There is Nothing New Under the Sun
Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher,
vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
What do people gain from all the toil
at which they toil under the sun?
What has been is what will be,
and what has been done is what will be done;
there is nothing new under the sun.
Is there a thing of which it is said,
“See, this is new”?
It has already been
in the ages before us.
The people of long ago are not remembered,
nor will there be any remembrance
of people yet to come
by those who come after them.
-Ecclesiastes 1:2-5, 9-11
“There is nothing new under the sun.” This phrase kept echoing in my mind as I read Tom Holland’s book, Dominion How the Christian Revolution Remade the World. While Holland’s aim is to uncover the profound and often overlooked influence of Christianity on Western culture—revealing how many values modern society takes for granted are rooted in the Christian worldview—I found myself drawn instead to how history so often seems to repeat itself. There were and always have been power struggles, political strife, war, those on the inside and those on the margins, religious superiority, if it’s happening today it also happened yesterday. There is nothing new under the sun.
It makes me wonder if this is because humans are evolutionarily hardwired for survival of the fittest. We don’t just want to be in control, we need to be in control. We need to win the war, make the money, secure the limited resources so that we can survive. I was talking to a biologist after church on Sunday who pointed out that humans are selfish creatures because we are biologically programmed to watch out for our own interests.
But are we just our biology? Don’t we also have an amazing capacity for imagination, moral reason, and compassion? Are we to always ever be what survival of the fittest makes us to be? Or, can we choose a different path?
In reading this book, it seems that Christianity challenges humans (at least those in the West) to choose a different path, but that our evolutionary instincts keep bringing us right back to where we started: looking out for number one.
In some ways Dominion left me wondering why I even do what I do.
If God created us with these self-preserving instincts, and then calls us to self-sacrifice, what’s the deal? Maybe it’s about growth, about becoming more than just our biological programming. Maybe the struggle itself is part of the point.
As an example of how the call of Christ calls us to another way yet how we continue to find ourselves in a sin-loop (I’m claiming that word), Holland points out how the early Christian challenge to the Roman Empire’s social and political norms mirrors ongoing struggles in our society today. In the Roman world, power and dominance were celebrated, mercy seen as weakness. Early Christians, Paul especially, however, taught a radically different message: that strength is found in weakness and that the greatest among us are those who serve others. Holland writes, “The Son of God, by becoming mortal, had redeemed all humanity. Not as a leader of armies, not as a Conquerer of Caesars, but as a victim the Messiah had come. The message was as novel as it was shocking.”[1] Yet, we’re still wrestling with this same tension between power and humility today. We see it in our political leaders who’d rather call people derogatory names and puff themselves up, threatening vengeance, than admit they don’t have all the answers. We see it in corporations that prioritize profits over people, treating employees as disposable resources rather than valuable human beings. We see it in our healthcare system, where the sick are turned away because they lack insurance, as if their worth is determined by their ability to pay. And we see it in our ongoing debates about immigration, where we struggle to balance national security with compassion for those seeking a better life. In all these areas, we’re confronted with a choice: Do we embrace the path of power and self-interest, or do we choose the more challenging road of humility and service? While the Christian worldview certainly challenges our discernment, it seems that our selfish ambitions, our biological drive to look out for ourselves, continue to dominate the choices we make.
Yet, as Holland argues, the Christian story also offers hope for transformation. The teachings of Jesus, especially the emphasis on forgiveness, humility, and care for the marginalized, have inspired countless movements for justice and reform. I still remember when the organizers of Live Aid recruited many big stars to record, “Do They Know it is Christmas?” a “one-off charity record, (that) succeeded in raising so much money for famine relief that it would end up the best-selling single in the history of the UK charts.”[2] Holland claims this was a “project born of the Christian past.”[3] The abolition of slavery and apartheid was also driven by Christian convictions about the dignity of every human being. In South Africa, Desmond Tutu declared that that apartheid was “totally un-Christian, evil and heresy” sparking the assertion that “if it was as a theological construct that apartheid had been built, then it was as a theological construct that it would need to be dismantled.”[4]
So, while humans are selfish and prone to repeating the sins of the past, the Christian worldview insists that change is possible through grace and repentance.[5]
Perhaps our responsibility as Christians is returning again and again to the radical teachings of Jesus who turned the values of the world upside down. While there may be “nothing new under the sun” perhaps the hope lies in trying to live out his teachings of compassion, humility, care for the least of these, and even, perhaps the most difficult and threatening to our biological wiring, love for enemy.
[1] Tom Holland, Dominion How the Christian Revolution Remade the World, Basic Books, New York, 2019, 103.
[2] Ibid, 497.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid, 502.
[5] Ibid, 503.
About the Author
Kally Elliott
Mom of four. Wanna-be Broadway star. PC(USA) pastor. Wife. Friend. Sometimes a hot mess. Sometimes somewhat together. Is this supposed to be a professional bio?3 responses to “There is Nothing New Under the Sun”
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Hi Kally,
Great post. I felt you were speaking from the pulpit on this one.
You wrote, we see it in our ongoing debates about immigration, where we struggle to balance national security with compassion for those seeking a better life.
So true. On Thursday, I am sharing my NPO with my bible study, I am leading with scripture that should guide our behavior to the refugee. I know that some if not all of the audience will be hostile to the ideas of Deut 10:18 (Orphans, widows and the foreigner amongst us). They will as you say, claim security over compassion.
My argument will be that one does not preclude the other. We shall see how that goes.
Shalom.
Kally,
“There is nothing new under the sun.” scares me in this era. It makes me question whether we will continue to make the same mistakes and not grow learn from the past. I am fearful and sad when I think that history may repeat itself in the worse way.
Hi Kally,
It’s hard not to lose hope sometimes. Holland’s book was hard to read even though his point was hopeful about the positive impact Christianity has made. I wonder what our forefathers in the faith would think about the state of Christianity in the world now? I think you stated our key stance very well, “Perhaps our responsibility as Christians is returning again and again to the radical teachings of Jesus who turned the values of the world upside down.” It’s a work in progress, cyclical as it may be, but the radical teachings of Jesus and responses to them are creating change.
Have a wonderful Christmas!