Who is your inspiration to be liberal?

[Targaryen]

I've been thinking about this for a while. We speak a lot about who bothers us or what policies bother us as liberals and speak on that type of subject, but rarely, too rarely do we try to spin it around and edify people that have inspired us to pick up our crosses and drag them forward, confessing the faith of Christ as we feel he was teaching us.

I want to change that...maybe spin off into discussions about these people and why they inspired you to have a certain outlook here or there. And just to be a fair as possible to inspirations, they don't all have to be of the Christian faith but they should have at least inspired you such that your faith and social outlook has been coloured and enhanced by these people.

So I'll add my own inspirations in a bit but really...

Who are your inspirations?

 

[Vanguard PCD]

Who are your inspirations?

Jesus would be #1. His teachings should be what we focus on, not all this other crap that people put too much emphasis on. I study what the Bible actually says (not just in English...Hebrew and Greek). I do not get caught up in the traditions, dogmas and practices of men. Christianity has moved away from scriptural teachings and tends to focus on centuries old traditional ones...that in many cases are not even biblical.

 

[hedrick]

It’s a bit hard to answer since I grew up in the mainline church. So I’ve never not been liberal (as CF uses the term; outside the US I’d probably be considered conservative). Like Primi Agminis, the primary focus for me is Jesus, as we see him in the Gospels. I’ve been reading theology since high school. Major influences have been Donald Baillie and J A T Robinson on Christology; later N T Wright. On general theology, John Calvin. On the Reformation, Alister McGrath. I follow historical Jesus work as much as I can. People like Dunn, Wright, Borg.

 

[elman]

I've been thinking about this for a while. We speak a lot about who bothers us or what policies bother us as liberals and speak on that type of subject, but rarely, too rarely do we try to spin it around and edify people that have inspired us to pick up our crosses and drag them forward, confessing the faith of Christ as we feel he was teaching us.

I want to change that...maybe spin off into discussions about these people and why they inspired you to have a certain outlook here or there. And just to be a fair as possible to inspirations, they don't all have to be of the Christian faith but they should have at least inspired you such that your faith and social outlook has been coloured and enhanced by these people.

So I'll add my own inspirations in a bit but really...

Who are your inspirations?

I was raised in a very conservative Church of Christ background and attended a Church of Christ college. One of the professors at that college encouraged me to think out of the box and this led to my not agreeing with hardly anything taught by the Church of Christ. I did however continue to attend a Church of Christ and raised by children in one. The person most responsible for my continuing on the liberal path is my son who turned out to be much smarter, better read, and a better thinker than I. Perhaps the second most influential person in this regard was my father who never attended the Church of Christ as my mother was dragging me to church three times a week, but was always in the back ground with his questions, many of which I never realized was so good until I was grown.

 

[SnowyMacie]

I was raised in a very conservative Church of Christ background and attended a Church of Christ college. One of the professors at that college encouraged me to think out of the box and this led to my not agreeing with hardly anything taught by the Church of Christ. I did however continue to attend a Church of Christ and raised by children in one. The person most responsible for my continuing on the liberal path is my son who turned out to be much smarter, better read, and a better thinker than I. Perhaps the second most influential person in this regard was my father who never attended the Church of Christ as my mother was dragging me to church three times a week, but was always in the back ground with his questions, many of which I never realized was so good until I was grown.

What CoC university did you go to?


A lot of my inspiration happened when I came to my Church of Christ university. There really wasn't a single moment or inspiration that led me down the path, but several gentle nudges from various friends and professors in this direction.

 

[elman]

What CoC university did you go to?


A lot of my inspiration happened when I came to my Church of Christ university. There really wasn't a single moment or inspiration that led me down the path, but several gentle nudges from various friends and professors in this direction.

Abilene Christian, Abilene, Texas

 

[Cordelia]

Jesus would be #1. His teachings should be what we focus on, not all this other crap that people put too much emphasis on. I study what the Bible actually says (not just in English...Hebrew and Greek). I do not get caught up in the traditions, dogmas and practices of men. Christianity has moved away from scriptural teachings and tends to focus on centuries old traditional ones...that in many cases are not even biblical.

Jesus for me, too. Plus the idea that God is love, which shines through His teachings.

 

[SnowyMacie]

Abilene Christian, Abilene, Texas

Yeah, times have changed here. Were you in a club?

