对圣经的理性分析和批评催生了基督徒自然神论[7], 该理论是源自基督教的宗教哲学观点, 相信耶稣的道德教义,但不相信耶稣的超自然的神性。18世纪美国最著名的基督自然神论者可能是第3任美国总统托马斯·杰斐逊。他把《新约圣经》福音书中引用的神灵干预和奇迹干预的部分删除,生成了《杰斐逊圣经》。[8] 受作为主要起草人托马斯·杰斐逊的影响,自然神论的论述被作为《美国独立宣言》哲学理论根据;“自然法则”和“自然之神”(Laws of Nature and of Nature's God)等自然神论概念被写入其中。
哈罗德·林德塞尔(Harold Lindsell)指出,相信圣经无误论的人认为圣经中的每一句说话都是真实的(与准确相对),这是一个“严重的扭曲”。[19]他认为,圣经中有明确的虚假陈述,这些陈述被准确地记载下来的, (例如,撒旦是一个说谎者,他所说的谎言被准确地记载下来)。圣经无误论的支持者通常不会教导圣经是人们直接记下从上帝听到的说话,而是认为神使用圣经“作者的独特个性和文学风格”,上帝的圣灵指导着他们,通过作者的语言和个性完美地投射出上帝的信息。[20]:Art. VIII
16世纪的立陶宛特拉凯犹太神学家以撒·本·亚伯拉罕(英语:Isaac ben Abraham)写了一个名为“Chizzuk Emunah”(巩固信仰)的作品,试图驳斥耶稣是旧约中所预言的弥赛亚的观点,并反对基督教是与神订立的“新约”。他系统地在新约中指出了一系列前后不一的地方、新约与旧约之间的矛盾、以及在耶稣生命中没有实现的旧约预言。此外,他质疑了一系列基督徒的做法,如星期日休息。[29]这个作品最初写给犹太人看的,以说服他们不要归信基督教,[30]但这个作品最终被基督徒读到。虽然著名的基督教希伯来专家希伯里·哈里斯托夫·瓦格希尔(Johann Christoph Wagenseil)试图反以撒·本·亚伯拉罕的论点,但瓦格希尔对这个作品的拉丁文翻译徒增了人们对这个作品的兴趣,激发了后来的基督教自由思想家。Chizzuk Emunah被伏尔泰称为伟大的作品。[29]
聖經翻译会引起了一些问题,因为原初语言在语法和词义上往往是完全不同的。虽然《芝加哥圣经无误论声明》[20]指出,无误仅适用于原本的语言,但一些信徒相信他们的翻译是准确的。例如,一个叫做King James Only movement的群体则相信这样的观点。为了可读性、清晰性或其他原因,翻译者可以选择不同的措辞或句子结构,一些翻译可能会改写段落。因为原语中的一些词语含义不明确或难以翻译,所以就引起了关于正确翻译的辩论。
除了协助废奴主义之外,许多基督徒为建立种族平等而作出进一步的努力,他们为民权运动作出了贡献。[54]The African American Review提到到黑人教会中的基督教复兴主义在民权运动中发挥了重要作用。[55]马丁·路德·金是被按立的浸信会牧师,他是美国民权运动的领导人,也是基督教民权组织“南方基督教领袖协会”(Southern Christian Leadership Conference)的主席。[56]
哈佛学者凯伦·金(Karen King)写道:很多在早期基督教组建做出贡献的妇女都是默默无名的。此外,她总结道,在西方基督教几个世纪以来,抹大拉的馬利亞被错误地认定为是约翰福音第8章所描述的妓女和悔改者,这是传统所假设的,在新约中找不到任何依据。King认为,马利亚福音(Gospel of Mary)表明,她是一个有影响力的人物,一个突出的门徒,是早期倡导女性领袖的基督教运动的领导者。
圣经中的伦理学被批评,例如在旧约中上帝发出灭绝种族的命令,并且不放过任何人。[88]邪恶在世界的存在被认为是上帝并非全能的证据,然而怀疑者认为,人类对大局的理解不足,因而不能进行充分的评估。不过,斯蒂芬·迈登( Stephen Maitzen)提出反驳,认为今天大多基督徒或犹太人不遵循圣经伦理中自相矛盾的地方,例如处决同性恋、亵神者、不顺服的孩子、或惩罚将亚麻和布混合在一起的人,这最终会削弱持怀疑者的观点。[89]人们也批评基督教伦理对种族的不宽容态度(例如反犹主义观点),并且具有压制的性质。这些批评也是针对基督教伦理的核心,即,地狱的威胁。[90]
Barna Institute的院长David Kinnaman和 Fermi Project的 Gabe Lyons发表了一项关于16至29岁美国人对基督教态度的研究。他们发现,大约38%不通常去教会的人对基督教,特别是福音派基督教持有消极印象,将它们与保守的政治激进主义,虚伪,反同性恋,威权主义和审判主义相联系起来。[99]约有17%对基督教有“非常糟糕”的看法。[100][101][102]
罗马天主教会和希腊东正教会拒绝休谟完全反对神迹的观点,他们用圣格雷戈里·帕拉马斯( St. Gregory Palamas)的教义指出,单纯用理性不足以理解上帝的能量(诸如神迹等活动)和精神,而信仰足够让我们理解神迹。[113]当然,如果人们只是单纯地彼此交流,而没有听过基督教这种事物,那么这时,信仰在什么地方会成为一个问题。
人们常常听到“按手”的治愈祈祷的神迹。然而,依靠信仰治疗会间接造成严重伤害甚至死亡。[114]包括C·S·路易斯,诺曼·盖斯勒(St. Gregory Palamas)和威廉·莱恩·克雷格(William Lane Craig)在内的基督教护教者都认为神迹是理性的、可能的。[115][116][117]
在亚伯拉罕的宗教中,地狱在传统上被认为是对今生中的不法行为或罪恶的惩罚,是神圣正义的表现。像邪恶的问题一样,一些护教者认为,地狱的折磨不应归咎为上帝仁慈的缺陷,而且人的自由意志导致的。虽然仁慈的上帝宁愿看到每个人都得救,但他也允许人类控制自己的命运。这个观点让人看到地狱不是惩罚性的,而是作为上帝所允许的一个选择,这样不想与神同在的人并不是被迫作出这种选择的。 C·S·路易斯在他的The Great Divorce中最著名地提出了这样一个观点,他说:“最后只有两种人:那些对神说‘你的旨意将要完成’的人,以及那些神对他说‘你将要结束’的人。”
理查德·道金斯批评了赎罪的观点,理由是上帝要求耶稣的受难和死亡从而与人类和解是不道德的。道金斯总结道:“如果上帝要赦免我们的罪,为什么不直接原谅他们呢?上帝试图要做的究竟是什么?”[136]牛津神学家Alister McGrath 认为,道金斯对基督神学是“无知”,因此无法聪明地讨论宗教和信仰。他继续说,赎罪是必要的,因为我们有缺陷的人性使我们不可能自己拯救自己,他通过耶稣消除了我们与上帝和睦相处的罪的阻隔,表达了上帝对我们的爱。[137]对于他人批评他神学的“无知”,道金斯问道:“在不相信矮精之前,你是否必须了解矮精?”[138]他补充说,“是的,我之前当然听到过这种反驳。这一点听起来表面上是公平的。但它的前提是基督教神学中的某些东西是无知的。我立场的全部重点是基督教神学并非一个主题。”[139]Dinesh D'Souza说,“如果你认为基督教虚构了一切东西”,那么道金斯的批评“才有意义。”他继续说,基督徒认为耶稣的牺牲是美丽的牺牲,并认为,“通过骷髅地的极端事件,基督和解了神圣正义和神的怜悯”。[140]安德鲁·威尔逊(Andrew Wilson )认为,道金斯误解了赎罪的观点,因为,它与自虐没有什么关系,而是基于圣洁、罪恶和恩典的概念。[141]
