Neo-orthodoxy
Neo-orthodoxy is a theological movement within Protestant Christianity that emerged in the early twentieth century as a response to the liberalism and humanism that had influenced religious thought during that period. Prominent figures such as theologians Karl Barth and Emil Brunner were instrumental in developing neo-orthodox thought, which emphasizes God’s revelation of Himself through the Bible as the core of Christian faith. This movement is notable for its existentialist elements, drawing inspiration from philosophers like Søren Kierkegaard and Martin Heidegger. Neo-orthodoxy asserts that the Bible does not possess objective truth inherently; rather, it becomes meaningful and true when readers experience and accept it as the word of God.
The movement also reinterprets the concept of sin, aligning with early Christian views that stress humanity's inherent inability to overcome sin without divine intervention. Neo-orthodoxy positions itself as a middle ground between liberalism, which sees the Bible as a historical document, and evangelicalism, which emphasizes its divine authority. While it seeks to return to earlier Christian traditions, neo-orthodoxy challenges Enlightenment-influenced interpretations, aiming to present a more authentic understanding of the faith. Although it has significantly influenced Lutheran and Presbyterian traditions, it has often been dismissed by more liberal or evangelical denominations.
Neo-orthodoxy
In Protestant Christianity, neo-orthodoxy is a theoretical ecclesiastical framework that arose in response to the liberalism and humanism that shaped religious thought in Europe and North America during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Championed by the theologians Karl Barth and Emil Brunner, among others, neo-orthodoxy emerged in the aftermath of World War I and placed a great deal of emphasis on God's own revelation of himself, as recorded in the Bible, as the ultimate source of the Christian faith. Neo-orthodoxy is sometimes described as an existentialist brand of Christianity, as several of its early proponents were strongly influenced by existential philosophers, including Soren Kierkegaard and Martin Heidegger. In Europe, the movement was known as crisis theology or dialectical theology.
In addition to the centrally important concept of God's revelation, neo-orthodoxy also held that the Bible does not contain objective truth but rather becomes true only once an individual reader experiences and accepts its contents as the word of God. While this premise proved to be contentious within conservative circles, neo-orthodoxy did succeed in staking out a midway point between the diametrical opposition of Christian liberalism and evangelism.
Background and Context
During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the emerging ideals of liberalism and humanism penetrated religious thought and inspired theologians to reinterpret the Christian faith. One of the major conclusions of the liberal viewpoint was that the Bible was not actually the word of God but rather a collection of documents, written by fallible human beings, that merely represented opinions and interpretations of divine truths. Liberal and humanist theologians also sought to establish a more historical picture of Jesus Christ, using the Bible as a guide rather than an authoritative and unquestionable record.
Evangelism, on the other hand, rejected the intellectualization of the Bible; instead, it aimed to simplify biblical teachings as a means of making its central messages more easily digestible to millions of potential Christian converts. The neo-orthodox and evangelical points of view are incompatible largely because neo-orthodoxy problematizes aspects of Christian dogma that evangelists consider fundamental. Furthermore, evangelism and liberal interpretations of Christianity remained at odds because evangelists tended to support the divine origins of the Bible rather than see it as a historical document subject to question and academic analysis.
While neo-orthodoxy was developed as a rejoinder to the liberalist point of view, it simultaneously interrogated some of the underlying assumptions of evangelism. For this reason, some theologians have positioned it as an attempt to bridge the gap between the opposing viewpoints of the liberals and the evangelists, though others point out that neo-orthodoxy had no such intentions, suggesting that any such moderation was simply the result of happenstance.
Major Tenets of Neo-Orthodoxy
The concept of revelation was central to the neo-orthodox point of view and has come to be seen as one of its definitive aspects. For Barth, it is neither the Bible nor the human interpretation of the Bible that marks the origin of the Christian faith, but rather its revelation of God, enacted by God himself through scripture, that forms the foundation of the entire religion. The phrase "the word within the word" is commonly used in theological circles to summarize Barth's position; this means that God himself is transcendent and that the Bible exists in order to reveal him. The literal truth (or falsity) of the Bible itself is somewhat immaterial; the fact that scripture reveals God to the reader in a subjective way is what really mattered to Barth. While Barth and Brunner later developed a disagreement in regard to the implications of this notion, this idea of revelation was universally shared by neo-orthodox theologians.
The neo-orthodox concept of sin is another of its key features. In this regard, neo-orthodoxy revives and reimagines early Christian interpretations of sin and humanity's ability, or lack thereof, to resist it. Drawing heavily on the work and ideas of Augustine of Hippo, the neo-orthodox movement contextualized sin as something that human beings could not escape except through God and Jesus Christ. Some emergent Christian points of view held that sin could be vanquished by conscious reasoning and social engineering; neo-orthodox thinkers rejected this idea, holding that sin is innate to human nature and it is only through the grace of God that people can achieve salvation and liberation from sin. Some theologians have heavily criticized this point of view, dismissing it as deterministic and contradictory to the concept of free will, which has historically held a prominent place in the Christian worldview. Evangelists, for example, teach that sin can be overcome through the choice to live according to God's word and the teachings of Jesus Christ, and that salvation awaits those who make that choice.
The connection between neo-orthodoxy and existentialism arises from the fact that in both viewpoints, there are no absolutes and there is no such thing as objective truth. In his writings, Barth plainly acknowledges the influence Kierkegaard's existentialism had on his theological viewpoints, while Rudolf Bultmann, another early and prominent neo-orthodox thinker, was a cohort of Heidegger, a leading German existentialist philosopher.
The Influence and Legacy of Neo-Orthodoxy
One of the objectives of neo-orthodoxy was to liberate Christian theology from the effects of the Enlightenment, the "age of reason" that gave birth to the liberal ideals of humanism. While the movement sought to bring Christianity back to its earlier traditions, it did not consider the restoration of tradition to be inherently necessary. Rather, its explicit purpose was to remove the ubiquitous distorting lens of Enlightenment-inspired thought from the Christian religion.
Barth is widely considered to be the most influential Christian theologian of the twentieth century. The neo-orthodox theology developed by Barth and his colleagues helped shape the continued evolution of the Lutheran and Presbyterian traditions, though it was largely ignored or dismissed by Christian denominations with liberal or evangelical leanings.
Bibliography
Busch, Eberhard. The Great Passion: An Introduction to Karl Barth's Theology. Ed. Darrell L. Guder and Judith J. Guder.Trans. William H. Rader. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2010. Print.
Chung, Paul S. Karl Barth: God's Word in Action. Eugene: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2008. Print.
Galli, Mark. "Neo-Orthodoxy: Karl Barth." Christian History. Christianity Today. 1 Jan. 2000. Web. 9 Sept. 2015. http://www.christianitytoday.com/ch/2000/issue65/5.23.html?start=2
"The Neo-Orthodox View." Ligonier Ministries. Ligonier Ministries. Web. 9 Sept. 2015. http://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/the-neo-orthodox-view/
"Neo-Orthodoxy—What Is It?" Compelling Truth. Got Questions Ministries. Web. 9 Sept. 2015. http://www.compellingtruth.org/neoorthodoxy.html
Olson, Roger E. The Story of Christian Theology: Twenty Centuries of Tradition & Reform. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1999. Print.