Liberal Theology

Liberal Theology

Liberal theology is the tradition within Christianity that seeks to reinterpret traditional Christian doctrines in the light of modern thought — philosophy, science, biblical criticism, and human experience. Originating with Schleiermacher in the early nineteenth century, liberal theology reached its most radical expressions in the twentieth century with thinkers like Tillich, Bultmann, Robinson, and Cupitt. This lesson examines the key liberal theologians, their methods and conclusions, and the debate about whether liberal theology represents a necessary modernisation of Christianity or a fatal dilution of its core message.

Paul Tillich (1886–1965)

Paul Tillich was a German-American theologian whose work represents one of the most ambitious attempts to correlate Christian theology with modern philosophy and culture. His major work, the three-volume Systematic Theology (1951–1963), employed the ‘method of correlation’: human existence raises ultimate questions (about meaning, death, guilt, anxiety), and Christian theology provides symbolic answers.

Key concepts in Tillich’s theology: