Machen’s argument became one of the issues of controversy in the
Fundamentalist/Modernist controversies of the 1920s and beyond. By any
measure, Machen was absolutely right: the movement that styled itself as
liberal Christianity was eviscerating the central doctrines of the
Christian faith while continuing to claim Christianity as “a way of
life” and a system of meaning.
“The chief modern rival of Christianity is ‘liberalism,’” Machen
asserted. “Modern liberalism, then, has lost sight of the two great
presuppositions of the Christian message — the living God and the fact
of sin,” he argued. “The liberal doctrine of God and the liberal
doctrine of man are both diametrically opposite to the Christian view.
But the divergence concerns not only the presuppositions of the
message, but also the message itself.”
Howard P. Kainz, professor emeritus of philosophy at Marquette
University, offers a similar argument, warning that it is now modern
secular liberalism which poses as the great rival to orthodox
Christianity.
Observing the basic divide in the American culture, Kainz notes:
“Most of the heat of battle occurs where traditional religious believers
clash with certain liberals who are religiously committed to secular
liberalism.” Continue at Al Mohler
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