The Decline of Welsh Nonconformity 7: Doctrine (conclusions)

Of course, when looking at the rise of theological liberalism, it is easy to over-egg the pudding. There is a real difficulty in assessing the inroads made by the new ideas, since the propagandists of these ideas had a vested interest in exaggerating the spread of their ideas, often claiming lots of people secretly held these ideas, but were too afraid to speak out. On the orthodox side, many claimed that the laity were largely unaffected, another unprovable statement.[1] Certainly, however, doubt was greater among theologians and candidates for the ministry than it had been since at least 1730. Many took refuge in a faith that was subjective, looking within to experience rather than outwards to objective Christian truths (This tendency within the leadership Jones demonstrates by looking at the records of sermons between 1890 and 1914). With the reliability of many of the historical passages of the Bible in doubt, this should not be seen as a surprising development.[2] It was, and still is, far easier to side-step challenges than to meet them, but retreat from any salient, however exposed, can mean exposing one's flank to the enemy.


Appendix:

Percentage of sermons preached on portions of the Bible, 1890-1914:[1]

29% from Paul’s Letters (including Hebrews).
18% Matthew, Mark and Luke (although only 5% of these on the historical events in these Gospels).
14% John’s Gospel and Letters (including Revelation).
11% Psalms and the works of Solomon.
9% Prophets.
9% Historical books of the Old Testament.

[1] Jones: Faith, p.221.
[2] Jones: Faith, p.129-160.
[3] Source: Jones: Faith, pp.129-30. This information is based on a study of about 800 printed sermons. Clearly, this can only be a rough estimate, but since published sermons tend to be ‘the cream of the crop’, it is important as an indicator.