Editorial January 19, 1907 Issue

"RESTATED THEOLOGY."

Archibald McLellan

We have had frequent occasion to comment upon the marked change in religious views which has taken place in the past thirty or forty years, during which time Mrs. Eddy has been a pioneer in the reconstruction of Christian faith. It has been very interesting to note the growth in liberality and the departure from outgrown creed and dogma which has characterized the statements of theologians of note on both sides of the Atlantic, and as Rev. R. J. Campbell of the City Temple in London has recently expressed himself upon what he terms "restated theology," some excerpts from an interview with him, cabled to the newspapers of this country, where he is widely known, will be of interest. He is reported to have said,— "We object to the formal statements of belief which have distinguished the theology of the past. We object to ecclesiastical labels. ... The lines of divergence between the old and the new go down deep. The startingpoint of the new theology is the belief in the immanence of God and the essential oneness of God and man. ...

We believe man to be revelative of God and that God stands for the infinite reality whence all things proceed. Every one, even the most uncompromising materialist, believes in this reality. ... The new theology that human nature should be interpreted in terms of its own highest form, and therefore it reverences Jesus Christ. It looks upon Jesus as a perfect example of what humanity ought to be in the life. In our limited human experience, so far as we are able to see, the highest kind of life that can be lived is the life which is lived in terms of the whole as the life of Jesus. ... The new theology looks upon evil as a negative rather than positive term. It is a shadow where light ought to be. It is the perceived privation of good, it belongs only to finiteness. ...From all this it will surely be clear that the new theology brushes aside many of the most familiar dogmas still taught from the pulpit. We believe that the story of the fall of man in a literal sense is untrue; it is literature, not dogma, the romance of an early age used for ethical instruction of man. ...We believe not in a final judgment, but in a judgment that is ever proceeding. Every sin involves suffering, suffering which cannot be remitted by any work of another."

While Dr. Campbell said many things in this interview which seem to us to be not so far advanced as what we have quoted, we are glad to note his progressive views.

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