Against Liberal Theology: Putting the Brakes on Progressive Christianity

Roger E. Olson. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Reflective, 2022. 180 pp. USD 18.99.

Renowned Baptist theologian Roger E. Olson¹ has written a thought-provoking book in which he compares the basic beliefs of the Christian faith with the main ideas of liberal theology. For him “liberal” does not apply to political beliefs or commitments. It is not about politics, economics, social philosophies, or mere open-mindedness to new ideas. Olson restricts the term “liberal” “only to theological liberalism and liberal theologians” (p. 14). In eight chapters he provides the reader with a concise overview of the historical background of liberal theology (chapter 1), its sources and norms (chapter 2) and then looks at their understanding of the Bible (chapter 3), God (chapter 4), Jesus Christ (chapter 5), salvation (chapter 6), and the understanding of the future (chapter 7), before in the final chapter he addresses the crisis of liberal theology. In each chapter Olson quotes leading representatives of liberal theology and examines their understanding of the key tenets of Christianity. In doing so, Olson focuses his attention mainly, but not exclusively, on representatives from North America.

His analysis and evaluation of liberal theology is even more remarkable because Olson himself is a representative of a “post-conservative Evangelicalism”² and elsewhere strongly argues for a “big-tent” view of the Evangelical movement or a “generous orthodoxy.”³ Still, Olson is concerned about liberal theology and has issued a clarion call for all Christians to examine and evaluate liberal theology and its implications for authentic, orthodox Christian faith. His “aim is to inform people what liberal Christianity is and why they ought to think critically about it” (p. ix). According to Olson, this is a much-needed task because liberal Christianity “is attractive in some ways and to many people” (p. x). While many of these people do not buy into liberal Christianity entirely, they are nevertheless influenced by it directly or indirectly and “their ideas trickle down and ripple out into churches and affect the beliefs and lives of ‘ordinary Christians’ – those who never attend seminary or write theology books or pastor churches” (p. 10).

While liberal theology is not monolithic or homogeneous, it has some common, unifying features (p. 2), including “their basic approach to authority in theology, the nature of theology itself, the nature of God and of Jesus Christ, the meaning of salvation, the nonreality of miracles, and the authority of modernity, the culture of the Enlightenment, and (allegedly) modern science” (p. 15).

Olson perceptively points out the cultural and secular mindset of modernity that is at the foundation of liberal theology. For liberal theologians, the Bible is not the criterion of truth. For them the Bible does not norm us; it only forms us (p. 36). In other words, the Bible may have an influence on us, but it is not the final norm that decides theological questions. Thus, Olson points out that “liberal theology looks to the best of contemporary culture and thought as authoritative for Christian theology” (p. 10, emphasis original). No matter whether this perspective is modern or postmodern, liberal Christianity will inevitably adjust and accommodate itself to what is deemed to be best of contemporary culture and thought, which in turn becomes its supreme norm. This has implications for “working out its beliefs, its teachings, its focus, its mission” (p. 10). Olson is convinced that “even one liberal idea, such as that Jesus Christ was not divine in the same way as God, can serve as a leaven that leavens the whole loaf of a Christian denomination or congregation or ministry or even mind” (pp. 28–29).

His interpretation of liberal theology is carefully substantiated with numerous quotations from leading liberal theologians throughout the book. In one way or another, liberal theology always takes its stand on the verdicts of modern knowledge and experience without bowing to external authority claims. It accepts the naturalistic premises of modern historiography and specializes in cultural accommodation. In trying to be progressive, liberal theologians seek to bring biblical claims into line with beliefs derived from modern critical consciousness. Thus, liberal theology takes “for granted that the authority of reason makes the mythical aspects of Christianity problematic for modern theology” (p. 22).⁴ With this outlook, liberal theology “elevates modern reason and experience to sources and norms that trump the Bible and orthodox Christian tradition” (p. 39).

According to one leading expert of liberal theology, liberal Christians give “too much authority to modern culture in the course of liberating American Christianity from its scriptural and ecclesiastical houses of authority” (p. 167).⁵ While in liberal theology the Bible might form us—that is, it might shape our lives to some degree—it does not stand in authority over us and our thinking (p. 63). Olson points out that “in most cases that means a nonsupernatural interpretation of the Bible and Christianity—a Christianity without miracles” (p. 7).

