Progressive Christianity
By Jason Jimenez
By the 1990s, many modernists, moderates, and liberal Christians with postmodern leanings began to coalesce. The group would quickly self-identify as “progressive Christians.”
In 1994, Episcopal priest James Adams founded the Center of Progressive Christianity. In 2010, the organization was renamed ProgressiveChristianity.org. Shortly afterward, ProgressiveChristianity.org partnered with liberal Christian theologian and retired Episcopal Bishop John Shelby Spong (1931–2021) to disseminate Spong’s online work, ProgressingSpirit.com, and circulate his book, A New Christianity for a New World, as a pivotal piece of literature to advance progressive Christianity worldwide.
By the early 2000s, emergent leaders such as Tony Jones and Brian McLaren began to capture and publish content for theologically and politically liberal audiences. McLaren’s books A New Kind of Christian (2001) and A Generous Orthodoxy (2004) are seen by many Christians as a manifesto of the emerging-church conversation and acted as roadmaps for many left-leaning evangelicals, Social Gospel advocates, and mainline Protestants. . .
In a nutshell, most progressive Christians will align with these “beliefs”:
They are reclaiming the “truth” through postmodern thought.
Mankind did not inherit a sin nature from Adam and Eve.
The Bible has errors and has been altered many times, and most of it is to be interpreted metaphorically.
Many paths make up the Oneness of God.
Social justice is the Gospel.
Placing the term “progressive” in front of “Christian” makes it seem like a “new and improved” version of Christianity. It acts as though it belongs in the same camp as biblical Christianity, but it does not embrace any of its fundamental beliefs. The truth is, progressive Christians not only sharply oppose biblical Christianity, but do not consider themselves to be biblical Christians. . .
Let me put it bluntly: Progressive Christians are “doctrine deniers.” They deny the beliefs, creeds, and doctrinal statements of historic-orthodox Christianity. They make it sound like doctrine gets in the way of our truly knowing Jesus. You will hear them use phrases such as “freeing Jesus from doctrine,” “not restricting or limiting Jesus to doctrine,” or “doctrine is not the way to know who Jesus truly is.”
Diana Butler Bass, a mentor to Jen Hatmaker, writes in Freeing Jesus:
I appreciate the theological traditions surrounding the Christ of faith. Yet neither historical scholarship nor conventional doctrine quite captures who Jesus is for me—the skepticism bred by one and the submissiveness inculcated by the other do not fully tell the story of the Jesus I know: the Jesus of experience.
In his classic book Jesus for the Non-Religious, Spong openly states that he is “interested in finding Jesus beyond scripture, beyond creeds, and doctrines.”
It is impossible to articulate what you believe without establishing a framework of practical doctrines. Doctrines hold Christians accountable to certain beliefs that align with the Word of God and uphold specific behaviors that reflect and honor Jesus Christ. They are not based on rituals or formulas built from philosophical theory; they are formulations of God’s historical actions in the world that are experienced by humankind and are articulated by following God’s revealed truth.
[Alister] McGrath correctly observes,
At the heart of the Christian faith stands a person, not a doctrine—but a person who gives rise to doctrine the moment we begin to wrestle with the question, “Who is Jesus Christ?” The idea that we can somehow worship, adore or imitate Jesus Christ without developing doctrines about him is indefensible.
Progressive Christians treat orthodoxy (right doctrine) and orthopraxy (right living) as though they exist at opposite ends of a spectrum. But you cannot know how to live if you do not have moral truths that teach you what is right, so in biblical Christianity, the two work hand in hand.
Without familiarizing ourselves with a formulation of doctrines and creeds that illuminate the person of Jesus in the context of Christianity, there is no way to know who He is or how to worship Him correctly. Thus, doctrines are essential truths about Jesus that provide Christians a standard of beliefs that reveal truths about God from Scripture, exalt Him as Lord and Savior, and teach the Church how to pattern their lives in obedience to Him.
— Jason Jimenez is the founder and president of Stand Strong Ministries. He is a bestselling author and national speaker, specializing in biblical worldview training, family ministry, and church leadership.
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Excerpted from Hijacking Jesus: How Progressive Christians Are Remaking Him and Taking Over His Church by Jason Jimenez (Salem Books, 2023). Used by permission.
“Hijacking Jesus is the book I’ve been hoping someone would write! It’s a thorough and accessible intellectual response to progressive Christianity that will become an essential resource for the Body of Christ. Jason Jimenez graciously and truthfully exposes the falsehoods of progressive Christianity and gives wise and practical advice for how to interact with friends and loved ones who have become seduced by its false promises.”
— Alisa Childers, host of the Alisa Childers Podcast, author of Another Gospel? and Live Your Truth and Other Lies
Find Hijacking Jesus at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other major booksellers.
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There will be two elements in any departure from the objective truth claims of essential Christianity. On the one side of the ledger, there will be a lessening of the vaunted position of Deity. It aims to bring God down a peg or two. The other side of the ledger wants to elevate the importance and influence of Humanity. We become so much more than we really are.
Progressive Christianity gives the divine function of God, in terms of being the creative force, to us. We can create our own reality. It is a non-secular Humanism. It achieves both elements of the departure in one fell swoop.
I liked this piece because it is well written and provides valuable information, but I am troubled by the tone. I try to view politically neo-left Christian factions in the same light as I see politically neo-right Christian factions. I try to approach these movements first with grace guided by teaching of the apostle Paul in Philippians when he said: "But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice" (Philippians 1:18).
I am also compelled by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to withhold support for or acceptance of any Christology that does not profess the virgin birth, divine nature, crucifixion, resurrection and ascension of Christ to set as king at the right hand of God. Disputes in the church are trials and the Lord always provides the way through them, but we must seek it.
On this side of heaven, theological disagreement is part of life and so it has been since the founding of the church. I believe that we must approach dissenters of the Gospel with prayerful motives that are centered by the teachings of Christ and a demeanor that offers reasoned apologetic discipline according to the guidance found in the New Testament. The spirit of the apostle Paul's debate with King Agrippa in Acts 27 is one example. Priscilla and Aquila's discipline of Apollos in Acts 18 is another.
The Bible that some would try to deny always provides the way God would have us handle contention with a balance of love and discipline. Showing others that truth by example is a powerful persuasion.