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{{Short description|Emphasis on reason and experience over doctrinal authority}}
{{for|the religious political movement|Christian left}}
{{Redirect-distinguish|Christian Modernism|Catholic modernism|Fundamentalist–Modernist controversy}}
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{{Liberalism sidebar}}
'''Liberal Christianity''', also known as '''liberal theology''' and historically as '''Christian modernism''' (see [[Catholic modernism]] and [[Fundamentalist–Modernist controversy|fundamentalist–modernist controversy]]),<ref name="thearda" /> is a movement that interprets [[Christianity|Christian]] teaching by prioritizing 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]].<ref>{{harvtxt|Dorrien|2001|pp=xiii,xxiii}}: "Liberal Christian theology is a tradition that derives from the late-eighteenth- and early-nineteenth-century Protestant attempt to reconceptualize the meaning of traditional Christian teaching in the light of modern knowledge and modern ethical values. It is not revolutionary but reformist in spirit and substance. Fundamentally it is the idea of a genuine Christianity not based on external authority. Liberal theology seeks to reinterpret the symbols of traditional Christianity in a way that creates a progressive religious alternative to atheistic rationalism and to theologies based on external authority."</ref><ref>{{harvtxt|"Theological Liberalism"}}: "Theological liberalism, a form of religious thought that establishes religious inquiry on the basis of a norm other than the authority of tradition. It was an important influence in Protestantism from about the mid-17th century through the 1920s."</ref><ref>{{harvtxt|McGrath|2013|p=196}}: "Liberalism's program required a significant degree of flexibility in relation to traditional Christian theology. Its leading writers argued that reconstruction of belief was essential if Christianity were to remain a serious intellectual option in the modern world. For this reason, they demanded a degree of freedom in relation to the doctrinal inheritance of Christianity on the one hand, and traditional methods of biblical interpretation on the other. Where traditional ways of interpreting Scripture, or traditional beliefs, seemed to be compromised by developments in human knowledge, it was imperative that they should be discarded or reinterpreted to bring them into line with what was now known about the world."</ref>

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.{{Sfn|Dorrien|2001|p=xviii}} 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.{{Sfn|Dorrien|2001|p=xv}} [[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.{{Sfn|Dorrien|2001|p=xx}}

In the context of theology, ''liberal'' does not refer to [[political liberalism]], and it should also be distinguished from [[progressive Christianity]].<ref name="thearda">{{cite web | url = http://www.thearda.com/timeline/movements/movement_56.asp | title = Christian Modernism | last = Gurrentz | first = Benjamin T. | website = The Arda | publisher = [[Association of Religion Data Archives]] | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190731065525/http://www.thearda.com/timeline/movements/movement_56.asp | archive-date = July 31, 2019 | url-status = live}}</ref>

==Liberal Protestantism<!--'Liberal Protestantism', 'Liberal Protestant', and 'Liberal Protestants' redirect here-->==
'''Liberal Protestantism'''<!--boldface per WP:R#PLA--> developed in the 19th century out of a perceived need to adapt Christianity to a modern intellectual context. With the acceptance of [[Charles Darwin]]'s theory of [[natural selection]], some traditional Christian beliefs, such as parts of the [[Genesis creation narrative]], became difficult to defend. Unable to ground faith exclusively in an appeal to [[scripture]] or the person of [[Jesus Christ]], liberals, according to theologian and intellectual historian [[Alister McGrath]], "sought to anchor that faith in common human experience, and interpret it in ways that made sense within the modern worldview."{{Sfn|McGrath|2013|p=196}} Beginning in Germany, liberal theology was influenced by several strands of thought, including the [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]]'s high view of human reason and [[Pietism]]'s emphasis on [[religious experience]] and [[interdenominational]] tolerance.{{Sfn|Campbell|1996|p=128}}