The conclusion that Olson draws from his insightful and fair examination of liberal theology is sobering: liberal Christianity is not a valid variation of Christian belief; it is rather “an entirely different religion from orthodox Christianity” (p. 33). This judgment might sound harsh to some ears, but throughout his book Olson displays an irenic spirit and makes repeatedly clear that he does not judge the eternal salvation of those he differs with, nor does he judge anyone’s personal Christian faith; all he does is judge whether a theology is authentically Christian (p. 164). In light of the significant alterations of Christian belief in liberal theology, even a post-conservative theologian like Olson senses the need and responsibility to open our eyes to the fact that “when someone denies the deity of Jesus Christ, explicitly or implicitly, he or she cuts the cord of continuity with biblical and historic-orthodox Christianity and steps outside of and away from Christianity. That person’s religion is another one, not authentically Christian” (p. 101).

Indeed, according to Olson “liberal Christian theology is a different species from biblical, historical, classical, orthodox Christianity because it has cut itself off from all authority except that of the individual’s self and modern thought, and modern thought is basically secular” (p. 41, see also pp. 48, 52, 96, and passim). For Olson liberal theology has overemphasized God’s immanence to the point of losing God’s transcendence (p. 52); it “has cut the cord of continuity between itself and classical, orthodox Christianity so fully and finally that what is left is unrecognizable as authentically Christian” (p. 73). One challenge many people face when dealing with liberal scholars is that liberal theologians often use the same terminology but thoroughly redefine its meaning. Olson rightly points out, however, that “a word can be redefined only so thoroughly before it loses meaning. A religion can be revised only so thoroughly before it becomes something else” (p. 119). For instance, the term “resurrection” is carefully reinterpreted by liberal theologians to mean something different from the historical and realistic events of the Bible. In liberal theology these terms become mere symbols “without any connection to a real event, past, present, or future” (p. 24). There is a distinct disconnect in liberal theology between major Christian symbols and history (p. 24).

In light of such a massive transformation of biblical content and belief it is no wonder that “liberal churches . . . are struggling to survive” (p. 116). Olson quotes one of the leading experts on liberal theology, Gary J. Dorrien, who bemoans that “liberal congregations neglected the Bible, showed little or no interest in evangelism, and sneered at revival preaching. Their own preaching was sentimental and psychologized; they prized gradualism and niceness, looked for God only in the universal, and had no concept of divine judgement or the fear of God” (p. 168). According to Olson, the problem with liberal theology “is not so much what it affirms as what it implicitly or explicitly denies” (p. 95). Olson is certainly right in his assessment—that in liberal theology often legitimate points are affirmed but other essential aspects of the Christian faith are denied—but the problem is even deeper than that. It has to do with different presuppositions that are at work and that are derived from a secular and naturalistic worldview. One wonders where this accommodation to culture and to a modern secular worldview began to take roots in liberal churches? For Olson, “the simple answer is in their seminaries” (p. 164).

In comparing liberal theology with orthodox faith, Olson is aware that the interpretation of the Christian faith throughout history is not uniform and monolithic. Yet he claims that for “biblical-orthodox Christianity in all its denominational varieties, salvation is God’s supernatural work through Jesus Christ” (p. 122) and that “all have always agreed” (pp. 122–123) on some common ground when it comes to basic aspects of salvation. It seems that Olson is stretching the historical accuracy of some of his historical conclusions when he makes such a sweeping statement. What is even more concerning is his claim that “all of this is found in the New Testament, the ancient church fathers, the medieval theologians, the Reformers, the post-reformation pietists and revivalists, and all modern orthodox theologians and churches” (p. 123). Here the wish for continuity and unity throughout church history is stronger than the historical reality. While much of Olson’s observation and analysis of the loss of the authoritative role of Scripture in liberal theology is correct, one also notices a repeated reference in his argumentation not to Scripture alone, but to “Athanasius and other ancient church fathers” (p. 115) or what he repeatedly calls the “orthodox Christian faith” (passim). This emphasis on extrabiblical traditions and church fathers leads him to affirm certain teachings, such as eternal hell (pp. 23, 125, 131, 147, 154), as orthodox biblical faith. This portrays not only a problematic picture of the character of God, but also is not as unvaryingly supported by all biblical Christians throughout the ages, as he claims. His emphasis on the value of the great orthodox tradition and the creeds (pp. 113, 124) raises important questions about the role of Christian tradition for the definition of what constitutes orthodox biblical faith.

All this being said, Olson’s book nevertheless provides a perceptive analysis of liberal theology. It does not shy away from a candid analysis and verdict that should make us think about the impact of liberal theology for Christianity at large and for our own faith tradition. For all those who want to understand better the nature and impact of liberal theology today, this book provides ample food for thought and is highly recommended.