'In my opinion, almost every professor of theology is liberal.'
Lance wrote:
I'm energized by this charge of yours, David.
Finally! A passionate response from Lance. :-) I like it.
Lance wrote:
Will you kindly do the following?: 1. Define liberal 2. Supply us with a few dozen names which support/exemplify your charge
I would be glad to define liberal, but I don't see the point in supplying names. Let's discuss the meaning of liberal first and see if we can meet some common area of agreement.
First, let me say that I do not think of "liberal" as a dirty word. Although I am a registered Republican and very conservative in my economic and political views, my social viewpoints are very liberal. I believe that the strong ought to help the weak, and that we should take care of the poor and destitute. I have been a social activist at times, and such as caused many to think me to be a liberal. I have never been offended at being called a liberal. I have been invited to speak at socialist and communist meetings solely because of my successes in social activism. Sometimes those events did not turn out so well when they realized that I was a God loving Republican. I remember being invited to speak on a radio show once, and the talk show host about fell over when I told her I was a Republican. She was a communist and had no idea that some Republicans were so involved in grass roots efforts to help the poor. At a socialist meeting once, a man enraged by my comments about God came out of his seat at the back of the lecture room and physically attacked me, tearing my shirt into shreds right off my back before others pulled him off of me.
Anyway, with the preceeding caveat out of the way, let's define liberal. Following is not an absolute, but rather a working definition for the context in which I spoke:
A liberal is someone who is broad-minded and tolerant of a wide variety of viewpoints. They do not cling to a particular viewpoint concerning a religious text, but are very open to alternative explanations. For example, a liberal might entertain ideas such as the fact that Moses and Abraham did not actually exist, or if Moses did exist, then perhaps the Red Sea that was split was really a shallow marsh, that the general theory of evolution better explains origins than the myth outlined in Genesis, that Moses did not write the Torah, but rather there were multiple authors, etc. These viewpoints would be extremes, but I think other theologians who accept the traditional viewpoints of the above issues also might be considered liberal if they depart from the viewpoint of Jesus that few find the way to eternal life. In other words, liberals are those who entertain many ideas as valid considerations whereas conservatives tend to follow a traditional or simple reading of the text. Liberals are always looking for other ways at looking at an issue whereas conservatives tend to want to stick with tradition and what is safely known to be true. Conservatives like absolutes whereas liberals shy away from absolutes and tend to think of truth as all being relative.
I certainly could be wrong about my perception of most professors being liberal, because I have not surveyed all of them, but those coming out of seminary invariably show this bend toward liberalism, so I think it proper to view it this way. On this list, I would say that you, Jonathan, John Smithson, Bill Taylor, and Gary all show this liberal tendency. People like Terry, Judy and Izzy appear to be more conservative. At times I see a conservative perspective from Gary and Bill, as well as the others I guess, and sometimes I see a liberal side from Judy and Izzy, so please take these comments as generalizations and not absolute categories. Do you or anyone else see it differently?
Peace be with you.
David Miller.
---------- "Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man." (Colossians 4:6) http://www.InnGlory.org
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