Here are, according to Roger Olson, the ‘hallmarks’ of modern liberal theology:
1) A tendency to reduce the Bible to “the Christian classic” that is “inspired” insofar as it is inspiring;
2) A tendency to reduce Christianity itself to ethics such that doctrine is an expression of collective opinion always open to revision in light of changing cultural conditions;
3) A tendency to embrace and promote individualism in spirituality and doctrine while insisting on certain controversial ethical positions as matters of justice and therefore beyond debate;
4) A tendency to deny miracles or “demythologize” them so that belief in no miracle is essential to authentic Christian existence;
5) A tendency to emphasize the immanence of God over God’s transcendence;
6) A tendency to believe in the essential goodness of humanity and to deny hell except as inauthentic existence in this life;
7) A tendency to interpret Jesus as different from other humans only in degree (e.g., more spiritually and ethically advanced) and not in kind;
8) A tendency to promote authentic Christian existence as a life of love only without judgment (except of “injustice”).
(Source, Roger Olson, The Journey of Modern Theology, as found on Scot McKnight’s Patheos blog.)
NOTE: In case you wonder if you are truly a liberal. Some think they are liberal (often because of the stupidity displayed by some self-described conservatives) and they are not really, while others think they are not, when if fact they are. Roger Olson might help solve this dilemma, at least in part.
Filed under: Evangelicalism, Protestant, Theology Tagged: liberal, Roger Olson