8 humanism." Another critic of lib~ralism said, "The life of the church has drunk deep of the enthusiasm of the secular world and fallen heavily under the spell of its assumptions and ideals '." Instead of urging men to pass the test God set for them, they changed the test. They presented a Christ made in the image of their own sinful nature and announced Him as a "re- discovery." One critic said of them, "They betrayed Christ, but they did it with a kiss of affection." Perhaps the strongest influence of the new theology in the Western World was that which became known as "German Rationalism." During the post-: Civil War era in America, the German methods of Bible study and interpre- tation became popular and found many eager disciples among American theo- logians . During that era graduate level of education became the norm among American theologians, and German universities were among the most popular for such advanced study. Consequently, many leading American theologians attended European schools to do graduate work. Upon their return they oc- cupied important teaching positions in seminaries and . pulpits of promi- nence. In this manner, German Rationalism was introduced into American theological circles. Those espousing this philosophy used the Scriptures historically and advocated inductive theological thinking. Orthodox leaders of that day correctly singled out the "social gospel" and "higher critic- ism," as German Rationalism came to be called, as the two major corruptives within the Church. This new "higher criticism" immediately filtered down from the semin- aries to the pulpit and then to the pew; and it was responsible for reshap- ing the views of the religious leaders in the main-line denominations. Spir- itual records began to be viewed as the work of human beings in an ancient .. civilization. Whether the Bible "was" or "contained" the Word of God became the debatable question in theological circles. Liberals began to speak THE INFLUENCE OF GERMAN RATIONALISM ON THE NEW THEOLOGY
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