European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 28, 1966, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Christianity in ferment old atheism Louis up staff writer t believe in god the father Al creator of heaven and and in Jesus Christ his Only son our lord those arc the opening words of the apostles which has stood for nearly years As a summary of essential Christian the key affirmations of the Creed Are being not merely by sceptics outside the which is an old but also by ministers and theologians who speak from within the Christian some of the challenging voices Are be ing raised in the roman Catholic but most of the Radical ferment in theology is taking place in protes in the United England and Germany the three great centers of protestant culture Sharp debate is under Way in in the pages of religious at National Church conferences and even of at Parish level this outburst of theological controversy is not like so Many do spies of the on Floe Points of it is concerned with the most Basic of All religious the existence and nature of to clarify the real it should but emphasized at the outset that no responsible Christian today or at any time in the has envisioned god in anthropological terms As a particular being who resides somewhere up there or out classic Christian from new testament Days until has always understood god to transcend All Cate Gories of time and it has insisted that the reality of god surpasses any Conception that finite human minds can Bat in common with Judaism and has traditionally spoken of god As a there Are two reasons for the first is that Liv purposeful beings Are the highest and most Complex Phenomena that we find in the the creator of the universe May be infinitely More than men can imagine when they protect personality to the ultimate say traditional but he certainly is not less than a living the second reason is the intuitive but unshakable conviction of believers that the reality they encounter through Faith is not an impersonal Force like magnetism or but a forgiving person in Martin Buber s famous phrase not an it but a this concept of a personal god by no Means confined today to a few naive on the it bos been upheld with great vigor in recent years by Karl years y Emil Rudolf Bernhold and Richard neb us John Austin Farrer Aid Many other giants of 20th Century the semis Iyieta radicals who seek to Jettison the concept of a tenons a argue that it has become meant Agless to vast numbers of Thustan Iguban Bishop John Rob Inson asserts in Bis widely read hone to that in the space the pro Fessor who is one of the leaders of the says its objective is a god less such a religion would uphold the ethical ideals of Ham Ilton but would have no room for Ordina Tion or Hamilton is frequently asked Why he continues to regard Jesus As the greatest teacher human if he has come to the conclusion that was completely wrong about the one thing to which he attached greatest importance the existence of the Colgat Rochester professor acknowledges that this is a pertinent ques his answer is that he feels drawn to Jesus because there is something in his his his Way with his that 1 do not find Bishop another High priest of the Radical also looks to Jesus As the supreme exemplar of human Karl Barth not an it but a men can no longer credit the existence of god As a supernatural and he goes in to argue that christians should abandon personal references to a father in heaven in favor of in personal abstractions such As the ground of Bishop Robinson is one of the More moderate of the Christian far to his left is a group of american theologians which includes Thomas associate professor of religion at Emory and William professor of theology at Colgat Rochester divinity school they Are not Content to change the Christian image of god or to find new terminology for talking about Christian theology must proclaim the death of says we Are saying that god has disappeared from history he is truly not simply hidden from and therefore he is truly Hamilton emphasizes the same Home Christian distressed to hear such talk coming from faculty members Al Church related Are inclined to View Altizer and Hamilton As men having lost their Faith but not their Are trying to make a new theology out of old fashioned but most professional however much they disagree with Altizer and credit them with hav ing articulated a feeling which is very widespread not Only in society at but in churches and even among the it is essentially a feeling of despair about the possibility of knowing while acknowledging the sincerity of the Christian traditional theologians object to the undo Bishop James Excel Umyn cd generalizations to which the radicals Are it is one they for a Man to announce that he has not been Able to establish personal con tact with and that Many other peo ple have told him they have the same but to proceed from this evidence to the dogmatic assertion that there is no god is entirely they like All attempts at proving a it is vulnerable to refutation by a Tingle contrary they and there Are not Ona or two but millions of people in the world today who Are prepared to say out of their own experience what s Paul said about god i know in whom i have although the debate doubtless will continue to generate a lot of sound and there seems to be a growing feel ing among traditional christians that the Only effective answer to the Radical Challenge is simply to the most honest and contemporary language god and that he continues to make himself known to those who seek him with Humble while this testimony will nut lit do lived by Robert Mcafee Brown of Stanford University Points Faith has never been easy and disbelief is not a modern theologians Are also engaged in a debate about the person and inns slut of Jesus there is no Jod and Jesus in Ilia Only Begotten Accordini to an Anonymous witticism circulating among is tile Creed of the new movement known As Christian the jibe has a Sharp because the Christian radicals Are to cling to Jesus while repudiating the father in heaven whom he claimed to represent e episcopal Bishop James Pike of san in his my what is thu treasure Speaks of Jesus As a nun Urha h emptied himself of Pride and Sells Hess that he became a Humai Avenue whom got could tally in he we see All that anyone needs Tow about what god b especially u relation to men Aad also what Man b supposed to be the Radical movement has also put Forward a new it hold that there Are no absolute moral Laws which Are binding at All the christians Only imperative is to be guided by love for traditional moralists agree that Jesus taught that love is the fulfilment of the and that he invariably put love of neighbor above any narrow Legal and  admit the need for moral Laws As guiding applicable to most if not All Circum the Crux of the dispute i whether human who Are Notor ious for their Powers of can Trust themselves to decide when one of the Clear moral rules of the Bible Tor the prohibition of adultery be set aside in the name of a situationist would say that they can and if they go that part of the Price of Christian the radicals insist that the Church will gel a hearing Only if ii gels rid of what Bishop Pike Calls its excess Theo logical the upholders of historic christianity say thai modern Man yearn above All else for meaning in his they main Tain that the lust thing he needs or wants is an emasculated christianity which offers him no god to whom he can commit by All Means let us do All that can to communicate the Church Mes Sage in the language of our own time rather than in fusty and confusing Jar gon from the says Robert Nelson of Boston University school of a Well known protestant lib there is admittedly a Hugn need today for restating Christian but there is no nor for destroying March 1966 the stars and stapes 11