罗伯特·格林·英格索尔(Robert Green Ingersoll)认为,赎罪的概念只是摩西血祭传统的延伸,而且是“道德的敌人”。[142][143] 耶稣基督的死是代表了以血祭的方式结束所有的血祭;这种通过终极的替代性赎罪的机制的后果是比重复的动物献祭更方便,而且成本更低廉——这种普通的解决方案能够解决古代宗教基于献祭的赎罪方式。
^W. H. Bellinger; William Reuben Farmer (编). Jesus and the Suffering Servant: Isaiah 53 and Christian Origins. Trinity Press. 1998 [2 August 2013]. ISBN 9781563382307. Did Jesus of Nazareth live and die without the teaching about the righteous Servant of the Lord in Isaiah 53 having exerted any significant influence on his ministry? Is it probable that this text exerted no significant influence upon Jesus' understanding of the plan of God to save the nations that the prophet Isaiah sets forth?" —Two questions addressed in a conference on "Isaiah 53 and Christian Origins" at Baylor University in the fall of 1995, the principal papers of which are available in "Jesus and the Suffering Servant.
^Melvin E. Page, Penny M. Sonnenburg. Colonialism: an international, social, cultural, and political encyclopedia, Volume 1. ABC-CLIO. 2003: 496. Of all religions, Christianity has been most associated with colonialism because several of its forms (Catholicism and Protestantism) were the religions of the European powers engaged in colonial enterprise on a global scale.
^Bevans, Steven. Christian Complicity in Colonialism/ Globalism(PDF). [2010-11-17]. (原始内容(PDF)存档于2013-03-24). The modern missionary era was in many ways the ‘religious arm’ of colonialism, whether Portuguese and Spanish colonialism in the sixteenth Century, or British, French, German, Belgian or American colonialism in the nineteenth. This was not all bad — oftentimes missionaries were heroic defenders of the rights of indigenous peoples
^Andrews, Edward. Christian Missions and Colonial Empires Reconsidered: A Black Evangelist in West Africa, 1766–1816. Journal of Church & State. 2010, 51 (4): 663–691 [2017-03-28]. doi:10.1093/jcs/csp090. (原始内容存档于2015-08-25). Historians have traditionally looked at Christian missionaries in one of two ways. The first church historians to catalogue missionary history provided hagiographic descriptions of their trials, successes, and sometimes even martyrdom. Missionaries were thus visible saints, exemplars of ideal piety in a sea of persistent savagery. However, by the middle of the twentieth century, an era marked by civil rights movements, anti-colonialism, and growing secularization, missionaries were viewed quite differently. Instead of godly martyrs, historians now described missionaries as arrogant and rapacious imperialists. Christianity became not a saving grace but a monolithic and aggressive force that missionaries imposed upon defiant natives. Indeed, missionaries were now understood as important agents in the ever-expanding nation-state, or “ideological shock troops for colonial invasion whose zealotry blinded them.
