Classical Liberal Theology

      Born out of the Age of Reason, classical liberalism is a political ideology focused on the rights of individuals.  John Locke is a significant contributor to the development of classical liberalism.   There are ten main tenets within classical liberalism: 1) Liberty, 2) Individualism, 3) Skepticism of Power, 4) Rule of Law, 5) Civil Society, 6) Spontaneous Order, 7) Free Markets, 8) Toleration, 9) Peace, and 10) Limited Government.  For more detailed information on these tenets, please watch the following video.

      Another product of the Enlightenment was classical liberal theology.  Classical liberal theology really started with Friedrich Schleiermacher.  Central to classical liberal theology is that Christian theology must agree with modern philosophy and scientific knowledge.  Here, man is the arbiter of truth through his innate ability to reason.  When faith and reason clash, reason must win and faith needs to be reconstructed.  Highly important to note is that the foundation of classical liberal theology does not reside in revelation given in the Bible, but in religious experience. 

    One aspect of classical liberal theology is to reconstruct traditional Christian beliefs in light of modern knowledge and philosophy.  In other words, Christianity needs to be relevant to the modern culture.  By becoming relevant, classical liberal theology lays down a foundation of religious experience which leads away from the authority of the Bible.

     Because classical liberation finds its foundation in religious experience, this leads to the right of individuals to criticize and reconstruct traditional beliefs.  In a sense, God becomes who we perceive is the most appealing and philosophically satisfying being.  It is not that God revealed himself to us in an objective way, but that he reveals himself through the subjective faculties of individual experience.         

      Morality is a main focus in classical liberal theology.  A branch off of classical liberal theology is the social gospel.  People's physical and socio-economical statuses become of great concern rather than the true spiritual needs of man found in the Bible.

      Before classical liberal theology, a traditional belief in Christianity was the gap between man and God given by the transcendence of the eternal infinite holy God and the sinfulness of the finite human beings, which Jesus Christ ultimately bridged by making atonement for mankind on the cross at Calvary.  During the Enlightenment, theologians like Schleriermacher drifted towards the idea of the immanence of God.  This is why religious experience became the foundation for classical liberal theology. 

   Classical liberal theology finds its basis in religious experience rather than the Scriptures.  Therefore, as classical liberal theology made Christianity more relevant and believable, classical liberal theology destroyed the biblical basis of Christianity.  Rather than an inspired text, the Bible is on the level of any other literature and should be read as such.  Classical liberal theologians would probably note that though the Bible is not inspired, it still contains some truths that reveal characteristics of God and how he worked in history.

Sources:

For the first paragraph, my source is the video.

The second part of the paper mainly used the following source:

Stanley J. Grenz and Roger E. Olson, 20th Century Theology: God and the World in a Transitional Age, (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1993), 51-53.