4 The Modern Period, 1750 – The Present Day
4
The Modern Period, 1750 – The Present Day
Contents
A Cultural Watershed: The Enlightenment
The Enlightenment Critique of Traditional Theology
Romanticism and the Critique of the Enlightenment
The Crisis of Faith in Victorian England
The Crisis of the First World War
Postmodernism and a New Theological Agenda
Some Recent Western Theological Movements and Trends
In this final chapter, we shall consider the development of Christian theology up to the present day. During this period, Christianity underwent significant transformation and expansion outside its traditional European homelands, while experiencing considerable difficulties and tensions within them. From 1700 onward, Christian theology moved away from a western European context to become a global phenomenon.
Immigration to North America from Scandinavia, Germany, and England led to the various schools of Protestant theology – Lutheran, Reformed, and Anabaptist – becoming firmly settled in a North American context. Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758), closely linked with the religious revival generally known as the Great Awakening (c.1726–1745), is the most significant American theologian of this age. Later waves of immigration, especially from Ireland and Italy during the nineteenth century, led to Catholic theology becoming of increasing significance in North America. More recently, immigration from eastern Europe during the twentieth century has seen an increasing presence of Russian and Greek Orthodox theology in recent public debates.
The establishment of seminaries by various denominations (such as Princeton Theological Seminary by the Presbyterians) consolidated the importance of the United States of America as a leading center of Christian theological teaching and research. However, it was not until the middle of the twentieth century that America came to assume global significance in theological discussions; until that point, German and British theology tended to dominate, partly on account of the continuing immigration of European theologians into the United States. Such theologians, who had trained in European contexts, tended to maintain a European emphasis in their teaching and orientation.
Elsewhere in the world, the Christian presence continued to expand. Christian theological seminaries, high schools, and universities were established in Australasia, India, the Far East, and sub-Saharan Africa, gradually divesting themselves of their western European roots and adapting to their local environments. The development of “local theologies” has become an issue of increasing importance in such regions, particularly as the perceived “Eurocentrism” of much Christian theologizing has been subjected to considerable critical comment on the part of native writers. The rise of liberation theology in Latin America (see pp. 222–3), with its characteristic emphasis upon the importance of praxis, the prioritization of the situation of the poor, and the orientation of theology toward political liberation, is a good example of this development.
Given the expansion and diversification of Christian theological writing, exploration, and debate since about 1750, this survey chapter aims to note some representative trends and developments that are important for historical theology. Limits on space and the widening scope of Christian theology means that it is simply not possible to offer a detailed engagement with the full range of developments. We shall, however, try to gain something of a bird’s-eye view of the historical developments that shape the contemporary theological landscape, even if we cannot fill in the fine detail that is needed for many purposes.
We begin by surveying some of the many cultural developments that shaped the environment in which Christian theology has been done in recent centuries. This is followed by an exploration of some of the denominational distinctives of recent theological debate. Finally, we consider some of the schools of thought or movements that have emerged as important in this period.