Progressive Christianity: How a Cultural Gospel is Rewriting the Bible

Introduction

Progressive Christianity is a movement within modern church circles that claims to follow Jesus but redefines the gospel to fit cultural and political ideals. It often emphasizes inclusivity, social justice, and personal spiritual experience over the authority of Scripture. While it uses biblical language, its redefined terms can drastically alter the core meaning of the faith.

What Progressive Christianity Teaches

Progressive Christianity often treats the Bible as a human document rather than the divinely inspired, inerrant Word of God. Instead of Scripture being the final authority, personal feelings, cultural values, and human reasoning are elevated as the primary guides for belief and morality.

The movement tends to downplay humanity’s sinfulness, focusing instead on affirming self-worth and promoting social reform. Jesus is presented more as a moral teacher or example rather than the Son of God who came to save sinners through His death and resurrection. As a result, the gospel is reframed from “Christ died for our sins” into “love people and work for justice.”

Key Differences Between Progressive and Biblical Christianity

Progressive Christianity often redefines core doctrines of the faith by shifting the authority from God’s unchanging Word to human interpretation, feelings, and cultural consensus. It tends to treat the Bible as a human book containing spiritual insights rather than the inspired, inerrant Word of God.

Moral absolutes are frequently replaced with relative truth, making sin a matter of personal perspective rather than a violation of God’s law. This opens the door for redefining or dismissing biblical commands based on cultural trends.

The focus on Jesus often moves from Him being the divine Son of God and Savior of the world to Him being primarily a moral teacher or social reformer. This redefinition changes the gospel from the good news of salvation to a message about personal improvement or social change.

Salvation is commonly reframed as personal self-fulfillment or societal betterment rather than redemption from sin through Christ’s atoning death and resurrection. In this view, humanity’s problem is not sin against a holy God but lack of love, equality, or self-worth.

Heaven and hell are sometimes dismissed or reimagined in non-literal terms, and biblical miracles may be explained away as symbolic stories. This denies the supernatural nature of God’s work in history and undermines the authority of the biblical record.

In contrast, Biblical Christianity affirms the authority of Scripture as God’s perfect revelation, upholds absolute truth, proclaims Jesus as the only way to the Father, teaches that salvation comes only through faith in Him, affirms the reality of eternal life and judgment, and accepts the miraculous works recorded in Scripture as historical events demonstrating God’s power and glory.

Preachers, Teachers, and Churches Promoting Progressive Christianity

Progressive Christianity is often taught by high-profile figures in the emergent church and liberal theological circles. Notable names include:

Rob Bell – Former pastor and author of Love Wins, which questions the existence of hell. Brian McLaren – Emergent church leader who redefines salvation and rejects biblical authority on morality. Richard Rohr – Franciscan friar who blends Christianity with universalist and New Age concepts. Nadia Bolz-Weber – Lutheran pastor advocating full acceptance of lifestyles Scripture calls sin.

Denominations heavily influenced by Progressive Christianity include many United Church of Christ, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), Episcopal Church, and segments of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and United Methodist Church.

Why This Matters

Progressive Christianity appeals to those who feel hurt by legalism or hypocrisy in the church, but its teachings replace the gospel with a man-centered message. By downplaying sin, reimagining Jesus, and rejecting Scripture’s authority, it offers a faith that cannot save. A Jesus stripped of His deity, cross, and resurrection is no longer the biblical Christ—and without Him, there is no hope of eternal life.

Believers must be discerning, testing every teaching against Scripture (Acts 17:11). This movement’s subtle redefinitions can erode the foundations of faith and lead people away from the only truth that saves. We are called to speak the truth in love, holding fast to the unchanging gospel of Jesus Christ in a world that constantly seeks to rewrite it.