The sources of religious authority recognized by liberal Protestants differed from conservative Protestants. Traditional Protestants understood the [[Bible]] to be uniquely authoritative (''[[sola scriptura]]''); all doctrine, teaching and the church itself derive authority from it.{{Sfn|Ogden|1976|pp=405–406}} A traditional Protestant could therefore affirm that "what Scripture says, God says."{{Sfn|Ogden|1976|p=408}} Liberal Christians rejected the doctrine of [[biblical inerrancy]] or [[biblical infallibility|infallibility]],<ref name="Chryssides 2010 p. 21"/> which they saw as the [[idolatry]] ([[fetishism]]) of the Bible.<ref name="Dorrien 2000 p. 112">{{cite book | last=Dorrien | first=Garry J. | title=The Barthian Revolt in Modern Theology: Theology Without Weapons | publisher=Westminster John Knox Press | year=2000 | isbn=978-0-664-22151-5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K2l0sc8wekwC&pg=PA112 | access-date=30 August 2020 | page=112}}</ref> Instead, liberals sought to understand the Bible through modern [[biblical criticism]], such as [[historical criticism]], that began to be used in the late 1700s to ask if biblical accounts were based on older texts or whether the [[Gospels]] recorded the actual words of Jesus.{{Sfn|Campbell|1996|p=128}} The use of these methods of biblical interpretation led liberals to conclude that "none of the [[New Testament]] writings can be said to be [[Apostles in the New Testament|apostolic]] in the sense in which it has been traditionally held to be so".{{Sfn|Ogden|1976|pp=408–409}} This conclusion made ''sola scriptura'' an untenable position. In its place, liberals identified the [[historical Jesus]] as the "real [[Biblical canon|canon]] of the Christian church".{{Sfn|Ogden|1976|p=409}}

German theologian [[William Wrede]] wrote that "Like every other real science, New Testament Theology has its goal simply in itself, and is totally indifferent to all dogma and Systematic Theology". Theologian [[Hermann Gunkel]] affirmed that "the spirit of historical investigation has now taken the place of a traditional doctrine of inspiration".<ref name="Lyons2002">{{cite book|first=William John|last=Lyons|title=Canon and Exegesis: Canonical Praxis and the Sodom Narrative|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bVqvAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA17|date=1 July 2002|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=978-0-567-40343-8|page=17|quote=On the relationship between the results of his work and the task of Christian theology, Wrede writes that how the 'systematic theologian gets on with its results and deals with them—that is his own affair. Like every other real science, New Testament Theology's has its goal simply in itself, and is totally indifferent to all dogma and Systematic Theology' (1973: 69).16 In the 1920s H. Gunkel would summarize the arguments against Biblical Theology in Old Testament study thus: 'The recently experienced phenomenon of biblical theology being replaced by the history of Israelite religion is to be explained from the fact that the spirit of historical investigation has now taken the place of a traditional doctrine of inspiration' (1927–31: 1090–91; as quoted by Childs 1992a: 6).}}</ref> Episcopal bishop [[John Shelby Spong]] declared that the literal interpretation of the Bible is [[heresy]].<ref name="Chellew-Hodge 2016">{{cite web | last=Chellew-Hodge | first=Candace | title=Why It Is Heresy to Read the Bible Literally: An Interview with John Shelby Spong | website=Religion Dispatches | date=24 February 2016 | url=https://religiondispatches.org/why-it-is-heresy-to-read-the-bible-literally-an-interview-with-john-shelby-spong/ | access-date=19 June 2021}}</ref><ref name="Spong2016">{{cite book|first=John Shelby|last=Spong|title=Biblical Literalism: A Gentile Heresy: A Journey into a New Christianity Through the Doorway of Matthew's Gospel|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wuH1CQAAQBAJ|date=16 February 2016|publisher=HarperOne|isbn=978-0-06-236233-9|page=22|chapter=Stating the Problem, Setting the Stage|quote=To read the gospels properly, I now believe, requires a knowledge of Jewish culture, Jewish symbols, Jewish icons and the tradition of Jewish storytelling. It requires an understanding of what the Jews call 'midrash.' Only those people who were completely unaware of these things could ever have come to think that the gospels were meant to be read literally.}}</ref>

The two groups also disagreed on the role of experience in confirming truth claims. Traditional Protestants believed scripture and [[revelation]] always confirmed human experience and reason. For liberal Protestants, there were two ultimate sources of religious authority: the Christian experience of God as revealed in Jesus Christ and universal human experience. In other words, only an appeal to common human reason and experience could confirm the truth claims of Christianity.{{Sfn|Ogden|1976|pp=409–411}}

