Transforming Liberalism: The Theology of James Luther Adams

Transforming Liberalism: The Theology of James Luther Adams.

By George Kimmich Beach. Skinner House Books, 418 pp., $18.00 paperback.

James Luther Adams did not write books. His ideas are scattered in numerous essays and addresses, published in three collections edited by George Kimmich Beach, a former student of Adams's. In Transforming Liberalism, Beach presents a systematic treatment of Adams's thought, incorporating many quotations from Adams and anecdotes about him. A Unitarian theologian whose work spanned much of the 20th century, Adams rejected the fundamentalism in which he was reared. Still, he was inclined toward what the Germans call "Aufhebung," the process of reincorporating in a new form what has been negated. Rebuking Unitarians who take great pride in a "creedless faith," Adams said: "The trouble with being a Unitarian is, you can't flunk." Liberalism, he believed, needs both doctrine and discipline.

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