Category: Theology

Despite what others may mean by the term, by “Progressive Christian” I mean those Christians who accept the historical faith as expressed in the Nicene Creed, but who believe we need to grow and reform the faith according to the best available evidence from science, history, and current scholarship.

Liberal Christians

Now to be clear, there are people who call themselves a progressive Christian that are, in my view, better labeled liberal Christians. Here I am thinking of people like Richard Rohr, Bishop Spong, and Philip Gulley.

Progressive Christians

Progressive Christians, according to my definition, would be people like Brian McLaren, Peter Enns, Brian Zahnd, David Bentley Hart, Marcus Borg, and N.T. Wright. I could name more, but you get the idea.

Faith Matters

If they don’t believe in the Trinity, they may be Christians but they are not Progressive Christians. If they don’t believe that Jesus died for our sins, they may be Christians but they are not Progressive Christians. If they don’t believe that repentance and faith in Kesus Christ is required for salvation, they may be Christians but they are not Progressive Christians.

A New Progressive Christian

As a Progressive Christian theologian, I do speak for Progressive Christianity. But I have not always been a Progressive Christian. I was a Gnostic and a Buddhist for a while. That is because the Evangelical Church has done a losey job at being honest with the truth. Fundamentalism says I believe what I believe, let the evidence be damned

David Bentley Hart is the reason I am a Christian today. And Brian McLaren is one of the reasons I am a Progressive Christian. He let me know that I was not the only person struggling to make sense of my faith in a postmodern world. And the Episcopal Church gave me a home to grow in.

Recommended

Randal Rauser, Progressive Christians Love Jesus Too: A Response to Alisa Childers, Canada: 2 Cup Press.

When I use the term progressive Christian, I mean a Christian who both accepts the Nicene Creed as their statement of faith and accepts the general findings of science, history, and modern scholarship.

My concern is to distinguish myself from those who have given up the historical faith for a Christianity that is disconnected from its historical roots. It is too easy to overcorrect for years of disregarding science, history, and modern scholarship. The result is a Christian Humanism, which some are calling progressive Christianity.

Thus, in order to avoid confusion and try to bring clarity to the subject, I propose we call what we believe as Nicene Progressive Christianity. For we believe, with John Wesley, that there are four foundations to our faith. They are scripture, tradition (which includes the Nicene Creed), reason (which includes science, history, and modern scholarship), and Christian experience.

I would argue that if Christianity is going to survive, we need to make mysticism its heart. By mysticism I mean the pursuit of and experience of oneness with God. It is this experiential relationship with God that is the lifeblood of vital Christianity. If we neglect this, our progressive churches will die.

Update May 2024

I have changed my terminology, I now call my position Progressive Orthodoxy. I am orthodoxy (small o) in affirming the Nicene Creed and Apostolic Succession, but I am Progressive in updating my other beliefs based on the best available evidence.

The serpent said to the woman, “You certainly will not die!” (Gen. 3:4).

The Bible is the word of God in the sense of being a message about God. But the words of the Bible are not the words from God. That is, the words of the Bible are not a direct message from God to the reader of the Bible.

Words of God?

Those who claim the Bible is the word of God, have a problem with a passage like the above. This is clearly the word of Satan, the serpent. It cannot be the word of God. Because it is a lie. They died spiritually the moment they disobeyed God and ate from the tree of knowledge.

Human Source

So that means you cannot say that the Bible is the word of God. You have to decide what is a message from God and what isn’t. For example, Jesus said that Moses allowed divorce. But that this was not God’s plan. Moses allowed it, not God (Matt. 19:8).

Merely Cultural

And we also have to decide what is a universal principle and what is merely cultural. For example, how many women violate the Bible and pray without a veil or head covering (1 Cor. 11:5). And how few churches practice the directive by Paul to greet one another with a kiss (2 Cor. 13:12).

Slavery

And what do you do with Leviticus 25:44, which says, “you may acquire male and female slaves from the pagan nations that are around you.” If God said this, then how can slavery be wrong. God can’t be wrong. And women should ‘keep silent in the churches” (1 Cor. 14:34).

The Answer

The answer is simple, but it bugs Bible worshippers (Biblidolatry). The Bible is a message from God through fallible, human people, who “see in a mirror dimly” and so only “know in part” (1 Cor. 13:12). So we need church Tradition (like ecumenical councils), reason, and personal experience to help us discern what is a universal principle, what is a cultural artifact, and what is distorted and misunderstood.

The Bible is the voice of the Church, not the voice of God. By that I mean that God spoke to the Church, the Christian community, and then the Christian community wrote down their experiences.

The Church Created the Bible

The church created the Bible, the Bible did not create the church. Far too many Christians are Bible-centered rather than God-centered. The Church chose the 27 books to be on the New Testament, because there was a general consensus that these books accurately betrayed the nature and character of God, and our relationship with him.

Not an Answer Book

People are under the illusion that God wants to give us answers. God does not want to give us answers, he wants to develop our souls and minds. That requires us to do our own struggles. Just like muscles, the mind is developed by using it and disciplining it.

God allows us to doubt, because doubt is part of growing “in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 3:18). This entails growing pains. You will know the truth, and yhe truth will make you very uncomfortable.

” I know only in part” (1 Cor. 13:12).

Randal Rauser has rightly pointed out, “Humility about knowledge is not relativism about truth.”

Belief and Knowledge

There is a difference between belief and knowledge. Belief is the acceptance of a claim as truth, which then becomes a rule of action. Knowledge is a justified true belief.

Now not all claims in Christianity reach the level of knowledge. The virgin birth, for example, we have to accept on faith in the testimony of the early church. It is a belief, it is not knowledge properly so called.

Since there are many beliefs we might hold about Christianity, there will be some that are disputed. The theory of the atonement, for example. There has never been universal agreement. That means we should have humility when we share our viewpoint.

Progressive Christians

Progressive Christians recognized that there are many areas of disagreement. And science, history, scholarship, and sociology has brought other issues to light. Things that seemed sure, are now being openly questioned. This makes conservatives very uncomfortable.

But to those who just want the truth, this is a welcomed situation where we get to again examine our faith and make sure we are following the best evidence. And even then, we will always remember that we could be wrong. That is the humility appropriate to fallible humans.

Liberty in Non-Essentials

To paraphrase St. Augustine: In essentials let us have unity, in non-essentials let us have liberty, but in all things let us have love. This is the path of true Christians who love God, Christ, and the Church.