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Humanism adheres to the understanding that each human has value and dignity; because of that inherent value humans have no need of religion to define what is moral\/ethical\/good. Humans can be good without God. Postmodern thinkers push back on the \u201cone truth\u201d because one\u2019s experience is more revelatory to define one\u2019s truth; truth is relative.\u00a0 Humanists and Postmodernists would find agreement that religion does not have value or truth in human life and does not have impact in shaping communal life. These ideologies are a couple of the characters in the drama that historian and author Tom Holland presents in his book, Dominion: The Making of the Western Mind<\/em>. The theme of the drama subversive dominion of Christianity in shaping Western culture and identity.\u00a0 Holland\u2019s argument is that the far and deep reach of Christianity for the last 2000 years has left its indelible mark on humanity, so much so that the humanists and postmodernists are unable to begin to untangle their ideologies from Christianity.[1]<\/a><\/p>\n My approach to this week\u2019s \u201creading\u201d included watching the Theos Annual Lecture of Tom Holland as well as reading a number of reviews and summaries of Holland\u2019s book.\u00a0 Chris Greens Blog was insightful for framing the intention of Holland\u2019s work when he says, \u201cHolland is clear: this is not a history of Christianity (it\u2019s narrower and more selective), nor is it a history of Christian thought or theology.\u00a0 It\u2019s an account of the impact Christianity has had in shaping the assumptions of Western culture.\u201d[2] <\/a>Understanding that Holland\u2019s objective was to offer history at the intersection of Christianity impact helped me read other summaries from a critical thought mindset.<\/p>\n I found a number of Holland\u2019s historical points in his lecture interesting.\u00a0 In particular, his segment on the Great Repackaging,<\/em> Holland rehearses how the development of human rights, that found its shape within Christian concepts, was divorced from it during the American Revolution and repackaged as universal; human rights were just assumed as being eternal.[3]<\/a>\u00a0 Holland reveals that a lesson learned during this time was that by repackaging Christian concepts for non-Christian audiences the moral\/ethical moorings would be embraced. Although I am not convinced this is a new learning, for Paul modeled a similar approach when conversing with the Stoics in Acts 17:22-31.\u00a0 And St Francis of Assisi is known to have said, \u201cPreach the gospel at all times and if necessary, use words.\u201d What I appreciate about this historical tidbit Holland offers is he sheds light on how cyclical the means of communicating the Gospel is in history.\u00a0 It seems we are in another historical moment that requires the repackaging of Christian concepts. My doctoral project is shaped by this notion.<\/p>\n But I also recognize that for many orthodox Christians, the very notion of repackaging feels heretical.\u00a0 Holland shares in his lecture that change was sinister to Rome.[4]<\/a> In these days it seems that Christians are embodying Rome\u2019s fear.\u00a0 We have let go of our Christian identity that was lived by what Holland described, \u201cglorification of revolution.\u201d[5]<\/a>\u00a0 In an article about Tom Holland, the author summarizes how Holland understands the impact Christians resistance to change has had on the faith, \u201cSadly, we often promote Christianity as a way to\u00a0do<\/em>\u00a0culture better rather than as a way to\u00a0be<\/em>\u00a0countercultural. The Gospel isn\u2019t about mastering the power of this world but about bringing Godly power to bear\u00a0on earth as it is in heaven.\u201d[6]<\/strong><\/a> <\/em><\/p>\n During the section of his lecture entitled, Humanism: A Biblical Prophecy<\/em>, Holland argues here that humanism is not a deliverance from Christianity but reveals the paradox that \u201cChristianity has no need for Christians for its assumptions to still flourish.\u201d[7]<\/a> I could not help but here the echoes of Jesus rebuke to the Pharisees request for Jesus to tell his disciples to be quiet during his triumphant entry into Jerusalem, \u201cI tell you, if these should be silent, the stones would immediately cry out.\u201d[8]<\/a> How convicting it is to hear the challenge of Jesus\u2019 words.\u00a0 But it also reveals to me the messy nature of being revolutionary while contextualizing the Gospel truth in a postmodern time.\u00a0 What does it mean to embody the Gospel like St Assisi and not shirking the boldness of the stones? How do we \u201cnot become the monster\u201d[9]<\/a> and not avoid the obligation to be a part of the transformative work of God?<\/p>\n Humanists and Postmodernists will continue to be characters in God\u2019s drama of human history.\u00a0 My hope is that my project will be one of the scenery sets that human rights and the struggle humans have with good and evil will take place.\u00a0 Who knows how many takes will happen\u2026.well\u2026.God knows.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n [1]<\/a> Theos Annual Lecture 2022: Tom Holland<\/em>, 2022. https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=bYGQ6FIFLps<\/a>.<\/p>\n [2]<\/a> Green, Chris. \u201cChris\u2019s Blog: Book Review for Pastors \u2013 Tom Holland, Dominion: The Making of the Western Mind (London: Little, Brown, 2019),\u201d October 26, 2019. https:\/\/ministrynutsandbolts.com\/2019\/10\/26\/chriss-blog-book-review-for-pastors-tom-holland-dominion-the-making-of-the-western-mind-london-little-brown-2019\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n [3]<\/a> Theos Annual Lecture 2022: Tom Holland<\/em>, 2022. https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=bYGQ6FIFLps<\/a><\/p>\n [4]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n [5]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n [6]<\/a> Unbelievable? \u201cTom Holland: \u2018I Began to Realise That Actually, in Almost Every Way, I Am Christian.\u2019\u201d Unbelievable?<\/em> (blog), September 17, 2020. https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unbelievable\/2020\/09\/tom-holland-i-began-to-realise-that-actually-in-almost-every-way-i-am-christian\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n [7]<\/a> Theos Annual Lecture 2022: Tom Holland<\/em>, 2022. https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=bYGQ6FIFLps<\/a><\/p>\n [8]<\/a> Luke 19:39-40. House, Charisma. MEV Bible Thinline Reference: Modern English Version<\/em>. Illustrated edition. Charisma House, 2014.<\/p>\n [9]<\/a> Theos Annual Lecture 2022: Tom Holland<\/em>, 2022. https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=bYGQ6FIFLps<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Humanism adheres to the understanding that each human has value and dignity; because of that inherent value humans have no need of religion to define what is moral\/ethical\/good. Humans can be good without God. Postmodern thinkers push back on the \u201cone truth\u201d because one\u2019s experience is more revelatory to define one\u2019s truth; truth is relative.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":148,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2644,2643,2627,395],"class_list":["post-31286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-bethegospel","tag-humanism","tag-holland","tag-postmodernism","cohort-lgp11"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/148"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31286"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31286\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31287,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31286\/revisions\/31287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}