liberalism

Rise of Neo-orthodoxy

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Karl Barth (1886-1968), a Swiss theologian, was the founder of the neo-orthodox school of theology. He studied at various universities in Germany and became a liberal pastor for twelve years in Switzerland. After seeing first hand the inherent sinfulness of humanity during World War  I he began studying Scripture and theologians like Calvin and Kierkegaard. Eventually, he abandoned liberal theology. In his multi-volume Church Dogmatics, he detailed his beliefs, which included the idea that God is transcendent and that humanity is separated from God due to sin – a condition that can only be resolved when the Holy Spirit reconciles us to God through Christ.

Impact: Neo-orthodox theology was, in many ways, universalist but was much more Christ-centered than the liberalism that reigned among scholars during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Rise of Liberalism

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Another similar movement arose in the nineteenth century that attempted to knock down the walls of traditional Christianity. Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768-1834) tried to make the Christian faith acceptable to those who had been influenced by Enlightenment thinking. For this, he is considered the father of “Liberal” theology, so-called because he believed that the individual should be able to determine truth without the interference of any outside authority. Heavily influenced by German Romanticism, his writings paved the way for Enlightenment thinking to enter the Church. Among his teachings was the idea that each person has a God-consciousness that gives them a sense that something exists beyond the self upon which each person is fully dependent. He held that Jesus was not God, he was simply a person who had fully achieved God-consciousness.

Impact: Liberal theology continues to have a great influence on the Christian church.

Barth, Karl

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Karl Barth (1886-1968) was Swiss theologian. Barth was the founder of the neo-orthodox school of theology. He studied at various universities in Germany and became a liberal pastor for 12 years in Switzerland. After seeing first hand the inherent sinfulness of humanity during the First World War he began studying Scripture and theologians like Calvin and Kierkegaard. Eventually he abandoned liberal theology. In his multi-volume Church Dogmatics he detailed his beliefs, which included the ideas that God is transcendent, and that humanity is separated from God due to sin – a condition that can only be resolved when the Holy Spirit reconciles us to God through Christ.. His theology was, in many ways, universalist but was much more Christ-centered than the liberalism that reigned among scholars during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.