Szabó Árpád (szerk.): Isten és ember szolgálatában. Erdő János emlékezete (Kolozsvár, 2007)
Paul Rasor: Postmodernity, Globalization, and the Challenge of Identity in Liberal Theology
Paul Rasor Postmodernity, Globalization, and the Challenge of Identity in Liberal Theology Over the past-century, postmodernity and globalization have radically reshaped our world. Both reach deep into our personal and social lives, and both are redefining the context for liberal theology. We face many challenges; today I want to focus on one of them, the challenge to our liberal religious identity. How we respond to this challenge will largely determine the future of liberal theology and of Unitarian Universalism as a religious movement. Identity has always been a difficult issue for religious liberals. Historically, our most important struggles with theological identity have occurred when either external circumstances or internal changes forced us to reexamine our theologies. Perhaps the most important period in the shaping of our theological identity was the late 18th and early 19th centuries, when Unitarians and Universalists began to identify themselves in opposition to Calvinism. While there were disagreements on some points, overall they achieved a theological clarity remarkable for liberals — a clarity we have not had since. Of course in many ways it was easier then. Our forebears of that time could presuppose a shared Christian orientation; they had the stimulus of defending against Calvinist attacks; and they had William Ellery Channing, whose great sermon„Unitarian Christianity" in 1819 established a set of liberal theological reference points that in many ways continue to shape us. Another identity crisis appeared in the early 20th century with the emergence of religious humanism. This time no theological consensus was possible. In many ways, we have been having the same theological argument ever since. At international gatherings such as this, however, it is important to recognize that these issues affected some groups more than others. During much of the 20th century, while North American and to a lesser extent British Unitarians were struggling over religious humanism, other groups,
