The Ten Commandments of Progressive Christianity

A cautionary look at ten dangerously appealing half-truths.

Endorsed by Collin Hansen, Michael Horton, Kevin DeYoung

Not long ago, I came across a list of ten principles set forth by proponents of progressive Christianity. They are, in effect, a new Ten Commandments. What’s striking is that they are far less about God revealing his desires and far more about man expressing his own—less Moses, more Oprah.

Yet each of these “commandments” is partially true. Indeed, that is what makes this list, and progressive Christianity as a whole, so challenging. Half-truths can sound quite appealing until you recognize their foundations and implications. In this booklet, I diagnose and critique each of these tenets and offer a brief biblical and theological response.

Liberal Christianity never really goes away. If the church is going to hold fast to “the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3), we must, in every era, be able to distinguish the true faith from the false.

–Michael J. Kruger

56 pages

“It’s amazing just how many of these new ‘Ten Commandments’ are taken for granted in our culture and also roll easily off the tongue in Christian circles. As a highly gifted surgeon, Michael Kruger refuses to offer a light diagnosis or superficial cures. This is a timely and convicting analysis that we all need to hear.”
— Michael Horton, Westminster Seminary California

“I recognize these Ten Commandments of Progressive Christianity from growing up in the Protestant mainline and from many churches in my community today. There’s nothing new in their message, even as such churches portray themselves as our future. Michael Kruger helps us see the internal inconsistencies of their teaching as they decry certainty with, well, certainty. We must be equipped to see why such attempts to revise Christianity will never turn the world upside down, as did the apostles with the good news that Jesus Christ is Lord.”
— Collin Hansen, editorial director, The Gospel Coalition; author of Blind Spots: Becoming a Courageous, Compassionate, and Commissioned Church

“Don’t let the brevity of this book fool you. Mike Kruger has written a trenchant critique of the intellectual bankruptcy and theological deviancy of progressive Christianity. Churches, pastors, students, youth groups, Christian schools, and Christian colleges would do well to appropriate the wisdom in this short, but devastating, little book.”

— Kevin DeYoung, Senior Pastor, Christ Covenant Church (Matthews, NC); Assistant Professor of Systematic Theology, Reformed Theological Seminary, Charlotte