tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5449677811690616608.post7566144754875077130..comments2023-12-15T21:49:46.651+01:00Comments on Pluralist Speaks: Not Affirming LiberalismPluralist (Adrian Worsfold)http://www.blogger.com/profile/01922153724523820866noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5449677811690616608.post-53979988282432759222010-06-20T20:27:43.369+02:002010-06-20T20:27:43.369+02:00That raises the question whether you can only be a...That raises the question whether you can only be absolutely liberal or whether liberalism can exist in context.<br /><br />I would suggest it's the latter, because experience alone shows us that people are liberal in some aspects of life as a whole and more conservative in others.<br />You can have economic liberals who are quite conservative when it comes to personal lifestyle, for example.<br />Or I could be a liberal parent but a very conservative employer.<br /><br />And so I would contend that each topic has a spectrum that stretches from deep conservatism to liberalism and then out of the sphere altogether to "not interested either way" or "this is not/no longer relevant to me".<br /><br />Within the Christian context, there are clearly those who define themselves a liberal compared to those to define themselves as conservative or evangelical.<br />That they may not necessarily be liberal when measured by any other yardstick is a different question.Erika Bakerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01812376497361267014noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5449677811690616608.post-24461157382760890842010-06-18T17:25:31.367+02:002010-06-18T17:25:31.367+02:00He makes a statement that the purpose of liberal t...He makes a statement that the purpose of liberal thought is not to compromise the Christian faith. But liberal thought, if it is liberal, does not set up artificial boundaries. Indeed I would not count myself as Christian: I practise Christianity from time to time (usually weekly or more). Liberal thought is based on freedom, reason and tolerance and is a social gospel at least, about real people with different stances and identities able to live together, share, agree and disagree.<br /><br />If you want to be Christian, that's fine, but the liberalism of it seems very limited. Those who practise liberalism do often go through its boundaries (of incarnation and resurrection) and even when not, others define the boundaries more strictly and declare that many a Christian is not.<br /><br />I'm happy to say that I am not. I don't have the pretence. I'm an evolutionist, Jesus is no more than a human, and does not define the divine, and I understand the divine as what is important and may be transcendent, or at least may be transcendent values. I do not regard the Bible as normative but nor is it closed.<br /><br />But I am a liberal religious.<br /><br />Martyn Percy is part of an Anglicanism that is pulling in its boundaries. What those who fall outside such boundaries but aren't prepared to be openly liberal to thus meet with others (as Unitarians or Quakers do) is their institutional problem, but there is an institutional problem.Pluralist (Adrian Worsfold)https://www.blogger.com/profile/01922153724523820866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5449677811690616608.post-59220422349759539982010-06-18T08:52:50.751+02:002010-06-18T08:52:50.751+02:00"Put more simply, the purpose of Liberal thou..."Put more simply, the purpose of Liberal thought is never to compromise Christian faith, but simply to rediscover the means of maintaining it and developing it in the present."<br /><br />You call this a load of nonsense.<br /><br />I think Liberal thought possibly has no purpose and what it achieves is incidental.<br />But Christian Liberal thought definitely does have that purpose because it is still grounded in Christianity.<br /><br />When Liberal Christians discover that they cannot any longer avoid compromising the Christian faith they move on and become something else, and most, like you, would probably no longer want to call themselves Christian.Erika Bakerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01812376497361267014noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5449677811690616608.post-5970326140471359272010-06-17T16:19:10.467+02:002010-06-17T16:19:10.467+02:00Depressing view that the range of current politica...Depressing view that the range of current political theologies tend to be anti-liberal and anti-democratic. Perhaps a pro-liberal political theology is needed again.Pluralist (Adrian Worsfold)https://www.blogger.com/profile/01922153724523820866noreply@blogger.com