Is Progressive Christianity Really Christian?

Last updated on: May 18, 2020 at 10:41 am by C. Don Jones

Is Progressive Christianity Really Christian? 2020-05-18T10:41:08-06:00 C. Don Jones

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I was once told that “a liberal theologian is just an atheist dressed-up for church.” A liberal Christian denied the basic ideas of Christian doctrine and the authority and infallibility of Holy Scripture. Liberal Christians simply could not be real Christians without those values. Liberal Christians made accommodations to secular society. They used a questionable translation of Scripture (the Revised Standard Version). The liberal theologians relied on secular ideas instead of historic Christianity. And perhaps the most damning of all assertions was “liberal theologians are killing Christianity.”

The Liberals

What was the objection to the Revised Standard Version? It denied the “virgin birth” of Christ. How? The word for virgin in Isaiah 7:14 was translated as “young woman.” The Liberal Christians were always making arguments about the historical accuracy of the Bible, questioned the Exodus, asked questions about Scriptural inconsistencies, and wondered aloud if the ancient categories by which the Trinity was defined were usable by the modern era.

Did the miracles of Jesus take place as described? Did Joshua make the sun stop in the sky? Was Noah’s ark or Jonah legends or historic events? These questions took a lot of time in my early Christian education. Our teachers devoted a lot of time to telling, retelling, and making sure we believed Noah built and ark, the population of the earth was destroyed in a great flood, and the languages of the world began to be spoken after the Tower of Babel.

The Liberals did not believe any of those things. To question any of these stories was to place one’s own and everyone else’s salvation in jeopardy. The Liberal mainline denominations were the enemies of all true Christians.

We Real Christians

We the faithful bible-believing people of God were true to “the faith once delivered for the saints.” Contradictions within the Bible were ascribed to the errors of copyists, or translation, or misinterpretation. It was imperative the Bible be revered as though God wrote it. Unfortunately, these beliefs did not answer the most pressing questions.

Real Christians faced some struggles with the texts. Is a child born “out of wedlock” capable of being saved? Was Israel’s separation from other nations the justification for the continued separation of the races? Could a wife escaping an abusive husband be required to remain single or would she be an adulteress if she remarried? The “plain language of Scripture” appeared to require positive responses. But those responses did not feel right.

Could a child be damned for the faults of the parents? Did the Bible mean for racism to be practiced the way we had done so? Why couldn’t a spouse’s safety be as important as the sexual indiscretion of their partner?

Now To The Progressives

We dismissed the liberals. And in our suspicion, we could not accept that “those people” had struggled with and answered these questions. The answers came in ways that made us “real Christians” more uncomfortable.

Progressive Christians wrestle with the same questions that plagued ancient believers. The moral questions over which the evangelical/fundamentalists argue are theological questions about the nature of God. Is God really the kind that commanded genocide of the Canaanites? Or were the Canaanites so evil that they needed killing? Was it truly divine justice at work? Did God intend for the abused person to simply take the abuse and wait for a better excuse before leaving? (I saw it happen)

Liberal or Progressive theological schools do not “place the Bible in the back seat of the car.” Doing so would be a mistake. Thomas Paine (American and French revolutionary) once observed that “a cruel god makes a cruel man.” Any theology that makes the divine one immoral and cruel is beneath the best values of human beings.

What About?

I have heard preachers ask the big question. “If all we ever talk about is love, when will we get to doctrine and church discipline?” Good question. I ask it too. Only I ask it this way, “what demonstrates that this particular doctrine or discipline is based in love?” Doctrine and practices are very important to the life of the community. But only if they manifest love as opposed to a rule-keeping ideology that is unequal in its measures.

It does not take long for a cruel theology to make people cruel. Such theologies are at the root of secular condemnation of religion. Progressive Christianity does not give comfort to those who merely condemn Christian religion. We oppose the evil we see. And then turn to our secularist neighbors and ask, what do you condemn in us? If we see they have a point we work to address it. In other words, we repent and believe the gospel of forgiveness and love. We are really Christian in this Biblical sense.

Biblical Interpretation

Previous Post

May 14, 2020

Scapegoating Muslims

Next Post

May 21, 2020 Why Churches Disappoint Over Doubt

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Addiction Advent Afghanistan Anxiety Ascension Sunday Baptism Barack Obama Biblical Interpretation Bigotry Book Banning BSA Buddhism Choice Christmas Church Discipline Community Conscience Conspiracy theories COVID-19 Culture Wars death cults deconstruction Devotional Divine Judgment Donald Trump Earth Day Election Day empathy Environmentalism Evangelism Exploitation of the Poor Faith False Claims fascism Fear Forgiveness Genocide government Grace Gun Violence Halloween Hate Health Hillbilly Elegy Hindu Holy Communion Holy Week Homelessness Hope Identity Integrity Islam Joe Biden John Hagee Kamala Harris Labor Lent Liberation Theology Lies Love Love as action Neurological disorders Non-Christian Religions Online Worship Original Goodness Pandemic Peace Pentecost Philosophy Preaching Progressive Christianity Racism Redemptive Violence Myth Resentment Saint's Days Satire Sobriety social media Spiritual Self Care Spirituality Technology The Kingdom of God The United Methodist Church Theology Transfigurations Sunday Transgender persons Truth Uncategorized Violence Wesleyan Working Class

Select a Month September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 March 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 September 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 January 2025 October 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 October 2018 September 2018 July 2018 February 2018 January 2018 August 2017 May 2017 November 2016 July 2016 June 2016 November 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 January 2015 November 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 June 2013 March 2013 February 2013 December 2012 August 2012 July 2012 May 2012 February 2012 December 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which tribe of Israel did NOT receive a land inheritance?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Judah Levi Gad Benjamin