American Christian theologian (born 1935)
Christopher Ludwig Morse (born 1935) is an American Christian theologian. He is Dietrich Bonhoeffer Professor of Theology and Ethics at Union Theological Seminary in New York City.
Early life and education.
Born in 1935 and raised in Virginia, Morse received a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy from Randolph–Macon College, a degree from Yale Divinity School, and Master of Sacred Theology and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from Union Theological Seminary. He is an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church.
Viewpoints.
Morse's areas of scholarly concentration are dogmatics and ethics. He teaches extensively on the great systematic and dogmatic theologians, especially John Calvin, Karl Barth, Thomas Aquinas, and Friedrich Schleiermacher.
Prominent in his main work, "Not Every Spirit", is the notion of "faithful disbelief", a reference to 1 John 4:1. Essentially, Morse stands the older dogmatic traditions on their head. While most theologians argue for what Christians "should" believe, Morse argues for what people of faith "should not" believe, but rather actively "disbelieve".
Some examples of Morse's "Christian Disbeliefs" are:
He has argued that there is a charge from God upon the Christian community to discern the will of God again in every generation, time, and place and to be watchful for those aspects of the tradition which are unfaithful to the will and Word of God.
Morse's work shows that he has been deeply shaped by the theology of Karl Barth. However, he is clearly no Barthian, and is additionally influenced by the classical theologies of Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, John Wesley, Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Huldrych Zwingli. Among recent theologians, Morse has been deeply influenced by the work of Reformed theologians Jurgen Moltmann, H. Richard Niebuhr, and Paul Lehmann. Morse's work could be categorized as an example of the so-called Yale School theology.
References.
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Bibliography.
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