THEOLOGIANS AGAINST RELIGION
Gregory Holmes Singleton
Prior to 1945, Reinhold and H. Richard Niebuhr and Paul
Tillich were known only to specialists in theology. Soren
Kierkegaard was familiar only to a small handful of cognicenti.
Calvinist theological categories dominated general theological
discourse in the United States. Between 1945 and 1970, The
Nieburhs and Tillich were household names, as was Kierkegaard.
Lutheran theological categories challenged the Calvinist hegemony.
The changes were part of a significant shift in Christian thought
in the United States which challenged both the religious
"establishment" and American culture generally. It was a
reformation.
The work in progress is in part a study of a specific period and a
specific problem in the history of theology. In part it is a study
in American cultural history. In part it is an attempt to reclaim
a theological agenda that, not long ago, was at the center of
American culture and has rapidly become peripheral. Like all
reformations, the one which occurred roughly between 1945 and 1970
was multifaceted, contained contradictory elements, both evidenced
and addressed the larger cultural strains of which it was a part,
and generated ideas radical enough to shake the religious
foundations of one generation and to be politely (perhaps
fearfully) ignored by the next. There is a common theme among the
diverse voices of this reformation. Whether Catholic, Lutheran,
Anglican, or Protestant; whether Neo-Orthodox or Evangelical,
Sacramentalist or Pietist, Liberal or Conservative, these
theologians and their fellow-travelers generally regarded religion
as the culturally encrusted barrier to a more complete realization
of the Law, the Gospel, and spirituality. My current writing
reflects my occupation (and to some extent my vocation) as a
professor of History. I hope to account forthe rapid and radical shift
in religious thought in America following World War II. I also hope to suggest
tensions within the larger culture illuminated by this shift. In
the task of reclamation, which reflects my status as a concerned
Christian, I hope to convince some of my fellow Christians to take
this recent part of our heritage more seriously.
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