While sin and temptation are Satan’s tools against individual Christians, sinful theological liberalism has been his primary weapon against the Church as a whole for several hundred years. Influenced by philosophers such as Immanuel Kant, who “declared his age ‘an age of criticism’ and called readers to reject the authority of the Church and the Bible,"¹ Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher (1768-1834) is known as the “father of modern theology” and, more specifically, the “father of modern liberal theology.”² While it can be said that theological liberalism began with Schleiermacher, events before his life contributed to the infiltration of liberal theology into the Church. However, this essay will focus on events and representations of theological liberalism during and after Schleiermacher's time. These events include the theology of the Tübingen School, the Downgrade Controversy, and the writings of Gustavo Gutiérrez. By examining this school, controversy, and person, one can gain a general idea of the doctrines and dogmas of theological liberalism, learn how to avoid liberal theology, and even identify specific characteristics and processes used by these liberal Christians that orthodox Christians of today would do well to embrace.

Schleiermacher “identified philosophy as the heart of the university,”³ arguing that philosophy is more important than theology in scholarly studies. However, Schleiermacher still saw theology and faith as necessary, describing “the covenant between faith and independent science as one ‘by the terms of which science is not hindered and faith not excluded.'”⁴ This process of valuing reason above faith leads to “[theologians] becom[ing] Wissenschaftler, [or] serious scholars.”⁵ Schleiermacher’s debate of the significance of science and faith was nothing new in the history of the Church; as Tertullian previously stated, “Theology found itself torn between Jerusalem and Athens.”⁶ In the “age of criticism,” theology was torn between biblical faith and philosophical reason. In this environment and under these influences, the Tübingen School emerged by the early 1830s.⁷ Headed by Ferdinand Christian Baur (1792-1860) and his student, David Frederick Strauss (1808-74), the Tübingen School adopted the Hegelian philosophy that declares "history is a struggle between opposing forces, inexorably generating the Geist, or spirit of reason.”⁸ Furthermore, they argued that Schleiermacher needed to take his idealogy further regarding the relation between faith and reason in academic study.⁹ They preferred and thought it more scholarly to separate faith and reason in studying theology. This process, known as historical or higher criticism, evaluates specific books of the Bible in light of their provenance and date.¹⁰ From these historical facts, the influence of faith is separated insofar that “[t]his continuing separation of faith from reason allowed nineteenth-century German “neologians” to favor philological and historical readings of the Bible—arguing radical positions such as that the Pentateuch has no genuine historical material at all.”¹¹ Perhaps this conclusion is because Scripture is primarily received as accurate through faith and guidance from the Holy Spirit. When those two things are separated from the historical narrative, the historical integrity is compromised. That is not to say that there is no historical evidence of the Pentateuch, but that faith plays a crucial part in its interpretation and historical accuracy.

While most of the Tübingen School’s conclusions have been dismissed by scholars,¹² the argument between the significance of faith and reason in the theological interpretation of the Bible remains. However, the scales have shifted by liberal theologians to favor faith and personal experience over historical facts and reason. The Scriptures, therefore, must be embraced as “Charles Hodge, [in his Systematic Theology (1873)], argue[s] that the Scriptures are “the Word of God… and [are] therefore infallible”—which extend[s] to “statements of facts, whether scientific, historical, or geographical” and in fact to “everything which any sacred writer asserts to be true.”¹³ Furthermore, B.B. Warfield “articulated the doctrine of biblical inerrancy, which became the theological mainstay for the early fundamentalist movement.”¹⁴

From the Tübingen School and conservative theologians of the modern era like Hodge and Warfield, Christians today would be wise to value reason in interpreting the Scriptures. While the Tübingen School did not see the Scriptures as inerrant and infallible, it cannot be denied that their vigorous methodology and focus on the contemporary context of individual books of the Bible are necessary steps of proper exegesis. However, unlike the Tübingen School and more similarly to Hodge and Warfield, Christians must interpret the Scriptures in light of the Faith and doctrines derived from Scripture. They must not neglect the Holy Spirit in His guidance of the historical and theological truths in the Bible.

Theological liberalism can also be seen in the life and ministry of Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-92), otherwise known as the “Prince of Preachers.”¹⁵ A staunch advocate for biblical inerrancy, “Spurgeon criticized those he thought were undermining biblical authority in the ensuing ‘Downgrade Controversy’ (1887-92).”¹⁶ The important issues were the authority of the Bible and “post-mortem,” or after-death salvation.¹⁷ Mark Hopkins writes that Spurgeon had two goals in his involvement: “to warn against the rise of liberalism” and “to retreat into the private world of his church and associated enterprises.”¹⁸

While Spurgeon was not trying to create a schism between liberal and conservative Christians, he sought to reform the Church similarly to Luther’s initial goal. However, he failed and escaped the now-liberal Baptist Union along with his church, the Metropolitan Tabernacle.¹⁹ Unfortunately, the Downgrade Controversy was never resolved within the Baptist Union because “the central theological issues were never addressed. And Spurgeon, who had generated more heat than light, was partly to blame.”²⁰ The event cost Spurgeon his life due to deteriorating health in 1892.²¹ For this reason, the Downgrade Controversy remains relevant for theological, liberal, and Baptist religious studies today. 

Although a failed defense, Spurgeon's defense of the Faith is to be admired by all conservative Christians of today in that they must stand firm for the authority, inerrancy, and infallibility of the Holy Scriptures. Furthermore, Christians must know when to stand their ground in seeking reform and when to cut ties with liberal Christians. There comes a time when an individual or assembly has done all they can in the struggle against theological liberalism, and they must return to caring for their specific flocks of conservative, believing Christians. 

It was not only Protestantism that was affected by liberalism, but Catholicism was infiltrated, too. One such example of liberalism within the Catholic Church can be found in the 1971 writing of Gustavo Gutiérrez, a Peruvian Dominican priest and the “Pioneer of Liberation Theology,” titled A Theology of Liberation: History, Politics, and Salvation.²² In his seminal work, Gutiérrez employs Marxist theory and argues that “salvation… cannot be confined to an other-worldly paradise, but should involve the whole human being, including the social and political dimension.”²³ He states that “theology has a necessary and permanent role in liberation from every form of religious alienation—which is often fostered by the ecclesiastical institution itself when it impedes an authentic approach to the Word of the Lord.”²⁴ Furthermore, according to Gutiérrez, theology is “linked to praxis [and] fulfills a prophetic function insofar as it interprets historical events with the intention of revealing and proclaiming their profound meaning.”²⁵

The theology of Gutiérrez remains significant today and can be seen in the wokeness of liberal institutions such as mainline Protestant denominations, including the Presbyterian Church (USA), the Episcopal Church, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. These denominations are known to support liberal ideologies through the use of Marxist philosophy and improper interpretation of the Scriptures that they do not see as authoritative, inerrant, and infallible. 

While social justice and work are by no means a bad thing, when they embrace untrue philosophies that compromise the authority of the Bible, there is an obvious problem. Salvation is not to be conflated with the defeat of socioeconomic injustice and the Marxist idealogy of victimization and oppression. Instead, salvation relates to the world in that all people are sinners and have been offered hope in Christ, leading to holiness in this life and the life to come. Therefore, Christians must preach this Gospel in defiance of this liberal theology, but more importantly, in love for their fellow people of this fallen world.