In general, liberal Christians are not concerned with the presence of biblical errors or contradictions.<ref name="Chryssides 2010 p. 21">{{cite book | last=Chryssides | first=George D. | title=Christianity Today: An Introduction | publisher=Bloomsbury Academic | series=Religion Today | year=2010 | isbn=978-1-84706-542-1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4FSGhhjtU-UC&pg=PA21 | access-date=30 August 2020 | page=21}}</ref> 
Liberals abandoned or reinterpreted traditional doctrines in light of recent knowledge. For example, the traditional doctrine of [[original sin]] was rejected for being derived from [[Augustine of Hippo]], whose views on the New Testament were believed to have been distorted by his involvement with [[Manichaeism]]. [[Christology]] was also reinterpreted. Liberals stressed [[Incarnation (Christianity)|Christ's humanity]], and his divinity became "an affirmation of Jesus exemplifying qualities which humanity as a whole could hope to emulate".{{Sfn|McGrath|2013|p=196}}

Liberal Christians sought to elevate Jesus' [[Humanity (virtue)|humane teachings]] as a standard for a world civilization freed from [[Cult (religious practice)|cultic traditions]] and traces of [[Hellenistic polytheism|traditionally pagan types of belief]] in the [[supernatural]].{{Sfn|Mack|1993|p=29}} As a result, liberal Christians placed less emphasis on miraculous events associated with the life of Jesus than on his teachings.{{Sfn|Woodhead|2002|pp=186, 193}} The debate over whether a belief in miracles was mere [[superstition]] or essential to accepting the [[Christology|divinity of Christ]] constituted a crisis within the 19th-century church, for which theological compromises were sought.<ref>''The Making of American Liberal Theology: Imagining Progressive Religion 1805–1900'', edited by Gary J. Dorrien (Westminster John Knox Press, 2001), ''passim'', search [https://archive.org/details/makingofamerican0000dorr <!-- quote=miracles "liberal christians" jesus OR christ. --> miracles.]</ref>{{pages needed|date=March 2019}} Some liberals prefer to read Jesus' miracles as [[metaphor]]ical narratives for understanding the power of God.{{Sfn|Brandom|2000|p=76}}{{better source needed|reason=This is a very generalized resource for teaching religions in high school. It would be better to have a source more closely tied to the topic.|date=March 2019}} Not all theologians with liberal inclinations reject the possibility of miracles, but many reject the [[polemic]]ism that denial or affirmation entails.{{Sfn|Dorrien|2003|pp=233, 413, 436}}

Nineteenth-century liberalism had an optimism about the future in which humanity would continue to achieve greater progress.{{Sfn|McGrath|2013|p=196}} This optimistic view of history was sometimes interpreted as building the [[Postmillennialism|kingdom of God]] in the world.{{Sfn|Campbell|1996|p=128}}

===Development===
The roots of liberal Christianity go back to the 16th century when Christians such as [[Erasmus]] and the [[Deists]] attempted to remove what they believed were the superstitious elements from Christianity and "leave only its essential teachings (rational love of God and humanity)".{{Sfn|Woodhead|2002|pp=186, 193}}

[[Reformed tradition|Reformed]] theologian [[Friedrich Schleiermacher]] (1768–1834) is often considered the father of liberal Protestantism.{{Sfn|Campbell|1996|p=128}} In response to [[Romanticism]]'s disillusionment with Enlightenment [[rationalism]], Schleiermacher argued that God could only be experienced through feeling, not reason. In Schleiermacher's theology, religion is a feeling of absolute dependence on God. Humanity is conscious of its own sin and its need of redemption, which can only be accomplished by Jesus Christ. For Schleiermacher, faith is experienced within a faith community, never in isolation. This meant that theology always reflects a particular religious context, which has opened Schleirmacher to charges of [[relativism]].{{Sfn|Tamilio|2002}}

[[Albrecht Ritschl]] (1822–1889) disagreed with Schleiermacher's emphasis on feeling. He thought that religious belief should be based on history, specifically the historical events of the New Testament.{{Sfn|"Modernism: Christian Modernism"}} When studied as history without regard to miraculous events, Ritschl believed the New Testament affirmed Jesus' divine mission. He rejected doctrines such as the [[virgin birth of Jesus]] and the [[Trinity]].{{Sfn|Frei|2018}} The Christian life for Ritschl was devoted to ethical activity and development, so he understood doctrines to be value judgments rather than assertions of facts.{{Sfn|"Modernism: Christian Modernism"}} Influenced by the philosophy of [[Immanuel Kant]], Ritschl viewed "religion as the triumph of the spirit (or moral agent) over humanity's natural origins and environment."{{Sfn|Frei|2018}} Ritschl's ideas would be taken up by others, and Ritschlianism would remain an important theological school within German Protestantism until World War I. Prominent followers of Ritschl include [[Wilhelm Herrmann]], [[Julius Kaftan]] and [[Adolf von Harnack]].{{Sfn|"Modernism: Christian Modernism"}}

