Description

Modern Christian theology is often presented as the continuation of a two-thousand-year tradition. In practice, however, much of Christian orthodoxy took shape in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, when theologians sought to defend inherited beliefs against the intellectual pressures of modernity. Historical scholarship, evolutionary science, Enlightenment philosophy, and sweeping social change forced reinterpretations, and even inventions, of doctrines concerning revelation, divine action, authority, and human nature.

In this process, theological arguments about scripture, gender, suffering, authority, and social order were reshaped to support prevailing political and cultural systems. Over time, these historically conditioned responses hardened into immutable doctrine. Today, as scientific knowledge, historical scholarship, and ethical reflection continue to evolve, many Christian communities, including Mormonism, respond by rigidly defending those earlier frameworks. The result is a widening gap between doctrine and the world people now inhabit.

This presentation argues that addressing that gap requires a complete reexamination of the theological foundations of modern Christianity.

Bill McGee serves as Chair of the Board of the Sunstone Education Foundation and is an independent researcher who has spent more than forty years studying Mormonism, Christianity, and world religious traditions. In addition to theological frameworks, he is interested in how religious ideas develop historically and how theological systems interact with political power, social institutions, and changing intellectual environments. Professionally, he is a writer and communications director for a Silicon Valley cybersecurity company, where he develops thought leadership and strategic communications. His current research examines the historical construction of modern Christian theology and the tensions that arise when inherited religious frameworks confront the modern world.