The Spirit Of American Liberal Theology A History

The Spirit of American Liberal Theology is an interpretation of the entire U.S. American tradition of liberal theology. A highly condensed and far-more-accessible summary of Gary Dorrien’s three-volume trilogy, The Making of American Liberal Theology (Westminster John Knox Press 2001, 2003, and 2006), Dorrien here presses the argument that the most abundant, diverse, and persistent tradition of liberal theology is the one that blossomed in the United States and is still refashioning itself. While discussions of English and German liberalism persist, new material includes expanded treatment of the Black social gospel, the Universalists, developments into early 2020s, and a robust expression of the author’s post-Hegelian liberal-liberationist perspective.

The Spirit of American Liberal Theology is a history of the entire U.S. American tradition of theological liberalism, both streamlining and expanding the history recounted in Gary Dorrien's trilogy, The Making of American Liberal Theology.

This text identifies the indigenous roots of American liberal theology and uncovers a wider, longer-running tradition than has been thought. Taking a narrative approach the text provides a biographical reading of important religious thinkers of the time.

In this first of three volumes, Dorrien identifies the indigenous roots of American liberal theology and demonstrates a wider, longer-running tradition than has been thought. The tradition took shape in the nineteenth century, motivated by a desire to map a modernist "third way" between orthodoxy and rationalistic deism/atheism. It is defined by its openness to modern intellectual inquiry; its commitment to the authority of individual reason and experience; its conception of Christianity as an ethical way of life; and its commitment to make Christianity credible and socially relevant to modern people. Dorrien takes a narrative approach and provides a biographical reading of important religious thinkers of the time, including William E. Channing, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Horace Bushnell, Henry Ward Beecher, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Charles Briggs. Dorrien notes that, although liberal theology moved into elite academic institutions, its conceptual foundations were laid in the pulpit rather than the classroom.

In this first of three volumes, Dorrien identifies the indigenous roots of American liberal theology and demonstrates a wider, longer-running tradition than has been thought. The tradition took shape in the nineteenth century, motivated by a desire to map a modernist "third way" between orthodoxy and rationalistic deism/atheism. It is defined by its openness to modern intellectual inquiry; its commitment to the authority of individual reason and experience; its conception of Christianity as an ethical way of life; and its commitment to make Christianity credible and socially relevant to modern people. Dorrien takes a narrative approach and provides a biographical reading of important religious thinkers of the time, including William E. Channing, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Horace Bushnell, Henry Ward Beecher, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Charles Briggs. Dorrien notes that, although liberal theology moved into elite academic institutions, its conceptual foundations were laid in the pulpit rather than the classroom.

Written between 2005 and 2014, George Newlands's essays span a wide array of subjects, from Christology and the doctrine of God to human rights and Christian spirituality. Coming from within the liberal tradition of theology, these essays were written and delivered in a variety of contexts, from colleges to churches, on both sides of the Atlantic. In Spirit of Liberality, Newlands displays his own brand of theology, marked by its kindness and erudition, in his approach to the vastness of human experience.

Winner: 2012 The American Publishers Award for Professional and Scholarly Excellence in Theology and Religious Studies, PROSE Award. In this thought-provoking new work, the world renowned theologian Gary Dorrien reveals how Kantian and post-Kantian idealism were instrumental in the foundation and development of modern Christian theology. Presents a radical rethinking of the roots of modern theology Reveals how Kantian and post-Kantian idealism were instrumental in the foundation and development of modern Christian theology Shows how it took Kant's writings on ethics and religion to launch a fully modern departure in religious thought Dissects Kant's three critiques of reason and his moral conception of religion Analyzes alternative arguments offered by Schleiermacher, Schelling, Hegel, and others - moving historically and chronologically through key figures in European philosophy and theology Presents notoriously difficult and intellectual arguments in a lucid and accessible manner

Gary Dorrien follows the threads of theology through the twentieth century, examining how Christians have reconciled their myth-filled religious beliefs within a world secularized by Enlightenment criticism and science. To understand how religion keeps its place in Christians' lives, Dorrien writes, we must explore how modern theologians have answered the question of myth in today's Christianity. Dorrien's narrative walks readers through modern theology - stopping with each of the major thinkers along the way to see how they dealt with the issue of modern Christian mythology. Ultimately he offers his own "new neo-orthodoxy", a theology of Word and Spirit that is pluralistic and affirms the mythical character of the gospel while holding fast to the Gospels' myth-negating condemnation of idolatry and their focus on history.