==Liberal Catholicism==
{{main|Liberal Catholicism}}
Catholic forms of theological liberalism have existed since the 19th century in England, France and Italy.{{Sfn|Dorrien|2002|p=203}} In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a liberal theological movement developed within the [[Catholic Church]] known as [[Modernism in the Catholic Church|Catholic modernism]].{{Sfn|Campbell|1996|p=74}} 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]].{{Sfn|McGrath|2013|p=198}} Modernism was condemned as [[heretical]] by the leadership of the Catholic Church.{{Sfn|Campbell|1996|p=74}}

Sean O'Riordan refers to a liberal attitude as one of four schools of thought adopted among the [[bishops in the Catholic Church|bishops]] and other theologians at the [[Second Vatican Council]]: the liberal attitude, reflective of the mid-century [[Nouvelle théologie]] movement, was "modern-minded, enterprising, [and] ready for new ventures of faith", opting for "newness" in many aspects of the pastoral life of the Church "from top to bottom".<ref>O'Riordan, S, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/27658829.pdf The Third Session], ''The Furrow'', Volume 15, No. 10 (October 1964), p. 624-625, accessed on 12 October 2024</ref>

Papal condemnation of modernism and [[Americanism (heresy)|Americanism]] slowed the development of a [[Liberal Catholicism|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]].{{Sfn|Dorrien|2002|p=203}}

== Liberal Quakerism ==
In the 1820s, [[Quakers|Quakerism]], also known as the Religious Society of Friends, experienced a major schism called the Hicksite–Orthodox split. The Hicksites were led by Quaker minister [[Elias Hicks]], who put a strong focus on listening to one's [[inward light]] instead of a primary appeal to doctrine or creeds.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Schism and Reform: Circa 1800-1900 |url=https://www.pym.org/faith-and-practice/historical-background/3-schism-and-reform-circa-1800-1900/ |access-date=2023-11-24 |website=www.pym.org}}</ref> Hicks went as far as to say that strictly holding to the Bible was damaging to believers and to Christianity as a whole.<ref>Janney, Samuel M. (2008). ''History of the Religious Society of Friends, from its Rise to the year 1828''. Quaker Heron Press.</ref> In addition to other distinctives, Hicks denied [[Satan]] as an external being and did not talk about an eternal [[Hell]].<ref>Thomas D. Hamm (1988). ''The Transformation of American Quakerism: Orthodox Friends, 1800–1907''. Indiana University Press. page 16. {{ISBN|9780253360045}}</ref>

Hicksite-Quakerism, often called the Liberal branch, is today found most prominently in the [[Friends General Conference]], but it also found in the centrist [[Friends United Meeting]]. Rather than holding to any firm statement of faith, Hicksite Quakers are led by the Inward Light as they believe it leads them.<ref>{{Cite web |title=JSTOR - The Search for Seventeenth Century Authority during the Hicksite Reformation |jstor=41947530 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41947530}}</ref> While Evangelist Quakers (see [[Quakers#Rise of Gurneyite Quakerism, and the Gurneyite–Conservative split|Gurneyite–Conservative split]]) were seen as holding to human reason, Liberal Quakers took a more spiritual and open approach. Liberal Quakers variably hold to [[Christian universalism]], [[religious pluralism]], [[progressive Christianity]] and other ideas not commonly held in conservative Christian circles.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Quaker Religious Thought - Volume 131, Article 4 - Christian AND Universalist? Charting Liberal Quaker Theological Developments |url=https://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2383&context=qrt}}</ref>

