Link here to an interesting article.
The writer says that "progressive Christianity" will lead to the downfall of Christian beliefs.
By the phrase is meant; the diversity of interpretations of beliefs especially as they bend to encompass new historical and scientific findings.
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/atheology/2017/03/can-progressive-christianity-save-cure-christianity/?utm_source=[!]%20Newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NL%20Nonreligious&utm_content=14395
The idea that "progressive Christianity" will lead to the downfall of Christian beliefs is something that has long been debated among Christians who've actually taken the trouble to read any of the literature. John Shelby Spong, who attempted to synthesise many of these ideas seemed full of enthusiasm for the future of the Christian faith in this regard. The major proponents for this kind of thinking in England were Bish John Robinson, who seemed to retreat a bit to more traditionalist thinking in later life, and Don Cupitt (
The Sea of Faith), who moved more and more to an out-and-out atheist position.
However, the writer does seem more than a little bit out of touch with critical thinking, as revealed by the following comments:
That Jesus and Paul fit into the category of failed “apocalyptic prophets” in significant ways is more of an unstated premise in academic work than something that’s consciously explored; but that’s beginning to change.
(Well, it's explicit in Schweitzer - and that was quite a while back)
The truth is that in some ways, we’re still in the historical infancy of critical academic analysis of the Bible, and particularly in our understanding of the theological implications that might emerge from this. In my most recent post, I’ve highlighted some of the unexplored areas here, and what both Christians and non-Christians can do to help break new ground in this regard. For now, though, there are many senses in we simply still don’t know what the implications of critical Biblical interpretation might be.
There may still be much research to be done, but it's been going on for at least a couple of a hundred years (since scholars were at risk of losing only their jobs, and not their freedom or sometimes their lives, that is). If the end result of this critical enquiry is the loss of traditional faith, tough. That it should result in the extinction of Fundamentalism - I personally can't wait.
