Gary Dorrien

Volume I of III. Dorrien is an Episcopal priest. He is the Niebuhr Professor of Social Ethics at Union, and Professor of Religion at Columbia. He champions liberal theology as "the most creative and influential tradition" of theological reflection since the Reformation. [Intro]. Unitarianism plays a formative role in this 200-year tradition.

Dorrien defines liberal theology as "a Christian perspective based on reason and experience, not external authority".

Even touches upon Religion as a secular experience! {Explains the crisis of Liberal theology as too academic for church and too religious for University.}

There is enough depth in the trilogy of volumes to count as a theological education. Many complex ideas, fairly ventilated.… (meer)

Volume III of III. Dorrien describes the late Unitarian theologian, James Luther Adams, as "the conscience of his generation" who emphasized social transformation while lamenting the lack of world-changing commitment that comes from spiritual conversion. He recognized how lonely Adams was as a UU Christian theist, but how connected he was in his ecumenical and action-oriented theology.

In final chapter, Dorrien observes the "unnoticed renaissance" of liberal theology. Cf. Gordon Kaufman, J. Deotis Roberts, Sallie McFague, David Tracy, Ian Barbour, and Elizabeth Johnson. Also - his "trilogy" of the advocates today--Spong, Borg, and Gomes, qv.… (meer)