==Influence in the United States==
{{Primary sources|section|date=March 2019}}

Liberal Christianity was most influential with [[Mainline Protestant]] churches in the early 20th century, when proponents believed the changes it would bring would be the future of the Christian church. Its greatest and most influential manifestation was the Christian [[Social Gospel]], whose most influential spokesman was the American Baptist [[Walter Rauschenbusch]]. Rauschenbusch identified four institutionalized spiritual evils in American culture (which he identified as traits of "supra-personal entities", organizations capable of having moral agency): these were [[individualism]], [[capitalism]], [[nationalism]] and [[militarism]].<ref>Rauschenbusch, ''A Theology for the Social Gospel'', 1917.</ref>

Other subsequent theological movements within the U.S. Protestant mainline included political [[liberation theology]], philosophical forms of [[postmodern Christianity]], and such diverse theological influences as [[Christian existentialism]] (originating with [[Søren Kierkegaard]]<ref>"Concluding Unscientific Postscript", authored [[pseudonym]]ously as Johannes Climacus, 1846.</ref> and including other theologians and scholars such as [[Rudolf Bultmann]]<ref>''History of Synoptic Tradition''</ref> and [[Paul Tillich]]<ref>''The Courage to Be''.</ref>) and even conservative movements such as [[neo-evangelicalism]], [[neo-orthodoxy]], and [[paleo-orthodoxy]]. [[Dean M. Kelley]], a liberal sociologist, was commissioned in the early 1970s to study the problem, and he identified a potential reason for the decline of the liberal churches: what was seen by some as excessive politicization of the Gospel, and especially their apparent tying of the Gospel with Left-Democrat/progressive political causes.<ref>Kelley, Dean M. (1972) ''Why Conservative Churches are Growing''</ref>

The 1990s and 2000s saw a resurgence of non-doctrinal, theological work on biblical [[exegesis]] and theology, exemplified by figures such as [[Marcus Borg]], [[John Dominic Crossan]], [[John Shelby Spong]],<ref>Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism</ref> [[Karen Armstrong]] and [[Scotty McLennan]].

==Theologians and authors==
<!-- please keep this list in alphabetical order - it makes it easier to read and edit-->

