Am I a Liberal?!!!

Here's a picture of my daughter, Liberty Ann, when she was visiting our family back in TX this summer. It has nothing to do with this post, I just think she's the cutest! :-)



I ran across a blog called "Connexions" today and read a post called "What is Liberal Theology?" by Joel. The blogger gave a list of the characteristics of "liberal theology" that gave me pause. Why did it give me pause? Because, I thought I was an orthodox, evangelical, conservative Christians (too many adjectives/labels). Here's the list...
Here is my understanding of some components of liberal theology:
1. View of the Bible as inspired and not inerrant.
2. An understanding that some passages in the Bible are metaphorical or “myth based.”
3. An emphasis on the need to apply human reason, experience and tradition in interpreting the Bible.
4. Application of insights from the social sciences (which are also not inerrant) is crucial to interpreting the Bible. As the social sciences are themselves God’s revelation of truth, they complement rather than compete with Scripture.
5. An emphasis on Biblical criticism and literary analysis.
6. Scripture must be viewed through the lens of time and culture.
7. Doctrines, church authority and Scripture cannot be divorced from subjective personal experience.
8. Community wholeness in relation to God is as important as a personal relationship to God through Christ. (“Shalom” creation.)
9. An understanding that the Bible contains “all things necessary for salvation” but not necessarily all things related to salvation.
10. A refusal to make creeds a test of faith.
11. Openness to “finding Christ in the culture.”
12. Doubt is not inherently the enemy of faith, but can be used by God to engage that very faith.
13. A strong commitment to social justice.
14. The idea that self-reflection is a necessary component of faith.
15. Acceptance that the Bible incorporates an intentional tension between “universal” and “exclusive” salvation. (To remind us that God alone judges?)
16. The possibility that not only may we acquire new understandings of God’s revelation but that it is possible that God is still revealing.
17. Humans, while tending toward depravity, are capable of responding to divine grace.
18. As “imitators” of Christ, we must engage the essential unity of faith and works.
19. That Christian existentialism is criticized but effectively practiced by the “orthodox” and fundamentalists but honestly admitted to by many liberals.
20. Rejection of an over-emphasis on a “personal relationship with Christ” that fails to adequately place faith in the context of community.
21. A strong emphasis on “corporate sin” as being as evil and destructive as personal sin.
22. That while miracles happen, God does not ordinarily suspend the laws of nature.
The entire thread can be found @ http://theconnexion.net/wp/?p=2420

I am in agreement with the underlying sentiment that I find resonating in this thread that labels are meaningless. My desire is to be part of the answer to Jesus’ prayer in John 17 for unity in His body. To that end I read all over the theological spectrum and, to quote Bruce Lee, “Absorb what is useful.”

What do you think?
Grace & Peace,
Rev.Kev