A Liberal Manifesto

By W. Paul Jones

Conservatives and liberals need each other in order for each group to be sure what they don’t believe.  Such labels point loosely toward two sides of the spectrum, each being an umbrella for a wide assortment of positions – thus capable of being characterized only by general points. Let me venture some principles around which the liberal perspective might find agreement.

1. Theological Method. The Wesleyan “quadrilateral” (of Scripture, tradition, experience, and reason) tends to be used in balanced fashion, with Scripture regarded as primary only if it is seen as itself richly reflective of reason, experience, and tradition. “The Bible says” carries no automatic authority, for revelation, of necessity, is received by humans as active recipients within the historical context in which the interpreter stands.
2. Ongoing Revelation. Jesus as the Christ is not the only revelation, but the norm for God’s ongoing disclosures. Miracles are not interruptions of natural law, but the religious name for events illuminated by their divine meaning.
3. Christology. The liberal stress is on Jesus’ humanity – as model, example, symbol, forerunner, or representative. Divinity tends to be a name for the sacred in each of us, which in Jesus attained preeminent fulfillment. Jesus’ uniqueness a matter of degree, then, more than of kind.
4. Salvation. Rather than speaking of being “saved from,” liberals speak of salvation as “rendering healthy and whole.” The stress is positive rather than negative, concerned for acceptance more than judgment, celebration more than confession, Easter more than Lent – with a spirituality of creation more than. of redemption. liberals are uneasy about talk of “election,” inclined instead to emphasize freedom and choice.
5. God. Stress is placed on God’s incomprehensibility, so that our words and concepts point toward, rather than describe definitively, the nature of God. Thus liberals are more open to the use of nonsexist language.
6. Church/World. The church is the manifest expression of what the world is called to become – “thy Kingdom come on earth …” The inclination is toward “universalism,” in the sense that the good news is intended for all. Social change is not restricted lo changing individuals, but includes systemic change as well, with particular emphasis on ministry to society’s “losers.”

While the danger of liberalism is its possible assimilation into modern scientific and humanistic thinking, some of the dangers it recognizes in conservativism are these: idolatry to past interpretations of Christianity; judgmental exclusivity: undue individualism; dualism of spirit and body; and blindness to an identification of Christianity with conservative American economic and political values.

W. Paul Jones is a professor at Saint Paul School of Theology, Kansas City, Missouri