Liberal Christianity
Liberal Christianity, also known as liberal theology and historically as Christian Modernism (see Catholic modernism and Fundamentalist–Modernist controversy),[1] is a movement that interprets Christian teaching by taking into consideration modern knowledge, science and ethics. It emphasizes the importance of reason and experience over doctrinal authority. Liberal Christians view their theology as an alternative to both atheistic rationalism and theologies based on traditional interpretations of external authority, such as the Bible or sacred tradition.[2][3][4]
For the religious political movement, see Christian left.
Liberal theology grew out of the Enlightenment's rationalism and the Romanticism of the 18th and 19th centuries. By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it was characterized by an acceptance of Darwinian evolution, use of modern biblical criticism, and participation in the Social Gospel movement.[5] This was also the period when liberal theology was most dominant within the Protestant churches. Liberal theology's influence declined with the rise of neo-orthodoxy in the 1930s and with liberation theology in the 1960s.[6] Catholic forms of liberal theology emerged in the late 19th century. By the 21st century, liberal Christianity had become an ecumenical tradition, including both Protestants and Catholics.[7]
In the context of theology, liberal does not refer to political liberalism, and it should also be distinguished from progressive Christianity.[1]
Liberal Catholicism[edit]
Catholic forms of theological liberalism have existed since the 19th century in England, France and Italy.[28] In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a liberal theological movement developed within the Catholic Church known as Catholic modernism.[29] Like liberal Protestantism, Catholic modernism was an attempt to bring Catholicism in line with the Enlightenment. Modernist theologians approved of radical biblical criticism and were willing to question traditional Christian doctrines, especially Christology. They also emphasized the ethical aspects of Christianity over its theological ones. Important modernist writers include Alfred Loisy and George Tyrrell.[30] Modernism was condemned as heretical by the leadership of the Catholic Church.[29]
Papal condemnation of modernism and Americanism slowed the development of a liberal Catholic tradition in the United States. Since the Second Vatican Council, however, liberal theology has experienced a resurgence. Liberal Catholic theologians include David Tracy and Francis Schussler Fiorenza.[28]