, it creates a tiny little universe where I can decide the basis of faith to keep me calm and peaceful in my tiny little delusion. For this reason (double meaning intended) I reject much of the liberal theology movement because they root their authority in human reason. We are not given reason so that we may become God. We are given reason so that we may engage in relationship with God. Hence, while I may fight against the unthinking straitjacket of institutionalized norms and all the pressures to conform with traditional ritual and modalities simply because its, well, traditional, I am not a subscriber to liberal theology. I'm orthodox. If by orthodox one means that I believe God defines reality, and that the bible is the story of God's revealed definition. Chesterton’s expression of this is perhaps the best articulation I have ever found when he wrote in his book "Orthodoxy" that "Christianity got over the difficulty of combining furious opposites, by keeping them both, and keeping them both furious." Liberal theology instead seems to want to mix it all together and make a mud pie. I suggest true liberal theology is the one that liberates us from the orthodoxy of practice so we can re-engage with the orthodoxy of faith. (And by the way, while my attitude as expressed here might sound like I'm in the fold of the Young, Restless, and Reformed Movement of New Calvinism, I'm not. I think [New] Calvinism still has a long way to go to really discover the truth of furious opposites. Is that arrogance on my part?)
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Why?
Probably the best therapy is to express yourself. Why do you think psychiatrists make you lie on the couch and talk, while all they do is murmur "hmmm", "uhuh", or "go on"? Archives
May 2017
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