Conservative, Liberal, Traditional, Progressive, or . . . What?
by Reinder Bruinsma | 7 November 2024 |
I am often referred to as a liberal Adventist. For some this would be an unwelcome allegation, to say the least. But it does not really worry me. In fact, I tend to see it as a badge of honor, and I would be quite upset if I were widely regarded as a conservative Adventist. However, since both terms—liberal and conservative—have acquired so many connotations, many dislike being labeled with one of these epithets.
But to be honest, I have long felt rather uneasy about the imprecise implications of the term “liberal.” The equivalent in the Dutch language is vrijzinnig, which may perhaps best be translated as “free-thinking.” In the historic Dutch Reformed Church, which was long the major Protestant denomination in the Netherlands, one of the modalities was usually referred to with this term. The word combined the ideas of openness and tolerance for a diversity of ideas, and for a non-dogmatic approach to religion and culture. It could range from an almost deistic approach, with a strong emphasis on ethical values, to a rather flexible Protestant position based on a non-fundamentalist reading of the Scriptures.
I may be a liberal in the eyes of many of my Adventist fellow-believers, but I would not consider myself the kind of liberal that the Dutch Reformed had in mind when they used the Dutch word vrijzinnig. Many of the liberals in that denomination, and in many other faith communities for that matter, had and have a totally unorthodox view of the person and ministry of Christ, and doubt his bodily resurrection and ascension. They have difficulty believing in miracles and wonder about life after death.
I am certainly not that kind of a liberal. I believe in God as the Creator, in Jesus as my Savior, in life eternal—and in the other basic beliefs that are listed in the Apostolic Confession!
Who is a liberal?
Religious scholars often point to different concepts of God as a key distinction between liberal and conservative theologies. Liberals, we are told, tend to emphasize the divine imminence and the element of human discovery in the process of learning about the world and its relationship to God. Conservatives, with their focus on the absolute authority of the Scriptures, rather stress the transcendence of God. Many, however, consider this a caricature that does not apply across the theological spectrum.
In the introduction to the book Theology for Liberal Protestants (Douglas F. Ottati, ed., Eerdmans, 2013, pp. 8-12) we find a very helpful threefold characterization of liberalism. It is, according to Ottati, a “theological stance” that
- Attempts to relate its faith and doctrines to current “critical arguments and scientific inquiries”;
- Manifests “a historical consciousness” that recognizes the history of “ideas, traditions, practices, and institutions” and is open to “change and development”; and
- Understands “social arrangements and institutions to be neither universal nor invariant, but historically particular.”
Adventist theologian Fritz Guy (1930-2023) agreed with this. In his important, and still very relevant, book Thinking Theologically (Andrews University Press, 1999), Guy stresses how the term “conservative” points to “a preference for orthodoxy” and “a skepticism, even hostility” toward heterodoxy.” “Liberalism,” on the other hand, he says “implies a willingness to move beyond orthodoxy, a comfortability with heterodoxy, and an interest in bringing secular knowledge into a constructive relationship with Christian belief” (p. 27).
So characterized, I have no problem with being called a liberal, since I fully recognize the essential nature of those elements and see how they are sadly missing in the experience of many who regard themselves as conservatives. Their emphasis is on conserving the roots and the early formulation of Adventism, and on guarding against ideas which, in their eyes, jeopardize this heritage. In my view—and that of many fellow-liberals—this carries the risk of making the church into a museum of religious antiquity rather than a living community of twenty-first-century Christians.
The Adventist setting
C.S. Lewis once quipped that British theologians in his days could be divided into two categories: those who wore plus-fours and those who did not. Of Adventist ministers in the United States it used to be said that they fall into two classes: those who prefer to serve the church in California, and those who are still waiting for a call to California.
Of course, things are not quite that simple. Nor is making a clear divide between conservative and liberal Adventists.
In the past, the difference between liberalism and conservatism in Adventist circles was first of all a matter of lifestyle. In my country the dividing line was mostly between those who drank real coffee and ate meat, on the one hand, and those who had opted for a vegetarian diet and drank Hagg-coffee or other substitutes for the real thing. During one of my first church-sponsored trips to the United States in the 1970s, I was surprised to learn that many Adventists on the West Coast saw no problem with eating in a restaurant on Sabbath, while this was a taboo for most church members elsewhere in the United States. Liberalism vs. conservatism was primarily a matter of Sabbathkeeping rules and habits, the wearing of jewelry, fashion, and sports and recreation. In parts of the western world, drinking a moderate quantity of beer or wine became increasingly accepted among liberal Adventists, while interest in the writings of Ellen White was largely restricted to the conservatives.
It appears to me that there has been a considerable shift in emphasis from a difference in lifestyle matters to a difference in theological views. The distinction between liberalism and conservatism among Adventist scholars has distinct geographical overtones. The educational institutions in the western part of the United States are considered considerably more liberal than, for instance, Andrews University, while such places as Southern Adventist University, Southwestern Adventist University, and Oakwood University have a much more conservative reputation.
