Contemporary Challenge of Modernist Theology

The Modernists claim that core beliefs like faith in God, hope for life after death and respect for the teaching of the historical Jesus, could be freed from outmoded supernatural ideas like six-day creation, virgin birth, substitution atonement and Hell. They argue that for Christianity to survive it must be brought into line with the best of modern thought. Paul Badham supports this viewpoint. He argues that modern physics and philosophy can be used to support belief in God and that near-death experiences have revived belief in the immortality of the soul. He believes that contemporary New Testament scholarship helps us know more about the historical Jesus, but requires a fresh look at what Christians mean when they call him divine. Modernism makes a very useful contribution to the dialogue between Christianity and other faiths by giving priority to religious experiencing and thereby encouraging a pluralist understanding of divine reality.