The liberal revisionist tendency was first seen in the eighteenth century and has become more pronounced today, reaching a climax in versions of the Christian faith that are characterized by such weaknesses as an exaggerated estimate of human capacities, a shallow view of evil, an inadequate view of truth, and a deficient view of God. In the end, they are sometimes no longer recognizably Christian. As this sorry capitulation occurs, such ―alternative gospels‖ represent a series of severe losses that eventually seal their demise:
- First, a loss of authority, as sola Scriptura (―by Scripture alone‖) is replaced by sola cultura (―by culture alone‖);
This is an unfair simplistic characterization of the liberal position – just because liberalism is agnostic on the possibility of revelation or the fidelity of it (given the reality of the subjectiveness of human perception) does not mean that liberalism is the only position that is then subject to having culture as the anchor or paradigm of its worldview – evangelicalism itself is ultimately a particular hermeneutical paradigm over other possibilities and thus even the statement Sola Scripture is embedded is a certain cultural, geographical and chronological cultural reality!
- Second, a loss of community and continuity, as ―the faith once delivered‖ becomes the faith of merely one people and one time, and cuts itself off from believers across the world and down the generations;
The evangelical position as well, isolates itself from the greater, older community of the roman catholic church, the humanistic movement, etc, etc. Every position will require some loss of community – the question is then one of cost and benefits. I find it worthwhile to lose my affiliation with communities of people who believe someone is condemned to hell for not sharing their worldview and an esoteric set of doctrines (called the essentials of evangelical faith).
- Third, a loss of stability, as in Dean Inge’s apt phrase, the person ―who marries the spirit of the age soon becomes a widower;‖
Is that why evangelicalism is now adapting? She is trying to distance herself from Fundamentalism now because after the Iraq war and 9/11, fundamentalism is now rotting stench in the olfactory sense of the world, and the last thing you want to be seen as is married to it.
- Fourth, a loss of credibility, as ―the new kind of faith‖ turns out to be what the skeptic believes already, and there is no longer anything solidly, decisively Christian for seekers to examine and believe;
The developments in science, from the probabilistic nature of reality in Quantum Electro Dynamics to complexity theory (sometimes known as chaos theory), spontaneous order, molecular biology have been the catalyst of the erosion of the simplistic, “solid”, deterministic, and confident knowledge of this generation – not religion. Religion exist in this climate and has adapted accordingly – liberalism has embraced the change, and like a boat with a hole, its bailing water out of the hull to stay afloat while it takes time to figure out how to reconcile science and faith. Evangelicalism on the other hand, feels a need to resist these developments because it has a major claim of revelation that requires a commitment to assurance or as it the words of the authors – solid believes. Nevermind it flies in the face of science and is built on circular arguments – as long as people feel like they have their feet firmly planted on solid ground – its worth the isolation from reality and the intellectual developments of the rest of the world, right? Fortunately for Christianity, there are many believers in the various fields of the sciences who aren’t evangelical.
- Fifth, a loss of identity, as the revised version of the faith loses more and more resemblance to the historic Christian faith that is true to Jesus. In short, for all their purported sincerity and attempts to be relevant, extreme proponents of liberal revisionism run the risk of becoming what Søren Kierkegaard called ―kissing Judases‖ – Christians who betray Jesus with an interpretation.
Touché. Ditto. Evangelicalism is guilty of the same thing – reducing Jesus and Christianity to their interpretation.
