The 21st century heresies

The 21st century has witnessed the emergence and proliferation of theological departures from historic Christian orthodoxy across multiple fronts. New religious movements—groups that have broken away from their host religions and maintain theological distinctives that necessitate classification as unique religious systems—have continued to grow and spread since the turn of the century.[1] Major examples include the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, approaching 12 million members worldwide, and the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society with over five million adherents.[1]

Beyond these well-known movements, numerous other growing movements often escape mainstream evangelical attention, including Iglesia Ni Cristo, Mahikari, the Brotherhood of the Cross and the Star, Rastafarianism, Neo-Paganism, the New Age, various Do-It-Yourself Spiritualities, Umbanda, Santeria, and Siddha Yoga.[1] Missionary statisticians estimated approximately 104 million adherents to new religious movements by 2001, with projections reaching 115 million by 2025—figures that exclude biblically-based heretical groups like the Latter-day Saints and Jehovah’s Witnesses.[1]

Within Christian contexts specifically, contemporary heresies take distinctive forms. Various theological movements—including liberationist, feminist, neomystical, and process approaches—converge toward a religion of radical immanence in which human experience and imagination supersede biblical revelation as the standard for truth.[2] Attempts to downgrade the Old Testament persist, with radical feminists viewing it as irredeemably patriarchal.[2] Within Pentecostalism itself, oneness Pentecostalism—which emphasizes regenerational baptism and distinctive theology of the Godhead—is considered heretical by many trinitarian Pentecostals.[3] These departures collectively represent a significant spiritual and cultural phenomenon reshaping religious landscape in the contemporary world.

[1] Enoch Wan, Christian Witness in Pluralistic Contexts in the Twenty-First Century: Evangelical Missiological Society Series (Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library, 2004). [See here, here, here, here.]
[2] Donald G. Bloesch, Jesus Christ: Savior & Lord (Westmont, IL: IVP Academic, 1997), 244–245.
[3] David E. Daniels, “Foreword,” in Black Fire: One Hundred Years of African American Pentecostalism (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press, 2011), 9.