A History of Christian Doctrine #3 - Online Christian Library

A History of Christian Doctrine
described this concept as “religionless Christianity.”
Paul Tillich (1886-1965), a German Lutheran immigrant
to America, tried to provide theological answers to
secular questions. The basis of his theology was what he
called “the ultimate”—the ultimate reality, the ultimate
truth. He said it is located in God, who is the “ground of
being” and can only be encountered by experience.
Humans reject God only because they have never really
encountered Him; if they ever encountered God, then
they would respond accordingly.
Tillich’s theology was existential, that is, focusing on
personal experience and subjective beliefs. His approach
undermined the authority of Scripture, and it even called
into question the personality of God by its focus on the
search for “the ultimate.”
Neo-Orthodox theologians began to make use of
another tool of higher criticism called redaction criticism
(“redaction” means “editing”), an outgrowth of form
criticism. Under this view, each biblical writer had his
own reasons for writing and selected and shaped his
material accordingly. The Gospel writers, for instance, did
not simply record history but selected material in accordance
with their own theology or agenda. Redaction criticism
tries to investigate the mind of the writer to
determine why he included certain elements and omitted
others.
It is true that the Gospel writers emphasized certain
important themes, but conservative theologians say that
God inspired them to do so. Redaction criticism, however,
underscores the human element in the process. The result
is that it typically finds different—even competing and
conflicting—theologies in the New Testament itself.
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