Liberalism in religion grew strong in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, then collapsed. Why, when so many people hunger for religious expression unhampered by traditionalism?
Duncan Howlett argues that a fatal flaw at the heart of the movement undercut its progress. The Liberals were unwilling or unable to hold to their own central principle: the need to maintain a free and open mind, heart, and spirit in religion. In the end Liberalism always fell back on its understanding of the basic traditions and dogmas of the organized religions. Alert minds drawn to Liberalism by the...