Divided Christianity: What Went Wrong

I. INTRODUCTION

The nineteenth century was a time of great revolution both in the fields of agriculture, communication, transportation, technology, market and in the industrial sectors. It is in this period too that the collapse of great empires likes Portugal, Spain, Mughal, China, and the Holy Roman kingdoms was experienced and in their stead, arose the German, the British, the Japan and the United States realms. Great philosophical and religious leaders also dotted this century, like William Booth; the founder of the Salvation Army, Karl Max, Ellen White, John Stuart Mill the great philosopher, among others .

This century also marked the beginning of great evangelical revivals in a number of protestant churches and countries across Europe and America. It also marked the beginning of the effects of modern scientific theory and reasoning on Christian thought and beliefs. Scientific theories like Darwinism had great impacts on the churches leading to many of the Christians starting to question some of the beliefs and values they once held . These theories led to a mass move of initial Christians from the regular and traditional observance of religion and belief in Christian teachings, to secularism and a belief in a ‘personal god’ .

As the radical effects of scientific secularism continued to take its toll on the Christian churches, several theologians and scholars like Friedrich Schleiermacher arose to defend Christianity . Unfortunately, his defense did not protect Christianity from the criticism since it led to the emergence of liberal theology and liberal Christianity. Liberal theology is a flexible method of understanding and knowing God through the use of scriptures by making use of the same hermeneutics and princip...

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...han on the authority of the church or scriptures.

In conclusion the attempts by the nineteenth century theologians and scholars to defend the bible against he influence of Darwinism was not a defense. This attempt was a mere way to accommodate the beliefs in humanism that Darwin portray into Christianity, which eventually led to the emergence of a new religion; the liberal Christians. This compromise is what led to the continual attacks on the authority of the bible, leading to further splits of Christianity.

Works Cited

Ayers, Philip, E. What Ever Happened to Respect? Bloomington: Author House, 2006.

Barnes, Michael, H. Understanding Religion and Science: Introducing the Debate. London: Continuum International Publishing, 2010.

Webster, John. B and George P. Schner. Theology after Liberalism: A Reader. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 2000.