Modernism is a late 19th to early 20th Century heresy of Christianity that has continued to exist well into the 21st Century. Its ideals and thoughts were reactionary to the scientific revolution and its more atheistic shades. When the empiricism and the scientific method emerged, ideas of faith and miracles were questioned. Empiricists such as Locke and Hume denounced religion as superstitious and un-scientific. Further atheistic movements within the scientific community such as Positivism and Pragmatism emerged in the 20th Century that looked to denounce all forms of faith as useless. Positivism looked to even remove any value of the words associated with God or faith from a linguistic view.
The modernist looked to build a bridge between Christianity and Empiricism. It looked to find ways faith could still have meaning. It looked to salvage a belief in God and allow Christians to be believers but also rationalists. With such a compromise, the faith was eroded. Miracles were dismissed, Scripture reduced to fables, and the idea of unchangeable dogma were denied. This watered down version of Christianity presented Christ as a mere person and not God and the Bible as uninspired and written by only by holy men.
The Modernists looked to remove all unexplained elements of Christianity and replace it with rational thought. In doing so, Scripture and Christ, were seen as noble things. Scripture was seen as a good book that helps form good conscience and Christ was seen as a historical figure who possessed the spirt of God, but was not God. Like Scripture, Jesus was a guide to holiness and morality but nothing more.
The problem with Christianity was its past superstitious beliefs, according to the Modernist. The Modernist pointed out that Scripture was an important spiritual book and its inner message needed heeded but this message was distracted by literalism in belief of miracles. Instead, Modernists looked to find the real meaning behind the myths of Scripture. From Adam and Eve, to the parting of the Red Sea, to the Resurrection of Christ, all miracles were examined and dismissed, but the message behind them was sought. Understanding the true message of these miracles and what the authors meant to express in mythical language was the key, according to Modernists.
With the idea that miracles cannot happen, Modernists rejected the idea that God acts directly in human matters. God, as a being, or a state of being, communicates to creation through Vital Immanence. Through Immanence, humankind can hear the voice of God. Hence God communicates to humanity through the quiet of the heart. Ideas and new movements and development of humanity are generated at a global level through this whisper of God. Hence, God only speaks in the quiet, not through a divinely inspired book, or through miracles, or through Jesus Christ as God, but through oneself and through other people.
Jesus plays a central role in Modernism. He is a paradigm of humanity. He teaches humanity how to treat others but also reached a state of Christ consciousness. God spoke so powerfully through Jesus that he remains a central element of their heretical creed. This is how the Modernist hides behind the false mask as Christian yet still denounces Christ’s divinity.
The Modernist hence declares him or herself a believer, but also a rationalist, a student of history, and a student of science, while still being a Christian. While these sciences can never contradict truth of Christianity, the Modernist has twisted the Christian faith so much that it no longer is the Christian faith. It becomes more an agnostic faith based loosely on historical man Jesus and moral values that change with the needs of the Church.
There are both Catholic and Protestant Modernists but regardless of faith, Modernists teach an indifferentism towards salvation. Salvation is through any faith, not just Christ, but any faith that adheres to morality and the call and whisper of God via Vital Immanence. A Modernist merely utilizes a certain heritage of faith that best fits his or her needs in meeting the call of God. In this way, any route to heaven is equally true, and any dogma is non binding, as certain ones are able to evolve as the call of God demands.
In addition, the Modernist can be both be Theist or Pantheist. Some Modernists believe God is a state of being that is infused throughout the cosmos, while others believe God is a being, but a being that is bound by the laws of physics that he created. Hence many Modernists believe God and time are co-equal and that God does not exist outside of the realm of time.
Some notable Catholic Modernists are Fr. George Tyrell and Fr. Alfred Loisy of the early 20th Century. St Pope Pius X condemned their writings and imposed a strict oath against Modernism for all clergy. Catholic Modernism would re-emerge during Vatican II and attempt to water down the faith. Notable heretics include Fr. Pierre Chardin and Hans Kung.
Protestant Modernists included Rudolf Bultmann who worked to great lengths to demytholize Scripture and find the historic Jesus. Paul Tillich is also a notable Protestant Modernist theologian who looked to find value in myth over literal belief in Scripture.
Today Modernism can be found at the pulpit or in the classroom. It flourishes most in academia and can be a threat to young unexpecting Christians not strong in the faith.
If you would like to learn more about Modernism, please refer to St Pope Pius X, Pascendi, and also the Syllabus of Errors on the Modernist. Pius was one of the first Christians to identify this heresy and dismantle its ideas and expose this synthesis of all heresies.
Please also review AIHCP’s Christian Counseling Certification and see if it meets your academic and professional goals. The program is online and independent study and open to qualified professionals seeking a four year certification as a Christian Counselor.
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Pascendi by Pope Pius X. Click here