First, many progressive Christians espouse a hopeful, universalist eschatology, and many progressives find it hard to fit the harsh language of hell and judgment into that scheme.
Second, harsh language of hell and judgment is also, well, a wee bit judgmental, and that undermines the welcoming, hospitable, and tolerant posture most progressive, liberal Christians wish to embody in the world.
Then throw into the mix the fact that many progressive Christians are post-evangelicals, squeamish of any theology that smacks of religious conservatism and fundamentalism, and you're left with a lot of hand wringing in progressive circles about Judgment Day and hell.
And yet, the Bible is full of harsh, judgmental language with threats of hell. So what do you do with that? I'd like to share three thoughts over three posts.
For today, an obvious point.
Basically, it's a bit odd that progressive, liberal Christians are squeamish about the judgmental language in the Bible when they tend to be, almost to a person, a pretty judgmental group of people. And I'm looking in the mirror on this one. Did you notice how progressive Christians reacted to the election of Donald Trump, and how they have behaved since? Have you paid attention to progressive social justice warriors on social media? Harsh, judgmental language calling out moral evils isn't something progressives shy away from.
Plus, progressives tend to align themselves with the biblical prophets, and yet that speech is generally the speech of judgment, hell, and damnation.
My point in making this observation isn't to sacralize progressives who damn others. My point is just the simple observation that the moral sensibilities of progressive Christians, especially in how they embrace the biblical prophets, are actually quite at home in and fond of the moral universe of the Bible, even with the language of judgement, damnation, and hell.
