Christianity and Liberalism: Chapter 1

Today was the first day of the most recent Reading Classics Together at Challies.com. This time the book is Christianity and Liberalism by J. Gresham Machen. I’m participating, but I don’t have the book yet, so I read this week’s assignment, the first chapter, an introduction, in a PDF I downloaded. I’m hoping Amazon.ca sends my book soon (I ordered it May 12),  the mail service works, and it comes before next Thursday, because reading from a PDF file stinks.

I retain what I read better if I summarize it, so I hope to do that with each chapter and post it here every week. Today I’m just going to quote a little from the introduction because it’s late and I’m tired. 

Here’s the background behind the writing of Christianity and Liberalism:

In the sphere of religion, in particular, the present time is a time of conflict; the great redemptive religion which has always been known as Christianity is battling against a totally diverse type of religious belief, which is only the more destructive of the Christian faith because it makes use of traditional Christian terminology. This modern non-redemptive religion is called “modernism” or “liberalism.” …  [T]he movement is so various in its manifestations that one may almost despair of finding any common name which will apply to all its forms. But manifold as are the forms in which the movement appears, the root of the movement is one; the many varieties of modern liberal religion are rooted in naturalism − that is, in the denial of any entrance of the creative power of God (as distinguished from the ordinary course of nature) in connection with the origin of Christianity. 

And Machen’s purpose for writing? 

The purpose of this book is not to decide the religious issue of the present day, but merely to present the issue as sharply and clearly as possible, in order that the reader may be aided in deciding it for himself. Presenting an issue sharply is indeed by no means a popular business at the present time…. Light may seem at times to be an impertinent intruder, but it is always beneficial in the end. The type of religion which rejoices in the pious sound of traditional phrases, regardless of their meanings, or shrinks from “controversial” matters, will never stand amid the shocks of life. In the sphere of religion, as in other spheres, the things about which men are agreed are apt to be the things that are least worth holding; the really important things are the things about which men will fight.  

The next chapter is on doctrine and I think I’m going to like that.

Comments

[threegirldad]

While you're waiting for the book to arrive, perhaps the format available at Archive.org will be more enjoyable to read than a PDF.

[rebecca]

Thanks David.

I did get an email last night saying that my book had been shipped. But now there's a rotating postal strike, so who knows how long it will take to get here!