A History of Christian Doctrine #3 - Online Christian Library

A History of Christian Doctrine
professor and son of a Lutheran bishop. By the early
twentieth century, Liberalism was in the process of taking
over seminaries, universities, and mainline denominations.
In general, Liberalism denied that humans have a sinful
nature, instead holding that they are basically good.
Therefore, it denied the need for salvation in the traditional
Christian sense of atonement, redemption, justification,
and regeneration. Instead of proclaiming personal
deliverance from the penalty of sin, it reinterpreted salvation
in terms of improving individuals and bettering
society. Heaven and hell became states of being or states
of mind rather than literal places.
To understand Liberalism, let us briefly examine three
prominent theologians at the beginning of the twentieth
century. Adolf von Harnack (1851-1930) of Germany
was the foremost church historian in his day and a theological
professor in Berlin. In 1901 he published an influential
book, What Is Christianity? He proposed that one
could express the essence of Christianity by three essential
points: the fatherhood of God, the brotherhood of
man, and the infinite value of the human soul. He discarded
the other elements, particularly the miraculous. In
effect, he reduced Christianity to a philosophical religion,
something that could appeal to everyone and not be
offensive to anyone.
In the U.S., Walter Rauschenbusch (1861-1918), a
German Baptist pastor, was the most prominent proponent
of the social gospel, which stressed the importance
of social action. Of course, conservative Christian
groups, including the Methodists and Holiness people,
had long engaged in practical works such as establishing
168