An Introduction to Christian Theology

This chapter surveys important modern developments connected to the Enlightenment of the 18th century, which put Christianity in a defensive position, having to justify its basic beliefs in light of a new prime criterion (i.e., not revelation but reason) and a new defining context (i.e., history). This context led some thinkers (e.g., Protestant liberalism) to significant departures from traditional forms of theology and other thinkers (e.g., neo-orthodoxy) to significant attempts to rethink Christian orthodoxy in a new mode.