Progressive Christianity is one of the most important challenges facing young Christians today, because it does not arrive as an open rival but from inside the church. It keeps the vocabulary of faith (Jesus, love, grace, the kingdom) while reinterpreting or setting aside the authority of Scripture, the substitutionary death of Christ, final judgement, the exclusivity of Christ and the biblical sexual ethic. As J. Gresham Machen warned in 1923 about its liberal ancestor, the result can be a different religion using Christian words. In many places it teaches what Scripture does not and calls good what God calls sin.
This module traces the movement from nineteenth-century liberal theology through the emerging church to today's progressive authors, and represents them fairly in their own words: Brian McLaren, Rob Bell, Richard Rohr, Peter Enns, Brandan Robertson and others. It then works through the key questions: the authority of Scripture and Jesus' own view of it; sin, the cross and judgement; sexuality, gender and the goodness of God's design; and how to walk with friends who are deconstructing. Throughout, you will learn to distinguish progressive Christianity from historic liberalism, from mainline churches generally, and from evangelicals who rightly care about justice, and to remember that progressives' views vary widely.
Above all, this module is about people. Many progressive Christians are sincere; many have been hurt by churches or were never shown the beauty of the gospel; some are friends from your own youth group. The goal is not to win a culture war but to win people, being firm about truth and gentle in manner (2 Tim 2:24-26), showing them a Christ who is more holy and more loving than the Jesus they have been offered.