Liberal Protestantism

Liberal Protestantism refers to a modern movement that seeks to formulate a form of Christianity contoured to the critical demands of modernity—one that works in consonance with, rather than in opposition to, Enlightenment philosophy, science, [Page 704]historical research, and culture as a whole. In regard to social issues, liberal Protestantism, or mainline Protestantism as it is sometimes referred to in distinction from evangelicalism, developed a “Social Gospel” that understands social responsibility and democratic ideals to stand at the forefront of religious life. If the Reformation shifted the emphasis of religious life from the church to the individual, liberal Protestantism seeks to shift the emphasis from the individual to society. Furthermore, liberal Prote stantism came of age in Europe and the North America during the 19th century, when Western interest in the history of religions was born. Due to its liberal theological method and emphasis on cultural engagement, liberal Protestantism represents Christianity's most significant attempt to recognize and appreciate non-Christian religious traditions. While the liberal Protestant tradition is Christocentric through and through, it is the foremost example of a form of Christianity that has actively engaged the academic study of religions. Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768–1834) is the father of liberal Protestantism's theological method. Schleiermacher constructed his understanding of religion and theological framework in response to the criticisms leveled at Christianity by German Romanticism, the critical epistemology of Immanuel Kant, and the pantheism of Baruch (Benedict) de Spinoza. Schleiermacher is thoroughly Protestant in that his theology is not founded on the authority of church tradition or teaching. He is thoroughly modern in that for him theology's primary data come from the experience of the individual rather than from the Bible. For example, in The Christian Faith (1820–1821), Schleiermacher reinterprets the Christian notion of sin as the resistance of God consciousness or dependence on the infinite. Jesus exhibited perfect absolute dependence and thus enables the rest of humanity to be reconciled into such a God-conscious state. Thus, Schleier macher did not discard the traditional doctrines of Christian theology; he instead argued that they must not be understood literally as metaphysical statements regarding existence but as linguistic expressions of Christian religious experience. Finally, Schleier-macher's emphasis on experience over dogma resulted in an appreciative, rather than critical or exclusive, tone with regard to other religious traditions.

Despite appropriations of Schleiermacher's work by Hegelians such as F. C. Baur (1792–1860), the most influential 19th-century heir of Schleiermacher was Baur's temporary disciple Albrecht Ritschl (1822–1889). Ritschl agreed with Schleiermacher that Christian theology should begin with experience rather than dogma. However, Ritschl argued that objective historical data should be the fulcrum guiding Christian experience, rather than subjective feeling of the individual, as posited by Schleiermacher. For Ritschl, the goal was to discover the original and unique aspects of the historical founding of Christianity—that new aspect of religious consciousness created by the redeeming work of the historical Jesus. Furthermore, Ritschl understood ethics and social responsibility to stand at the helm of religious life. It is in Ritschl's influential work that liberal Protestant theological method began to be translated into an optimistic form of social critique and progression.

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