A popular (though debatable) aphorism has it that writers should write about what they know—Hemingway is credited with having proffered this counsel.
I appear to have shrugged off this exhortation 11 years ago by authoring a short essay which the Edmonton Journal published on February 27, 2015: “What is progressive Christianity?”. I had no business writing this piece—I was only getting acquainted with this version of Christianity…and it shows: the sketch can still be found on the internet (type in “progressive Christianity in Edmonton,” and scroll down [though I do not advise this]).
It got resurrected, this blast-from-the-past, when a bunch of inquisitors at a distant church—we join them online—finished assaying Diana Butler Bass’s A People’s History of Christianity, published 17 years ago, and wondered what’s happened to their religion since. And if this thing called progressive Christianity is gaining ground, they—who call themselves Seekers & Freethinkers—wondered, how does their particular church measure up?
Off I went, to the Southminster-Steinhauer Library, which, naturally enough, harbours a plentitude of books that congest and construe progressive Christianity. And you know what? I found now that I erred then when I wrote, “Defining this movement proves to be a bit difficult.”
Not for Marcus Borg. In the opening essay in the 2006 book, The Emerging Christian Way: Thoughts, Stories, & Wisdom for a Faith in Transformation, the late, great catechist, discourser, author, influencer, defined progressive Christianity succinctly: “In a sentence, it sees the Christian life as a relationship with God as known in Jesus that changes us, that transforms us….”
Two years later, Del Brown, then dean emeritus of the Pacific School of Religion, picked up on this notion that progressive Christianity is, in his words, “about the transforming faith that is within” us. In What Does a Progressive Christian Believe? A Guide for the Searching, the Open, and the Curious, he writes: “A religion functions as a fundamental orientation toward life. It is a framework for thinking about what is most important, and it is a way of living in accord with that thinking.” It is “the basis of a religious person’s values and the beliefs related to those values. That is true of most expressions of Christianity, and it certainly is true of progressive Christianity.”
David Felten and Jeff Proctor-Murphy, United Methodist ministers in Arizona, point up just such thinking in Living the Questions: The Wisdom of Progressive Christianity. This 2012 book is the outgrowth from their Herculean effort at progressive Christian education, called Living the Questions, which has produced numerous DVD-based learning experiences. They declare: “[T]here are those who are convinced that there’s something more to Christianity than what they’ve experienced in the past. They are a group of seekers who have a hunch about this Jesus. They are not preoccupied with their own eternal well-being so much as they long to change the world to reflect Jesus’s vision of the reign of God.”
Keith Rowe, once president of the Methodist Church of New Zealand—yes, progressive Christianity is manifest “down under”—agrees: “We seek to contribute to the renewal of the Christian way…through rethinking Christian belief in light of insights and understandings not available to earlier generations; and to the renewal of Christian living through recapturing the radical social implications of the way of life embodied in Jesus.”
One of 30 contributors—almost all are from Australasia—to the 2013 text, Why Weren’t We Told? A Handbook on “progressive” Christianity, Rowe adds, “There is no single creed that binds progressive Christians together…. It’s a loose, cross-denominational network, rather than an organized entity.”
Others, too, make the point that, for progressives, “The Christian life is not very much about believing a set of claims to be true,” as Borg observed. No, “From a progressive Christian perspective…autonomy and freedom of choice in matters of belief and practice are essential,” which is how The Jesus Seminar fellow Paul Laughlin renders it in his contribution to Why Weren’t We Told?
“To put it another way,” he adds, “progressivism highly values internal authority—be it reason or experience—over any external authority, and thus makes heresy not only a positive option, but…an imperative.” (Laughlin is not being as intemperate as you may suppose: Merriam-Webster defines “heresy” as, “dissent or deviation from a dominant theory, opinion, or practice”. That’s all that’s meant.)
For that handbook, one of its editors, John W. H. Smith, a Uniting Church in Australia cleric, provided 24 “stories from congregations and groups self-styled as ‘progressive’.” He must have found this assignment uplifting: “The principal strength of these groups is that they are vibrant discussion groups exploring contemporary scholarship in a safe, open, and inclusive environment. An atmosphere where nothing is ’taboo,’ where ‘hostility’ and ‘ridicule’ is not tolerated, and where open and frank exchange of ideas is encouraged….
“A common thread in all groups was the importance of embracing a faith that has ‘intellectual integrity’. Those who joined these groups were seeking an opportunity to share their concerns that ‘contemporary knowledge’ and ‘personal life experience’ had brought them into conflict with a traditional interpretation of their faith. These progressive groups are providing an opportunity to safely share with those who have had a similar experience, whilst acknowledging the diversity of personal journeys.”
It was to move on from head-in-the-sand religion that Felten and Proctor-Murphy conceived their book: “Many feel like there’s no place in organized religion for deep thought, doubt, or questions that challenge the status quo. Living the Questions is meant to create that place for you,” the reader, they avow. “It’s an invitation for those who seek to go beyond the stagnant clichés of faith, and pursue questions that deepen your understanding, as you make your way through a lifelong spiritual journey.”
Progressive Christians, they add, will be “comfortable with ambiguity, and understand that through difficulties, mistakes, and challenges, it’s the journey that’s important. It’s what we learn along the way in relationship to the Divine and to one another that matters most….”
After all, it’s “in the questions, in the not-knowing, that learning occurs,” Susan Burt explains. Writing in The Emerging Christian Way, she, an author, editor, and educator, in Adelaide, South Australia, reminds us “that questions do not necessarily need answers, and it is important that we create environments where questions and doubts can be openly and respectfully asked and explored….”
Surely, this must explain how and why Felton and Proctor-Murphy begin their book by citing the redoubted lines from Letters to a Young Poet by master of verse Rainer Maria Rilke: “Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.”
—Ken Fredrick
Sidebar: in a few words
Christians who embrace the descriptor “progressive” are those who…
For those who’d cut to the chase, Marcus Borg, in his essay, sets out six “characteristics” of progressive Christianity [its “ethical imperatives are compassion,” etc.]; and, in his book, Delwin Brown pictures seven “basic themes” [progressive Christians are to bring “creation…to fullness and health,” etc.].
But it is The Center for Progressive Christianity [progressivechristianity.org], which Patheos describes as “a major network of progressive churches, ministers, and lay leaders,” that has most stoutly “articulated several identifying factors”; it delineated these in its “8 Points of Progressive Christianity”.
But, within the last several years, it’s come to summarize these as “5 core values”. In introducing these values, Lindsey Paris-Lopez, writing for Patheos in October, 2022, mentioned the centre’s request that they “be held ‘lightly, but seriously,’ not as dogma, but as beginnings for dialogue.” Why? Because, as Google has it, “our understanding of God and scripture evolves with human experience.”
So, progressive Christians are those who…
“Believe that following the way and teachings of Jesus can lead to experiencing sacredness, wholeness, and unity of all life, even as we recognize that the Spirit moves in beneficial ways in many faith traditions.
“Seek community that is inclusive of all people, honouring differences in theological perspective, age, race, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, class, or ability.
“Strive for peace and justice among all people, knowing that behaving with compassion and selfless love toward one another is the fullest expression of what we believe.
“Embrace the insights of contemporary science, and strive to protect the Earth, and ensure its integrity and sustainability.
“Commit to a path of lifelong learning, believing that there is more value in questioning than in absolutes.”