Contemporary Progressive Christianity and Its Symbolic Ramifications

Abstract

In the last decade, progressive Christians have been mounting an increasingly perceptible challenge to the ‘Christian right’ in the United States. New organizations and websites are cropping up, a wellspring of books are being published, and long-standing progressive writers and theologians are garnering more attention and support than ever before. Despite significant advances, however, the impact of the ‘religious left’ in the American public sphere is still limited. In this paper, I ask why. Based on participant observation, discourse analysis, and in-depth interviews, and using a multidimensional culturalist perspective rooted in Durkheimian and Weberian ideas, I explore the symbolic dynamics of the Christian ‘left’. I argue that in addition to their structural disadvantages, progressive Christians face thorny dilemmas regarding authority/legitimacy, rationalization, de-mystification, disenchantment, charisma (or the lack thereof), and profanation that, though not insurmountable, are not easily resolved.