Lesson Six: The Enlightenment Challenge to Christianity

In this class, we begin with the Enlightenment which dawned in the seventeenth century. Its idealization of reason meant that the question of religion was tied up with the philosophical question: How do we know? The rationalists and empiricists challenged some essential claims of Christianity, inspiring many Christian intellectuals to more clearly formulate their defense of the faith. A generic “natural religion” retained Christian morality but separated it from a belief in God, providing an unsatisfactory answer. Some theologians promoted a liberal message abandoning essential beliefs to accommodate modern sensibilities. Others turned to a more assertive movement to reestablish the fundamental principles of Christianity. These movements set the stage for the rise of more hostile responses to Christianity in the nineteenth century, with effects still felt today.