Influence of Liberal Christianity
Liberal Christianity was most influential with mainline Protestant churches in the early 20th century, when proponents believed the changes it would bring would be the future of the Christian church. Other subsequent theological movements within the Protestant mainline (in the US) included political liberation theology, philosophical forms of postmodern Christianity such as Christian existentialism, and conservative movements such as neo-evangelicalism, neo-orthodoxy, and paleo-orthodoxy.
However, the 1990s and 2000s saw a resurgence of non-doctrinal, scholarly work on biblical exegesis and theology, exemplified by figures such as Marcus Borg, John Dominic Crossan, John Shelby Spong, and Scotty McLennan. Their appeal, like that of the earlier modernism, also is primarily found in the mainline denominations.
However, liberal or mainline churches in America experienced a decline in membership of 70%—from 40% of the American Christian population to 12%—between 1930 and 2000, now being no longer "mainstream", but a small minority, where the evangelical denominations have grown greatly in size, and the Catholic Church has seen more modest gains. Conservative branches of Lutheranism such as the Confessional Lutherans of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod (LCMS) have remained comparatively strong.
Read more about this topic: Liberal Christianity
Famous quotes containing the words influence of, influence, liberal and/or christianity:
“I believe that the influence of woman will save the country before every other power.”
—Lucy Stone (1818–1893)
“The improvements of ages have had but little influence on the essential laws of man’s existence: as our skeletons, probably, are not to be distinguished from those of our ancestors.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The right honourable gentleman caught the Whigs bathing, and walked away with their clothes. He has left them in the full enjoyment of their liberal positions, and he is himself a strict conservative of their garments.”
—Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881)
“The want of education and moral training is the only real barrier that exists between the different classes of men. Nature, reason, and Christianity recognize no other. Pride may say Nay; but Pride was always a liar, and a great hater of the truth.”
—Susanna Moodie (1803–1885)