A Movement Without a Creed
Progressive Christianity is a broad movement that rethinks the historic Christian faith in light of modern knowledge and modern moral concerns. It has no headquarters and no single leader. Its people would say that is part of the point.
A broad movement that reinterprets the Christian faith for the modern age, usually treating the Bible as a human witness to God, following Jesus chiefly as a teacher and example, and valuing questions and social justice above fixed doctrine.
The closest thing it has to a statement is a list first drawn up by the Center for Progressive Christianity in America. The Eight Points, as a British network states them, are offered “not as a creed, but as an expression of the Christian life.” They say that “the way we behave towards others is the fullest expression of our faith,” and that progressive Christians “gain more insights in the search for understanding than we do in certainty.” In 2022 the American group reduced the list to five core values, which it offers as a starting point for conversation and not as dogma. They speak of following Jesus' teachings toward wholeness while seeing the Spirit at work in other faiths, welcoming people of every view and orientation, working for peace and justice, caring for the earth, and valuing questions over absolutes.
Two cautions will keep us fair. First, this study is about doctrine, not politics. A Christian who cares for the poor, or who votes differently from you, is not a progressive Christian in the sense we mean here. Second, the movement is a wide spectrum. Some keep the old creeds and differ mainly on hell or sexuality. Others deny the virgin birth, the atoning death of Christ, and His bodily resurrection. So never assume you know what a friend believes. Ask.
Is the faith something we may revise? Jude called it the faith which was once delivered unto the saints (Jude 1:3). The word once means once for all. God says, I am the LORD, I change not (Malachi 3:6). So any “progress” in doctrine deserves careful examination.
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For Deeper Study
- Christianity and LiberalismAmazon J. Gresham MachenThe classic 1923 answer to theological liberalism, still remarkably current. Machen was a Presbyterian. We differ with him on baptism, church government, and Calvinism.
- Another Gospel?Amazon Alisa ChildersA helpful account from someone who met progressive teaching firsthand and tested it against Scripture and history. Evangelical.
- The Deconstruction of Christianity: What It Is, Why It's Destructive, and How to RespondAmazon Alisa Childers and Tim BarnettShows how the path of deconstruction often leads into progressive Christianity, and how to respond. Evangelical.
- Thy Word Is TruthAmazon Edward J. YoungA classic, readable defense of the inspiration and authority of Scripture. Young was a Presbyterian.
- Foxe's Book of MartyrsAmazon John FoxeThe classic Protestant record of those who died for the faith, from the early church to the English Reformation.
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What Is Deconstruction?
Deconstruction is the taking apart of the faith a person was taught, which can mean sifting human traditions by Scripture or dismantling the Christian faith itself, and the difference lies in what serves as the final measure.
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