^Meador, Jake. Cosmetic Christianity and the Problem of Colonialism – Responding to Brian McLaren. [17 November 2010]. (原始内容存档于2013-03-24). According to Jake Meador, "some Christians have tried to make sense of post-colonial Christianity by renouncing practically everything about the Christianity of the colonizers. They reason that if the colonialists’ understanding of Christianity could be used to justify rape, murder, theft, and empire then their understanding of Christianity is completely wrong.
^Conquistadors, Michael Wood, p. 20, BBC Publications, 2000
^Frankenberry, Nancy. Zalta, Edward N. , 编. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University. 1 January 2011 [2017-03-28]. (原始内容存档于2020-11-16) –通过Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
^Clarke, Arthur C. & Watts, Alan (January), “At the Interface: Technology and Mysticism”, Playboy (Chicago, Ill.: HMH Publishing) 19 (1): 94, ISSN 0032-1478, OCLC 3534353
^J. Denny Weaver. Violence in Christian Theology. Cross Currents. 2001 [28 October 2014]. (原始内容存档于2013-03-24). "[3rd paragraph] I am using broad definitions of the terms "violence" and "nonviolence." "Violence" means harm or damage, which obviously includes the direct violence of killing – in war, capital punishment, murder – but also covers the range of forms of systemic violence such as poverty, racism, and sexism. "Nonviolence" also covers a spectrum of attitudes and actions, from the classic Mennonite idea of passive nonresistance through active nonviolence and nonviolent resistance that would include various kinds of social action, confrontations and posing of alternatives that do not do bodily harm or injury.
^War, A Catholic Dictionary: Containing some Account of the Doctrine, Discipline, Rites, Ceremonies, Councils, and Religious Orders of the Catholic Church, W. E Addis, T. Arnold, Revised T. B Scannell and P. E Hallett, 15th Edition, Virtue & Co, 1953, Nihil Obstat: Reginaldus Philips, Imprimatur: E. Morrogh Bernard, 2 October 1950, "In the Name of God : Violence and Destruction in the World's Religions", M. Jordan, 2006, p. 40
^Quotation: "The conflict thesis, at least in its simple form, is now widely perceived as a wholly inadequate intellectual framework within which to construct a sensible and realistic historiography of Western science." (p. 7), from the essay by Colin A. Russell "The Conflict Thesis" in Gary Ferngren (editor).
^Quotation: "In the late Victorian period it was common to write about the "warfare between science and religion" and to presume that the two bodies of culture must always have been in conflict.
^From Ferngren's introduction:
"…while [John] Brooke's view [of a complexity thesis rather than conflict thesis] has gained widespread acceptance among professional historians of science, the traditional view remains strong elsewhere, not least in the popular mind. (p. x)-Gary Ferngren, (2002); Introduction, p. ix)
^quoted in Ted Peters, Science and Religion, Encyclopedia of Religion, p.8182
^The compass in this 13th-century manuscript is a symbol of God's act of Creation.
^Morriston, Wes. Ethical Criticism of the Bible: The Case of Divinely Mandated Genocide. Sophia. 2 August 2011, 51 (1): 117–135. doi:10.1007/s11841-011-0261-5.
^Maitzen, Stephen. Skeptical Theism and God’s Commands. Sophia. 1 November 2007, 46 (3): 237–243. doi:10.1007/s11841-007-0032-5.
^Singer, Peter. A Companion to Ethics. Blackwell Oxford. 1991: 91–105.
^Chip Berlet, "Following the Threads," in Ansell, Amy E. Unraveling the Right: The New Conservatism in American Thought and Politics, pp. 24, Westview Press, 1998, ISBN 0-8133-3147-1
^Howard W. Clarke, The Gospel of Matthew and Its Readers, Indiana University Press, 2003, p. 12
^William Lane Craig, Reasonable Faith: Christian Truth and Apologetics, Crossway Books (1994) pages 38-39.
^"Let no cultured person draw near, none wise and none sensible, for all that kind of thing we count evil; but if any man is ignorant, if any man is wanting in sense and culture, if anybody is a fool, let him come boldly [to become a Christian].
^"Since we all inherit Adam's sin, we all deserve eternal damnation.
^Bible Teaching and Religious Practice essay: "Europe and Elsewhere," Mark Twain, 1923)
^Albert Einstein, Out of My Later Years (New York: Philosophical Library, 1950), p. 27
^Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1035, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, ISBN 0-89243-565-8,1994-the revised version issued 1997 has no changes in this section
^Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1033, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, ISBN 0-89243-565-8,1994