Liberalism, War and the Modern Church

Lesson 14 22 January 2012

American Church Movements

Emphasis is on Practical Religion and not doctrine or intellectual movements Desire to reclaim the NT church and establish the one true Church Disciples/Church of Christ Movement
Alexander Campbell (Presbyterian) and Barton Stone (Baptist) Centered in Kentucky and Tennessee Emphasizes the NT over the OT, baptismal regeneration, weekly community and the NT as the only source for doctrine William Miller Baptist minister stated Christ would return 2300 years after Ezra returned to Jerusalem (c.a. 457 BC) making his return October, 1843, then October 1844 Those who continued to believe after 1844 stated that Christ began his return on those dates Ellen G. White become a prophetess and holds group together Emphasis is Sabbaterianism, Soul Sleep, Annihilationism, Christs Judgment Joseph Smith (1805 1844) from Palmyra, NY claims to have recovered golden plates Translates plates from reformed Egyptian hieroglyphics and publishes Book of Mormon (1830) Moves westward: Kirkland, OH, Independence, MO, and then Nauvoo, IL Killed in a jail break in 1844; Brigham Young takes over and moves to Utah (1846 1848) The Mormon War of 1857 Split into denominations: Reorganized Church led by Joseph Smith s son and first wife

Millerites 7th Day Adventists

Mormonism

The American Civil War

The Watershed event in American History
620k killed out of a population of 30 million The first Industrial War and the first total war in which the population was targeted

The issue: Slavery, but also tariffs, immigration and the Industrial Revolution Theological Issues
Understanding and interpretation of the Bible Northerners: Tended toward viewing Bible as a whole and stating that it led to freedom Southerners: Tended to view specific Bible passages and interpreting them The breaking of denominations into northern and southern components (1844 1845) The issue: appointing missionaries who were also slave holders Methodists re-unite in 1948 (United Methodist Church) Presbyterians Reunite in 1960 (United Presbyterian Church) Baptist never reunite Southern Baptist Convention established in Nashville in 1845 The Black Church movement: AME (African Methodist Episcopal) and Missionary Baptist

Effects

Greatest Effect: Causes the intellectual class to reject Christianity in America

Post War Church Movements

The Rise of Spiritism
Definition: The belief in the spiritual and contact with spirits to guide life Reason: The death toll from the Civil War Strong in the Eastern US especially Boston and New York Mary Baker Eddy and Science and Health with Key to the Scripture Sin, evil and death are illusions; a return to Gnosticism Grew out of the 7th Day Adventists Charles Taze Russell Denies the eternal deity of Christ; a return to Arianism Grows out of the Methodist Movement and Wesleys Emphasis on a Second Blessing Teaches a second baptism that brings perfection accompanied by tongues Establishes the Church of the Nazarene, The Assemblies of God Begins at Bethany Bible College, Kansas in 1901 Charles Parkham Spreads to Los Angeles, the Azusa Street Revival Rise of Church of God in Christ Aimee Semple McPherson and the Four Square Gospel movement Emphasis on signs and wonders, healings and speaking in tongues The Jesus Only Movement a return to modalism

Christian Scientists Centered in Boston

Jehovahs Witness Centered in Brooklyn, NY

Holiness Movement

The Modern Pentecostal Movement

The Rise of Liberalism

Definition: In the Church, liberalism is the denial of Scriptural inerrancy, the immanence of God, the emphasis on science, social reform and the idea of Christ as savior of society not of individuals Grows out of Romanticism and the German Idealist Movement
Centered in American Universities Adopt the German University Model

The Social Gospel Movement

Walter Rauschenbusch Baptist Minister in New York The Salvation Army and William Booth Methodist Movement Young Mens and Womens Christian Association Emphasis on relieving hunger, poverty, crime centered in the major cities of the Industrial Revolution Populist in nature would lead to candidacy of William Jennings Bryan

Christian Socialism
Francis (minister) and Edward Bellamy (utopian novelist) and the Pledge of Allegiance Progressivism and Positivist Post Millennial in view The Modern Mission Movement, Colonialism and the White Mans Burden

The Conservative Response

Princeton University B. B. Warfield, Charles Hodge and J. Gresham Machen Focused on Biblical Inerrancy The Rise of Bible Institutes: D. L. Moody in Chicago; Nyack Missionary College; Wheaton College in Illinois The Rise of Dispensationalism J. N. Darby, C. I. Schofield and the Schofield Reference Bible (1909)
Emphasis on Pre-Millennial Second Coming, Rapture and Tribulation Became centered in Dallas Theological Seminary

Fundamentalism
R. A. Torrey and The Fundamentals 1910 The Five Points of Fundamentalism
Scripture is plenary and inspired by the Holy Spirit and inerrant The Virgin Birth of Christ Christs Deity Christs Vicarious and Substituionary Atonement Christs Physical Resurrection Christs Visible, Physical Second Coming

Tended to Withdraw from engagement with society

Liberalism, Neo-Orthodoxy vs. Fundamentalism

The Scopes Monkey Trial of 1925
William Jennings Bryan vs. Clarence Darrow in Dayton, Tennessee The debate over evolution and its teachings H.L. Menken and Inherit the Wind Fundamentalists withdraw from the public arena Science to the forefront in education in the US Causes Fundamentalists to become anti-intellectual and anti-social Grew out of the failure of Liberalism in its quest for the historical Jesus Also grew out of Soreen Kierkegaard's philosophy of existentialism Led by Karl Barth, Emil Brunner, Reinhold Niebuhr (US) and Dietrich Bonhoffer Emphasizes the leap of faith God is transcendent wholly Other and unknowable The Bible is a human book and a witness to revelation, not revealed in itself Denies the inerrancy of Scripture it becomes true when you encounter it Denies the Fall of mankind A form of universalism People are already elected in Christ, they just need to be made aware of it Centered in Universities and Liberal Seminaries

Effects of the Trial

Neo-Orthodoxy Centered in Post- World War I Germany

Depression and World War

Cataclysm that destroys old Europe WW I (est. 50 million dead), WW II (est. 100 million + dead) Impact on the Church
In Russia: The Rise of Communism and the attempted destruction of the Russian Orthodox Church In Eastern Europe: The End of the Hapsburg Empire (a Catholic Empire); revolution and destruction In Germany and Italy: The Rise of Fascism In France: A further weakening of Church and the rise of atheistic philosophies In England: The Rise of Socialism, but also a revival among the Anglican Churches In the broader world: The weakening of colonialism and with it, a decline in the mission movement (WW II will destroy colonialism) In the US: the rise of government taking responsibility for social welfare

The Decline of Liberalism

The positivist movement and post-millennialism is damage (WW II will destroy it) The severing of socialism in America from the Church The Decline of the main-line Churches in America The Rise of atheistic science

References
Brown, Colin. Christianity and Western Thought vol. 2 Cairns, Earle E. Christianity Through the Centuries Cross, F. L. and E. A. Livingstone ed. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church Hatch, Nathan O. The Democratization of American Christianity McGrath, Alister E. An Introduction to Historical Theology Noll, Mark A. The Civil War as Theological Crisis