Worst German Liberal Theologian ever?

[mindlight]

Who was the worst German theologian ever?

Poll gives some choices but you can add your own. But please explain your choice.

Friedrich Schleiermacher - God experienced through existential feeling - moral relativism, father of modern liberalism
Albrecht Ritschl - Faith based on history without miracles
Rudolf Bultman - demythologising the bible of all miracles
Adolf Harnack - undermined bible authority - questioned basic Christian doctrines
Martin Luther - split the church or revitalised it?

 

[SkyWriting]

Who was the worst German theologian ever?

Poll gives some choices but you can add your own. But please explain your choice.

Friedrich Schleiermacher - God experienced through existential feeling - moral relativism, father of modern liberalism
Albrecht Ritschl - Faith based on history without miracles
Rudolf Bultman - demythologising the bible of all miracles
Adolf Harnack - undermined bible authority - questioned basic Christian doctrines
Martin Luther - split the church or revitalised it?

Miracles are invisible to all but the person who experiences them.
True story.
I don't know how those writers covered this fact.

 

[Ignatius the Kiwi]

Everyone but Luther I would argue are equally bad. Luther, for all his faults was no liberal, at least in our modern context so his name on that list makes no sense.

 

[redleghunter]

Everyone but Luther I would argue are equally bad. Luther, for all his faults was no liberal, at least in our modern context so his name on that list makes no sense.

Yeah thought that was odd.

 

[JackRT]

I find nothing wrong with liberalism. We must think deeply about all sorts of issues --- nothing is exempt. I too am a liberal because I have found that is the only for me to maintain my spiritual, moral and intellectual integrity. I would include Luther, for all his faults, as a liberal too. He had the courage to think outside the box and act on it.

 

[redleghunter]

I find nothing wrong with liberalism. We must think deeply about all sorts of issues --- nothing is exempt. I too am a liberal because I have found that is the only for me to maintain my spiritual, moral and intellectual integrity. I would include Luther, for all his faults, as a liberal too. He had the courage to think outside the box and act on it.

He really was not an out of the box type of theologian. In fact with Sola Scriptura he was trying to beat everyone who went out of the box back in.

 

[thecolorsblend]

My choice is not included on the list.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Everybody pretends to admire the guy because he stood up to the Third Reich. But his theology and a lot of his opinions were an absolute train wreck which have influenced some very wrongheaded and very non-Christian (some would say very anti-Christian) ideas and philosophies.

People can say whatever they want about Luther. But at least Luther mostly believed in recognizable Christian doctrine. I'm not prepared to grant that same premise to Bonhoeffer.

 

[mindlight]

Everyone but Luther I would argue are equally bad. Luther, for all his faults was no liberal, at least in our modern context so his name on that list makes no sense.

I am actually attending a Lutheran church and think Martin Luther was actually an admirable witness to Jesus. But in the interests of a cross denominational poll I included him as I suspected Catholics might vote for him. Also he is the root of a distinctively German theology that ultimately manifested itself in the German theological liberals of the last 3 centuries even if he himself would abhor most of their conclusions.

 

[mindlight]

I find nothing wrong with liberalism. We must think deeply about all sorts of issues --- nothing is exempt. I too am a liberal because I have found that is the only for me to maintain my spiritual, moral and intellectual integrity. I would include Luther, for all his faults, as a liberal too. He had the courage to think outside the box and act on it.

Think my own definition of liberalism would have less to do with the freedom to think and explore deep theological truthes and more to do with the commitment to errors that have harmed the witness and life of the church, eroding their faith in God, the bible and the church rather than affirming it. All of the theologians in my poll did that in their own way with the exception of Luther IMHO

 

[mindlight]

My choice is not included on the list.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Everybody pretends to admire the guy because he stood up to the Third Reich. But his theology and a lot of his opinions were an absolute train wreck which have influenced some very wrongheaded and very non-Christian (some would say very anti-Christian) ideas and philosophies.

People can say whatever they want about Luther. But at least Luther mostly believed in recognizable Christian doctrine. I'm not prepared to grant that same premise to Bonhoeffer.

The preparedness to commit murder and disrespect for the established authorities (however abominable) being two errors in his theology.

But not sure he is really in the Big League when it comes to German theology - not like Karl Barth, Karl Rahner or Martin Luther for instance.

 

[JackRT]

Bonhoeffer took part in a plot to kill Hitler. As a Christian that must have been a difficult decision. For Christian soldier on both sides the decision was easy --- do what you are told, don't think about the morality of it all, just kill the enemy. For a civilian there is no code of military justice looming over him just the realization that a monstrous toxic evil was loose in the world and that it was within his power to do something about it. It was a "lesser of two evils" dilemma. He made an incredibly difficult and courageous decision --- to risk eternal damnation to do the right thing. It is really not much different than the partisan undergrounds who did so much to help win the war. He did the right thing. He is a true Christian hero irregardless of his theology.