Moreover, the faith created the practical urge to offer aid and relief, to assist the poor, and (among other things) to reject infanticide. Before that point, abolitionist opinions, which seem so fundamental to us today, were the preserve of the most radical and marginal sects, such as the Quakers. Henry Morris explains in his book The Biblical Basis for Modern Science that the Bible’s approach to worldview issues is comprehensive and includes science, technology, the humanities, commerce, law, civil government, and education, in short, every facet of human culture: [L]ong before [the Great Commission] another great commission was … Rather, it implies that those “revolutionary” values arose from a particular constellation of circumstances that affected Christians in (Western) Europe and Euro-America, but not elsewhere. People need to know they’re loved. Christianity has had an enormous influence on society down through its long and checkered history. If that linkage seems so natural to us, it was not so for at least 80 percent of Christian history. In Holland’s view, the teachings of Jesus constituted an ethical revolution that would gradually transform human consciousness, to the extent that we today find it hard to imagine credible alternative systems. Christianity is the essential foundation of the liberal West, of democracy, and of notions of human rights. The Next Christendom: The Rise of Global Christianity, The Great and Holy War: How World War I Became a Religious Crusade, ctdirect-html,ctweekly-html,todayschristianwoman,booksandculture-html. What is not debatable is the very high quality of the book as a whole, and its appeal to anyone interested in Christian history. John R. W. Stott (1921-2011) has been known worldwide as a preacher, evangelist and communicator of Scripture. Studies in World Christianity promotes creative thinking and lively scholarly interchange in the interpretation of all aspects of Christianity as a world religion. Thus, a section on “Lyon 177” naturally begins with the Gaulish persecution of that year, and the deeds of the church Father Irenaeus, but is soon conducting the reader through the following two centuries, through pivotal figures like Origen and sects like the Donatists. Readers of Dominion will find themselves better informed, but they will also be repeatedly disturbed and provoked and driven to rethink just how they understand the relationship between religion and the development of culture. Without the existence of Christianity, it would not occur to us to abhor such things, whoever the perpetrators might be. Look at this conclusion of Kenneth Latourette in his seven-volume work on the history of the expansion of Christianity: No life ever lived on this planet has been so influential in the affairs of men like the life of Jesus Christ. Influences Christianity originated in Jewish Palestine, a province of the Roman Empire. It’s emancipated millions from chattel slavery and millions of others from addiction to vice. In each case, Holland takes a specific incident as a launch pad for a wide-ranging account of related movements and themes, an approach that yields surprising and provocative connections. From that brief life and its apparent frustration has flowed a more powerful force for the triumphant waging of man’s long battle than any other ever known by the human race. Browse 60+ years of magazine archives and web exclusives. That is especially true in matters of gender or sexuality, which have differed widely among Christian and Christian-derived societies. We are not powerless. Later, for instance, we have snapshot accounts of the issues and debates arising from Mount Tabor in Bohemia in 1420, St George’s Hill in England in 1649, or the Somme battlefield of 1916. On a related point, it is far from obvious what the components of that Christian revolution might be. For whatever reasons, slavery became less common in medieval Europe, although it remained remarkably stubborn in particular societies. From Babylon to the Beatles, Saint Michael to #MeToo, Dominion tells the story of how Christianity transformed the world.”. Many people today have little sense of how their lives have benefited from Christianity’s influence, often viewing the church with hostility or resentment. So, away with pessimism, and away also with blind optimism, as if we thought utopia was around the corner. It is not clear, then, why the attitudes prevailing in one particular time or place should be privileged over the attitudes prevailing in other eras and regions. And if only we were out and out for Jesus Christ in the fullness of our commitment, then we would have far more influence than we do. In my view, Holland does find himself overstretching at various points, as when he roots the #MeToo phenomenon in the Christian urge to sexual continence, especially in its Puritan manifestations. Nor, oddly, does Holland have much of note to say about Eastern Orthodox Christians, who right up to the First World War constituted perhaps a third of the world’s Christian believers. B. Sigmund Freud called Christianity an illusion, a crutch, a source of guilt and pathologies. To unlock this article for your friends, use any of the social share buttons on our site, or simply copy the link below. Read the whole thing at Christianity Today. Christianity is the essential foundation of the liberal West, of democracy, and of notions of human rights. It has done more to allay the physical ills of disease and famine than any other impulse known to man. Tom Holland’s Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World is a substantial work that makes a straightforward case. As the book’s jacket copy proclaims, “Concepts such as secularism, liberalism, science, and homosexuality are deeply rooted in a Christian seedbed. It has protected tens of millions in exploitation by their fellows. They simply were not part of the faith’s original DNA, which exposes a weak point in his argument. I’m afraid what we are, rather, is often lazy and shortsighted and unbelieving and disobedient to the commission of Jesus. Christianity spread … But as Holland acknowledges, explicit condemnations of slavery as such, or outright calls for its abolition, are vanishingly rare, and they are not explicitly present in the New Testament itself. Did the teachings of Jesus launch a sweeping revolution in human consciousness? C. Bertrand Russell: “I say quite deliberately that the Christian religion, as organized in its churches, has been and still is the principal enemy of the moral progress in the world.” But—and obviously there is a but—I would raise some objections. For Expats and Missionaries, COVID-19 Was a Crossroads, How the ‘World’s Largest Family’ Survived a Global Pandemic, Why We Can’t Stop Talking about ‘Hipster’ Pastors. The American professor of sociology has assembled evidence from various quarters to demonstrate what a powerful influence Christianity has had on Western Civilization. We can hardly argue that the Coptic or Russian churches, for instance, just failed to receive the appropriate memos. , biblical realists, who have a balanced doctrine of creation for redemption and consummation the 18th century for. Work that makes a straightforward case and love cultural influence if that linkage seems so natural to to... 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