by James H. Christian, ThD.
M o d e r n c h u r c h h i s t o r y beginning with the English Toleration Act of 1689 and continu ing to the present presents a kaleidoscopic picture. It witnesses a turning away from Rome in the con tinuing heat of the reformation and a return to it in the modem ecumenical movement. It traces Protestantism from its divisiveness of the eigh teenth century to its attempted union in the twen tieth. It presents conflicts over theology and peace ful coexistences which ignore theology. It contrasts the ornate ritual of the high church movements with the simplicity of the low church. It runs the gamut from rationalism and liberalism to funda mentalism. Rationalism and liberalism have made three major attacks upon the church in the modem peri od o f its history. As this era dawned, the church was in the throes of a great struggle with rational ism. The early eighteenth century witnessed the culmination o f a trend which had begun during the renaissance, namely a departure from medieval supernaturalism to modem naturalism. Added to this was the freedom o f interpretation of the Scrip tures which was the legacy of the reformation. Compound these with the glorification of human reason and a revolt against revelation and au thority in religion, and one can easily understand how the early eighteenth century church found itself faced with a dead orthodoxy on the one hand and liberalism and skepticism on the other. For the church, the effects, naturally, were disastrous. Laxity in morality developed as a result of basing ethics on natural grounds. Unitarianism appeared in the more intellectual and liberal centers of the church. Even where the church retained its evan gelical doctrines there appeared a rationalistic or thodoxy which lost the spirit of the reformers. Before the eighteenth century had run its course, the church was faced with another wave of rationalism, in this case called “ romanticism.” This wave and its predecessor and successor, like the waves of the sea, were related to one another. Romanticism was expressed by men who believed that man can reach God through his own efforts. APRIL, 1967
True and historic Christianity were divided and came to be regarded as two different movements. The historicity and authenticity of the Scriptures were called into question. Religion was identified with morality. The emphasis in salvation was upon one’s subjective reaction to Jesus Christ rather than upon the objective merits of Christ’s atone ment upon the cross. Naturally, Jesus Christ was reduced to the position of a mere man who at tained His unique place in history because His followers unduly magnified and eulogized Him after His death. The third attack began in the latter part of the nineteenth century and has continued to the pres ent. This one has combined all the characteristics of its predecessors; but it has gone beyond them, because in its most blatant form it declares that God is dead. This contemporary liberalism differs from its predecessors in its effects upon the or ganized church. The previous attacks resulted in schools of thought being formed, new theologies being introduced, and individual men being led astray. But the present thrust has created new divisions within Protestantism resulting in the formation of new denominations. The centers of controversy have frequently been colleges, semi naries, and mission boards. Fortunately, these waves of rationalism and lib eralism have been offset by movements of spiritual power within the church. The first of these was pietism which began in Germany near the end of the seventeenth century and flourished in the eigh teenth. Pietism laid strong emphasis upon personal conversion which culminated in holy living. Rela tively indifferent to ecclesiastical institutions, it preferred to develop a church within a church, a group of regenerate and ascetic people living and working within the framework of the state church with its mixed membership. While the pietists took an ascetic view of the world, they did not withdraw from it. In fact, they were foremost in philan thropic and missionary endeavor. Pietism rendered a valuable service by reviving interests in missions and social service, raising clerical and preaching 21
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