In preparation for a one week modular course I’m teaching in theology I came across this cartoon in my notes. It sounds like a “B” horror film: “The Descent of the Modernists”! Bwa-ha-ha!
Let’s make some observations.
First, the steps are all out of order. If you’ve already taken the step of denying there are any miracles, then by definition you’ve also jumped the steps of “no virgin birth” and “no resurrection”. Even more obviously, if you’ve taken the step of denying any deity, then you’re already at the bottom of the staircase (i.e. an atheist).
Second, becoming an atheist turns you from a generic Caucasian male in a suit into a somber continental European intellectual with frosted Freudian glasses.
Third, while a cartoon like this can capture the intellectual history of some folks, it can also easily be taken to suggest that any development, any nuancing in one’s theological perspective, is but the first step down the atheist staircase. Are you questioning penal substitution? That’s a step toward atheism. Doubting six day creation? Another hop toward perdition. Not sure that Paul wrote the Pastoral epistles? Hey is it getting hot in here?