===Anglican and Protestant===
*[[Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher]] (1768–1834), often called the "father of [[liberal theology]]", he claimed that religious experience was [[introspection|introspective]], and that the most true understanding of God consisted of "a sense of absolute dependence".<ref>Alister McGrath. ''Christian Theology: An Introduction''. 5th rev. ed. Wiley, 2011. Look in the index for "Schleiermacher" or "absolute dependence" and see them nearly always juxtaposed.</ref>
* [[Charles Augustus Briggs]] (1841–1913), professor at [[Union Theological Seminary (New York City)|Union Theological Seminary]], early advocate of [[Higher criticism|higher criticism of the Bible]].
*[[Henry Ward Beecher]] (1813–1887), American preacher who left behind the [[Calvinist]] orthodoxy of his famous father, the [[Lyman Beecher|Reverend Lyman Beecher]], to instead preach the [[Social Gospel]] of liberal Christianity.
*[[Adolf von Harnack]], (1851–1930), German [[theologian]] and [[Ecclesiastical history|church historian]], promoted the Social Gospel; wrote a seminal work of historical theology called ''Lehrbuch der Dogmengeschichte'' (History of Dogma).
*[[Charles Fillmore (Unity Church)|Charles Fillmore]] (1854–1948), [[Christian mysticism|Christian mystic]] influenced by [[Ralph Waldo Emerson|Emerson]]; co-founder, with his wife, [[Myrtle Fillmore]], of the [[Unity Church]].
*[[Hastings Rashdall]] (1858–1924), English philosopher, theologian, and Anglican priest. [[Dean of Carlisle]] from 1917 until 1924. Author of ''Doctrine and Development'' (1898).
*[[Walter Rauschenbusch]] (1861–1918) American Baptist, author of "A Theology for the Social Gospel", which gave the movement its definitive theological definition.
*[[Harry Emerson Fosdick]] (1878–1969), a [[Northern Baptist]], founding pastor of New York's [[Riverside Church]] in 1922.
*[[Rudolf Bultmann]] (1884–1976), German biblical scholar, liberal Christian theologian until 1924.{{Clarify|date=March 2012}}<ref>{{cite book|last=Congdon|first=David W.|title=The Mission of Demythologizing: Rudolf Bultmann's Dialectical Theology|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MGHDCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA108|year=2015|publisher=Fortress Press|isbn=978-1-4514-8792-3|page=108|quote=[Per Rudolf Bultmann] his February 1924 lecture on the 'latest theological movement'—represented, he says, by Barth, Gogarten, and Thurneysen—when he explicitly contrasts this new movement with Herrmann and Troeltsch as the representatives of liberal theology. Bultmann then states the thesis of his lecture: 'The object [{{Lang|de|Gegenstand}}] of theology is God, and the charge against liberal theology is that it has dealt not with God but with human beings.' We see in this piece the maturation of the claim stated in his Eisenach lecture of 1920, namely, that liberal theology fails to reflect on the specific content of Christian faith. In that earlier writing he contrasts the spiritual content of genuine religion with the liberal emphasis on a particular moralistic form.}}</ref> Bultmann was more of an existentialist than a "liberal", as his defense of Jesus' healings in his "History of Synoptic Tradition" makes clear. 
*[[Paul Tillich]] (1886–1965), seminal figure in liberal Christianity; synthesized liberal Protestant theology with [[Existentialism|existentialist philosophy]], but later came to be counted among the "neo-orthodox".
*[[Leslie Weatherhead]] (1893–1976), English preacher and author of ''The Will of God'' and ''The Christian Agnostic''
*[[James Pike]] (1913–1969), [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopal Bishop]], [[Episcopal Diocese of California|Diocese of California]] 1958–1966. Early television preacher as Dean of the [[Cathedral of St. John the Divine]] in New York City; social gospel advocate and civil rights supporter; author of ''If This Be Heresy'' and ''The Other Side''; in later life studied Christian origins and spiritualism.  
*[[Lloyd Geering]] (b. 1918), New Zealand liberal theologian.
*[[Paul Moore, Jr.]] (1919–2003), 13th [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopal]] [[Bishop]], [[New York City|New York]] [[Diocese]]
*[[John A.T. Robinson]] (1919–1983), [[Anglican]] [[Bishop]] of [[Woolwich]], author of ''[[Honest to God]]''; later dedicated himself to demonstrating very early authorship of the New Testament writings, publishing his findings in ''[[John Robinson (bishop of Woolwich)#Redating the New Testament, 1976|Redating the New Testament]]''.
*[[John Hick]] (1922–2012), British [[philosophy of religion|philosopher of religion]] and liberal theologian, noted for his rejection of the [[Incarnation]] and advocacy of [[latitudinarianism]] and [[religious pluralism]] or non-exclusivism, as explained in his influential work, ''[[The Myth of God Incarnate]]''.
*[[William Sloane Coffin]] (1924–2006), Senior Minister at the Riverside Church in New York City, and President of SANE/Freeze (now [[Peace Action]]).<ref>Peace Action web page accessed at http://www.peace-action.org/history</ref>
*[[Christopher Morse]] (b. 1935), Professor Emeritus of Systematic Theology, Union Theological Seminary, noted for his theology of faithful disbelief.
*[[John Shelby Spong]] (1931–2021), [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopal]] bishop and very prolific author of books such as ''[[A New Christianity for a New World]]'', in which he wrote of his rejection of historical religious and Christian beliefs such as [[Theism]] (a traditional conception of God as an existent being), the [[afterlife]], [[miracles]], and the [[Resurrection]].
*[[Richard Holloway]] (b. 1933), [[Scottish Episcopal Church|Scottish Episcopal]] bishop of Edinburgh from 1986 to 2000 and [[Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church|primus]] from 1992 to 2000; proponent of [[LGBTQ]] rights and progressive theology within the church.
*[[Rubem Alves]] (1938–2014), Brazilian, ex-[[Presbyterian]], former minister, retired professor from [[UNICAMP]], seminal figure in the [[liberation theology]] movement.
*[[Matthew Fox (priest)|Matthew Fox]] (b. 1940), former Roman Catholic priest of the [[Order of Preachers]]; currently an American Episcopal priest and theologian, noted for his synthesis of liberal Christian theology with [[New Age (religion)|New Age]] concepts in his ideas of "creation spirituality", "original blessing", and seminal work on the "[[Cosmic Christ]]"; founder of [[Creation Spirituality]].
*[[Marcus Borg]] (1942–2015) American [[Biblical criticism|Biblical scholar]], prolific author, fellow of the [[Jesus Seminar]].
*[[Robin Meyers]] (b. 1952) [[United Church of Christ]] pastor and professor of Social Justice. Author of ''Saving Jesus from the Church''.
*[[Michael Dowd]] (1958-2023) [[Religious Naturalist]] theologian, evidential evangelist, and promoter of [[Big History]] and the [[Epic of Evolution]].