 

[elman]

Yeah, times have changed here. Were you in a club?

not unless it was the Oklahoma club. The professor I was referring to was Lemoine Lewis. Did you ever hear of him?

 

[camethodactor]

Jesus is why I'm liberal. First and foremost.

 

[SnowyMacie]

not unless it was the Oklahoma club. The professor I was referring to was Lemoine Lewis. Did you ever hear of him?

Nope, sorry. ACU has changed a lot. Even in the Bible deparment, all of my teachers have just said in way or another "Genesis 1-3 aren't literal, evolution happened."

 

[elman]

Nope, sorry. ACU has changed a lot. Even in the Bible deparment, all of my teachers have just said in way or another "Genesis 1-3 aren't literal, evolution happened."

Lewis would have said that also, in the 1950s.

 

[zaida]

Shane Claybourne, Dorothy Day (for the witness of their lives) Philip Yancey (for everything hes ever written) -

actually I'm not sure these people would even use the label "liberal" - but they are people I admire and respect and would love to be more like....I think many of these folks, they transcend these labels...

 

[Izdaari Eristikon]

It’s a bit hard to answer since I grew up in the mainline church. So I’ve never not been liberal (as CF uses the term; outside the US I’d probably be considered conservative). Like Primi Agminis, the primary focus for me is Jesus, as we see him in the Gospels. I’ve been reading theology since high school. Major influences have been Donald Baillie and J A T Robinson on Christology; later N T Wright. On general theology, John Calvin. On the Reformation, Alister McGrath. I follow historical Jesus work as much as I can. People like Dunn, Wright, Borg.

That's pretty much where I've ended up, though I wasn't raised in it. Being both LGBT and politically libertarian contributed to my break from conservative evangelicalism.

C.S. Lewis, N.T. Wright, Brian McLaren and Rob Bell have been major influences on me. Also to some extent Gordon D. Fee, Garry Wills and Marcus Borg. So too several CF old-timers including but not limited to CaDan, Crazy Liz and Moriah Conquering Wind.

 

[Izdaari Eristikon]

(accidental duplicate)

 

[AceHero]

Having grown up in a very conservative family, sadly I can't say it was Jesus who initially inspired me to go down a more liberal path. Up until I went to college, I couldn't even fathom the idea that Christians could be liberal. In my worldview at the time, Christianity = conservatism.

Even though I'm very liberal politically, the faith I display to others is probably fairly conservative but the faith I believe is what I'm still trying to figure out and I think it's more in line with what others in this thread have mentioned.

I think more than anything, becoming more involved with the world I live in and seeing that my then-definition of Christian didn't apply to all Christians I knew made me realize that there is so much more to the faith than I had first thought.

 

[Kazza Ah-O]

Like some others that have posted, for me it was Jesus. He loved everyone. He sought out those that society and the religious leaders of the day frowned upon. The Bible teaches us to love as we are loved. That in itself is enough for me. Saying that, I also don't classify myself as a liberal Christian.....I'm just a Christian. I'm a normal every day schmoe.

 

[Ada Lovelace]

I've been thinking about this for a while. We speak a lot about who bothers us or what policies bother us as liberals and speak on that type of subject, but rarely, too rarely do we try to spin it around and edify people that have inspired us to pick up our crosses and drag them forward, confessing the faith of Christ as we feel he was teaching us.

I want to change that...maybe spin off into discussions about these people and why they inspired you to have a certain outlook here or there. And just to be a fair as possible to inspirations, they don't all have to be of the Christian faith but they should have at least inspired you such that your faith and social outlook has been coloured and enhanced by these people.

So I'll add my own inspirations in a bit but really...

Who are your inspirations?

Jesus, my parents, Scotty McLennan, Søren Kierkegaard, and various leaders and members of the churches I've attended.

My parents are progressive-minded, liberal-leaning Christians, and their beliefs and attitudes influenced and inspired my own.

I also really respect Scotty McLennan. I think he's done a wonderful and thoughtful job in his duties as the Dean of Religious Life at Stanford, and this book of his has been significant to me:

Jesus Was a Liberal: Reclaiming Christianity for All: Scotty McLennan: 9780230103405: Amazon.com: Books

 

[PeaceBWithU]

Jesus
John Shelby Spong
Marcus Borg
Shane Claiborne

 

[Progguy]

j a t robinson