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If you define "liberal theology" as "they don't agree with me," you don't understand liberal theology at all. /1
First and foremost, it's of value to look into what Protestant liberal theologians in the nineteenth- and twentieth-century meant by the term when they self-identified as liberal. /2
Theological liberalism in the classical, formal sense represents a tendency to regard “many traditional beliefs as dispensable, invalidated by modern thought, or liable to change.” /3
What all liberal theologians have in common is anti-dogmatism: a tendency to question, reject as authoritative, or redefine the primary doctrines of the historic Christian faith (e.g., the deity of Christ, the bodily resurrection of Jesus, etc.). /4
Liberal theologians usually reject the supernatural inspiration of the Bible--thus rejecting its inerrancy and infallibility as well--and they aspire to read it through a critical or reconstructive lens. /5
Liberal theologians in the classical sense tend to minimize the role of external authorities like Scripture or creeds and confessions in theological formation and emphasize individual human experience and reason. /6
They call themselves "liberal" because they feel the “liberty” to transform doctrine to conform to their reason or their experience of contemporary culture. /7
Theological liberals normally reject the idea of "essential doctrines" of the faith that are in our creeds and confessions. If they do use the creeds, it is usually with significant redefinition of the terms contained with them. /8
Theological liberalism is not defined by what we call liberalism in American political thought, though the two categories often do overlap. For example, mainline Protestants who embrace classically liberal theology tend to be more liberal in their politics. /9
Socialism is an inherently irrational and immoral system that will fail every time, but it is also *theoretically possible* to be a theological conservative who embraces some of its political and economic strategies without embracing its historic, ideological underpinnings. /10
In other words, one could hold to incoherent and irrational political beliefs without being a theological heretic as defined by Scripture, the creeds, and confessions. /11
Many of my policy views on economics lean libertarian, but I do not share the core worldview of libertarians like the Deist Thomas Paine or the atheist Ayn Rand. If someone holds to socialist fiscal policies, I do not necessarily presume them to embrace the atheism of Marx. /12
Yet I have used an extreme example.
I do not know of a single self-avowing socialist in SBC life, especially in our institutions where theological orthodoxy is held in the highest regard. /13
I do not know of a single self-avowing socialist in SBC life, especially in our institutions where theological orthodoxy is held in the highest regard. /13
If you disagree with my views on strong border protection and immigration control, that does not make you a theological liberal. If you defend the idea of "white privilege" as a sociological reality, that does not mean you are a heretic in any classical sense of the word. /14