===Roman Catholic===
*[[Thomas Berry]] (1914–2009), American [[Passionist]] priest, cultural historian, geologian, and cosmologist.
*[[Hans Küng]] (1928–2021), Swiss theologian. Had his license to teach [[Catholic theology]] revoked in 1979 because of his vocal rejection of the doctrine of the [[Papal infallibility|infallibility of the Pope]], but remained a priest in good standing.
*[[John Dominic Crossan]] (b. 1934), [[List of former Roman Catholics|ex-Catholic]] and former priest, New Testament scholar, co-founder of the [[criticism of religion|critical]] liberal [[Jesus Seminar]].
*[[Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza]] (born 1938) German [[feminist]] [[theologian]] and Professor at [[Harvard Divinity School]]

===Other===
*[[William Ellery Channing]] (1780–1842), [[Unitarianism|Unitarian]] liberal theologian in the United States, who [[Anti-trinitarianism|rejected the Trinity]] and the strength of [[Biblical authority|scriptural authority]], in favor of purely [[rationalism|rationalistic]] "[[natural theology|natural religion]]".
*[[Elias Hicks]] (1748–1830), [[Quakers|Quaker]] minister who started the Liberal branch of Quakerism as a result of the Hicksite–Orthodox schism in the 1820s.
*[[Scotty McLennan]] (b. 1948) [[Unitarian Universalist]] minister, [[Stanford University]] professor and author.

==See also==
{{Portal|Christianity|Liberalism}}
{{columns-list|colwidth=22em|
*[[Biblical hermeneutics]]
*[[Christian atheism]]
*[[Conflict thesis]] (or ''warfare thesis'')
*[[Death of God theology]]
*[[European Liberal Protestant Network]]
*[[Evangelical left]]
*[[Christian existentialism|Existentialist theology]]
*[[Free Christians (Britain)]]
*[[Fountain Street Church]]
*[[Fundamentalist-Modernist controversy]]
*[[Historicity of the Bible]]
*[[Jesus Seminar]]
*[[Liberal Anglo-Catholicism]]
*[[Liberation theology]]
*[[Moderate Christianity]]
*[[Moralistic therapeutic deism]]
*[[Postliberal theology]]
*[[Postmodern Christianity]]
*[[Religious liberalism]]
*[[Religious pluralism]]
*[[Riverside Church]]
*[[Secular theology]]
*[[Unitarian Universalism]]
*[[Liberalism and Christianity]]
}}

== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist}}

=== Sources ===
{{refbegin}}
* {{Citation | last = Brandom | first = Ann-Marie | contribution = The Role of Language in Religious Education | year = 2000 | title = Learning to Teach Religious Education in the Secondary School: A Companion to School Experience | editor-last1 = Barnes | editor-first1 = L. Philip | editor-last2 = Wright | editor-first2 = Andrew | editor-last3 = Brandom | editor-first3 = Ann-Marie | publisher = Routledge | isbn = 978-0-415-19436-5 }}.
* {{cite book | last = Campbell | first = Ted A. | title = Christian Confessions: A Historical Introduction | publisher = Westminster John Knox Press | year = 1996 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=p2mUxxxGt_sC | isbn = 978-0-664-25650-0 }}
* {{cite book | last = Dorrien | first = Gary | author-link = Gary Dorrien | title = The Making of American Liberal Theology: Imagining Progressive Religion, 1805-1900 | volume = 1 | publisher = Westminster John Knox Press | year = 2001 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=L50mveyi6WoC | isbn = 978-0-664-22354-0 }}
* {{cite book | last = Dorrien | first = Gary | author-link = Gary Dorrien | title = The Making of American Liberal Theology: Idealism, Realism, and Modernity, 1900-1950 | volume = 2 | publisher = Westminster John Knox Press | year = 2003 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=rfV6FmMFzdoC | isbn = 978-0-664-22355-7 | author-mask = 3 }}
* {{cite journal | last = Dorrien | first = Gary | author-link = Gary Dorrien | title = Modernisms in Theology: Interpreting American Liberal Theology, 1805–1950 | journal = American Journal of Theology and Philosophy | volume = 23 | issue = 3 | pages = 200–220 | publisher = University of Illinois Press | date = September 2002 | jstor = 27944262 | author-mask = 3 }}
* {{cite encyclopedia | last = Frei | first = Hans Wilhelm | title = Albrecht Ritschl | encyclopedia = [[Encyclopædia Britannica]] | publisher = Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. | date = March 18, 2018 | url = https://www.britannica.com/biography/Albrecht-Ritschl }}
* {{cite book | last = Mack | first = Burton L. | author-link = Burton L. Mack | title = The Lost Gospel: The Book of Q and Christian Origins | publisher = Harper Collins | year = 1993 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=hxHQQt6oELMC | isbn = 978-0-06-227568-4 }}
* {{cite book | last = McGrath | first = Alister E. | author-link = Alister McGrath | title = Historical Theology: An Introduction to the History of Christian Thought | publisher = Wiley-Blackwell | edition = 2nd | year = 2013 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=I59Rasgj3SIC | isbn = 978-0-470-67286-0 }}
* {{cite encyclopedia | title = Modernism: Christian Modernism | encyclopedia = Encyclopedia of Religion | publisher = Thomas Gale | year = 2005 | url = https://www.encyclopedia.com/environment/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/modernism-christian-modernism | ref = {{harvid|"Modernism: Christian Modernism"}} }} 
* {{cite journal | last = Ogden | first = Schubert M. | author-link = Schubert M. Ogden | title = Sources of Religious Authority in Liberal Protestantism | journal = Journal of the American Academy of Religion | volume = 44 | issue = 3 | pages = 403–416 | publisher = Oxford University Press | date = September 1976 | doi = 10.1093/jaarel/XLIV.3.403 | jstor = 1462813 }}
* {{cite encyclopedia | last = Tamilio | first = John III | title = Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher (1768-1834): Progenitor of Practical Theology | encyclopedia = The Boston Collaborative Encyclopedia of Modern Western Theology | date = 2002 | url = http://people.bu.edu/wwildman/bce/mwt_themes_470_schleiermacher.htm#Friedrich%20Daniel%20Ernst%20Schleiermacher%20(1768-1834):%20Progenitor%20of%20Practical%20Theology }}
* {{cite encyclopedia | title = Theological Liberalism | encyclopedia = [[Encyclopædia Britannica]] | publisher = Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. | date = November 5, 2018 | url = https://www.britannica.com/topic/theological-liberalism | ref = {{harvid|"Theological Liberalism"}} }} 
* {{Citation | last = Woodhead | first = Linda | contribution = Christianity | year = 2002 | title = Religions in the Modern World: Traditions and Transformations | editor-last1 = Woodhead | editor-first1 = Linda | editor-last2 = Fletcher | editor-first2 = Paul | pages = 177–209 | publisher = Routledge | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=rwqFGUKUb58C | isbn = 978-0-415-21783-5 }}.
{{refend}}

==External links==
*[http://www.lmu.de/liberaltheology2018 "Liberal Theology Today" – International Conference, Munich 2018]
*[https://progressivechristianalliance.org/ The Progressive Christian Alliance]
*[https://www.pcnbritain.org.uk/ Progressive Christian Network Britain]
*[http://www.liberalchristian.org Fellowship of Non-Subscribing Christians]
*[https://bible.org/article/liberalism Liberalism By M. James Sawyer, Th.M., Ph.D.]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20050206222300/http://biblebelievers.com/machen/index.html Christianity and Liberalism by J. Gresham Machen (1881–1937)]
*[https://www.thechristianleft.org/ The Christian Left – ''An Open Fellowship of Progressive Christians'']
*[https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2017/01/04/liberal-churches-are-dying-but-conservative-churches-are-thriving/ Liberal churches are dying. But conservative churches are thriving], ''Washington Post''
{{Christianity footer}}

[[Category:Christian philosophy]]
[[Category:Criticism of Christianity]]
[[Category:Christian theological movements]]
[[Category:Liberalism and religion]]
[[Category:Age of Enlightenment]]
[[Category:Christian terminology]]
[[Category:Modernism in the Catholic Church]]