Adventists in California are on average more liberal than the church members in rural Michigan. Or to give another example, Adventists in the southern part of Germany (or to be more specific: in the Baden-Würtenberg Conference) pride themselves on being much more conservative than the members in the other regions of Germany, and Romanian church members tend to be considerably more conservative than most Adventists in many other places in Europe.
Fundamentalism has, as the decades have gone by, taken an increasingly firm grip on the conservative segment of the church, with the church’s top leadership as indefatigable defenders of a so-called plain reading of the Bible. There is a deepening divide between different ways of reading the Bible and the attribution of authority to the writings of Ellen G. White.
The question of origins remains a primary topic of debate. Liberal Adventists do believe in God as the Creator, but doubt whether the Genesis story demands that they believe that God made everything in six days, no more than 6,000 to 10,000 years ago, and that the waters of the flood covered the entire earth. They believe Christ is coming back to our world, but they do not buy into all aspects of the traditional Adventist end-time scenario. Many are no longer committed to the historicist approach to apocalyptic prophecy and to the year-day principle. Increasingly, liberals are uncertain about the traditional sanctuary theology, the 1844 arithmetic and the investigative judgment. They want to focus on the gospel of grace and its assurance of salvation, and forcefully reject perfectionism and last-generation theology.
Conservatives look in dismay at this departure from historic Adventism, and want to protect their church against this onslaught of heresy. Liberals, on the other hand, plead with the conservatives to reconsider traditional views that seem to have lost their relevance, and demand for space to search for new meaning in traditional truths.
Pluralism vs. relativism
Conservatives often express their fear of a “slippery slope:” once you let go of a long-established position, new questions will emerge and will do their corrosive work, and ultimately everything will be up for grabs. An oft-cited example is the issue of the ordination of female ministers. If the church gives in to the demand of the liberals on this point, conservatives fear, the next liberal demand will be the full recognition of the LGBTQ+ community in our midst.
Indeed, reading the Bible in a non-fundamentalist and a non-literal way has its impact on a range of issues. However, this does not mean that liberals do not recognize any boundaries, and that for them anything goes. In actual fact, there is broad agreement between most liberals and most conservatives about a range of beliefs and ethical standpoints.
A diversity of views is inevitable in a worldwide movement that comprises over 23 million people in numerous ethnic groups with widely diverging cultures and religious backgrounds. A strategy to realize total uniformity around the globe, with regard to belief and religious practice, is doomed to fail. General Conference pressure cannot bring this about. But this does not mean that we must accept total relativity, as if we have little or nothing in common and that we have no option but to agree with the postmodern notion that every opinion and every biblical interpretation is equally valid. Truth remains an issue of paramount importance. Plurality does not imply total relativity. Logic demands that not all propositions can be equally true, since they are often contradictory, and the one may exclude the other.
Seventh-day Adventists have often claimed to “have” the truth. Most Adventist theologians will, however, add an important caveat: only God has the full truth. All human attempts are at most a search for truth, but their conclusions will always remain partial and fallible. The search for truth must continue, and that includes all Adventist quests for truth—of liberals and of conservatives.
Some years ago, in a Swedish academic bookshop I found a book by an author I had not heard of before: Beyond Liberalism and Fundamentalism (Trinity Press International, 1996), in which Nancy Murphy (b. 1951) tries to provide a fruitful basis for the communication between the various strands of Christian theology. She reminds us in a striking statement about the limitations of human knowledge regarding the realm of the divine: “Any account of language that attempts to begin representation or expression [of God] is doomed to inadequacy” (p. 115).
Adventist theologian Alden Thompson, who spent his entire teaching career at Walla Walla University, is adamant that liberals and conservatives need each other. In his book Beyond Common Ground (Pacific Press, 2009), he stresses how important it is that conservatives continue to remind us of our roots and the basics of our Adventist identity, while liberals must continue to voice the questions that need to be asked to ensure that our faith remains relevant in the twenty-first century.
A thinking Adventist Christian
Let me return to the question I posed at the beginning of this article. Am I among the liberals in the Adventist Church? It depends on one’s definition of that term. I prefer the label “progressive Adventist,” since that word has a more forward-looking and positive overtone. It is associated with progress and constructive change.
It might be good to stop using the labels “liberal” and “conservative” altogether, and even the less objectionable “progressive,” since these terms sound increasingly judgmental and thereby divisive. And, although I think of myself as progressive, I would rather be seen simply as a thinking Adventist Christian. I want to be a Christian—that is, a follower of Jesus Christ. I have chosen the Adventist community as my spiritual home.
However, that does not mean that I agree with everything that is said and done within and on behalf of this community. I want to retain the right to think independently and follow my conscience as I seek to make a meaningful contribution to the life and the future of my church.
Reinder Bruinsma lives in the Netherlands with his wife, Aafje. He has served the Adventist Church in various assignments in publishing, education, and church administration on three continents. He still maintains a busy schedule of preaching, teaching, and writing. He writes at http://reinderbruinsma.com/.
