THE NEW THEOLOGY.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 8, Issue 26, 29 March 1907, Page 5

THE NEW THEOLOGY.

A correspondent of the Nelson Mail forwards the following extracts from English papers, illustrating the Rev. Mr Campbell's main conclusions on the subject of the new theology, fragments of which have been cabled to the colony To say that Jesus was born without a human father is untrue. Whatever Jesus is now, He certainly was not co-equal with God when ou earth. We believe that the story of the Fall, in a literal sense, is untrue. It is literature, not dogma; the romance of an early age used for the ethical instruction of man. _ We reject wholly the common interpretation of the Atonement—that another is beaten for our fault. We do not believe in Eternal punishment. Ultimately every soul will be perfected. In an exposition of his views given at Tynemouth Congregational Church Mr Campbell emphasised the difference between religion and theology. The starting point of " the new theology, 1 ' as it had been called, was belief in the immanence of God and the essential oneness of God with men. It had been stated that the new theologians denied the Atonement, This was far from being the case; they merely denied the usually accepted theories of the Atonement. Every Christian sect believed in living the Christ life, but "the new theologious ” went further, and believed a man’s life should be like Christ's, a daily atonement. At Brunswick Chapel, Newcastle. Mr Campbell spoke on "The Atoning Will,’’ To say that Jesus paid some mystical penalty for human sin, he remarked, was to entirely mistake the meaning of His sacrifice, Hera there was audible dissent from ministers on tho platform. The only atoning love, the spirit of Jesus, needed to be repeated in ail their lives. It was the only atonement, The Rev. E. Campbell had more to say about tho New Theology to a crowded congregation that repeatedly cheered him, at_ the City Temple. We were feeling, he said, that it was no longer binding upon us to agree with St. Paul in everything. Throughout history no man could believe a thing until it became part of himself. The Bible was meant to help, not to fetter us, and it was not infallible, because the men themselves were not infallible. As Browning said, it is not what man does which exalts him, but what man may do.