\u201cDo you know who painted this paining?\u201d I was asked this as a friend held up my copy of Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World<\/i>. \u201cSalvador Dal\u00ed.\u201d I replied. While I knew the artist, I did not know how fitting this cover art truly is for the hardback edition of Tom Holland\u2019s expansive volume on the influence of Christianity in Western thought. Not only is Salvador Dal\u00ed\u2019s Christ of Saint John of the Cross<\/i> emblematic of the central thesis of Holland\u2019s book, Dal\u00ed himself is an example of the point that Holland is making – we are all influenced by Christian ideology whether we are aware of it or not. Dal\u00ed remarked of himself that he is \u201cdevote of any moral values\u201d\u2026reading Nietzsche and severing ties with his Christian upbringing.[1] After his conversation back to Christianity, he observed that there is nothing in any classic discipline that denies religion.[2]<\/p>\n
Centrality of Christianity<\/b><\/p>\n
The very life and work of Salvador Dal\u00ed is an illustration of Tom Holland\u2019s thesis in Domination<\/i>. Holland argues that \u201cChristianity is the most transformative and revolutionary ideology that has ever existed.\u201d[3] He goes on to observe that the ideology of Christianity permeates the ideological structure of Western culture and thought. From social norms, sexuality, to the nature of progress are all implications from Christian thought that shaped the West.[4] He goes to add that the very stories of the Bible \u201cstructure the way people think for centuries.\u201d[5] The epicenter of these stories is the cross of Jesus. He states, \u201cThat is why the cross, that ancient implement of torture, remains what it has always been: the fitting symbol of the Christian revolution\u2026.Today, the power of this strangeness remains as alive as it has ever been.\u201d[6]<\/p>\n
Civil War<\/b><\/p>\n
The centrality of the cross is a revolutionary idea that changes everything and the past two thousand years has been dedicated to working this out in thought, expression and social structure., whether we realize it or not. This is the observation Holland makes as he traverses the historical implications of Christian thought and practice. He writes, \u201cThe revolutionary implications of the message, to those who heard it, could not help but raise pressing questions\u2026if all were equally redeemed by Christ, if all were equally beloved of God, when what of the hierarchies on which the functioning of even the humblest Romans household depend?\u201d The tensions in social structures has not changed and will not change wherever the influence of Christianity can be found.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n This is most compelling as Holland argues that the present social tensions within the West are really a clash of implications of the same Christian ideology. He writes, \u201cAmerica\u2019s culture wars were less a war against Christianity than a civil war between civil factions.\u201d[8] For example, he argues the Black Lives Matter movement is rooted in the Christian perspective that if someone is oppressed they should be set free, which is grounded in the Exodus story and the cross of Jesus, even if they are perceived as being antithetical to Christianity.[9] The problem is that while the ideologies are \u201crooted\u201d in Christianity, they are not \u201canchored\u201d in them which results in the conflicting and judgmental implications of the various social movements in tension at the present moment.[10]<\/p>\n Conclusion<\/b><\/p>\n Holland\u2019s thesis in Dominion<\/i> is quite compelling. In fact, I found it to be a very inspiring approach to many of the social and political issues in tension in the modern West. Holland\u2019s ideas awakened my own appreciation and depth to the revolutionary implications of the cross in a way that I had not considered. I do wonder if arguing that Christian ideology is the thing-behind-the-thing that is being argued is a bit of circular reasoning that is impossible to prove or disprove. Perhaps it comes down to who presents the most compelling historical narrative. Much like an inspiriting work of art, one is captivated by the intricacies and implications that captures the reality that comes into focus through the work of art. For me, there is nothing more compelling than the contribution of a crucified Jesus who is declared God. That is Holland and Dali\u2019s point, after all.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n 1.. Jonathan Evans, \u201cSalvador Dal\u00ed the Enigma of Faith – Revd Jonathan Evens,\u201d Artlyst, April 19, 2020, https:\/\/artlyst.com\/features\/salvador-dali-enigma-faith-revd-jonathan-evens\/.<\/p>\n 2. Ibid.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n 3.\u200c Speak Life, \u201cTom Holland | How Christianity Gained Dominion | A Secular Historian Loses His Faith (in Liberalism),\u201d www.youtube.com, October 11, 2020, https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=favILmUsVdg. 00:03:28.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n 4. Ibid., 00:03:46.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n 5. Ibid., 021:21.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n 6. Holland, 541.<\/p>\n 7. Ibid., 100.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n 8. Ibid., 531.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n 9. Speak Life, 00:24:26-00:26:00.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n 10. Ibid., 00:26:32.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cDo you know who painted this paining?\u201d I was asked this as a friend held up my copy of Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World. \u201cSalvador Dal\u00ed.\u201d I replied. While I knew the artist, I did not know how fitting this cover art truly is for the hardback edition of Tom Holland\u2019s expansive […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":163,"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":[3157],"class_list":["post-37244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-holland-dlgp01","cohort-dlgp01"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37244","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\/163"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37244"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37244\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37245,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37244\/revisions\/37245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}