{"id":37448,"date":"2024-04-12T08:47:22","date_gmt":"2024-04-12T15:47:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=37448"},"modified":"2024-04-12T08:49:57","modified_gmt":"2024-04-12T15:49:57","slug":"gods-dominion-reigns-despite-our-best-efforts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/gods-dominion-reigns-despite-our-best-efforts\/","title":{"rendered":"God\u2019s Dominion Reigns Despite Our Best Efforts"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the book, Dominion<\/em>, author and historian, Tom Holland, takes his reader on an adventurous journey through the past to expose how Christianity has impacted the moral fiber of the Western world despite popular attempts to extinguish it. From Antiquity<\/em> through Christendom<\/em> to Modernitas[1]<\/strong><\/a><\/em>, Holland provides vignettes of people and cultures that followed Christ\u2019s call to pick up their cross and follow Him. Highlighting how these Christians impacted the culture to care for the least of these in God\u2019s upside down kingdom is a powerful testimonial to how God has worked through people throughout the ages. This blog offers a perspective for those who might want to read this book as well as application for modern people of faith who may need positive examples of Christianity in a world that often focuses on the negatives.<\/p>\n

You May Want to Read this Book If\u2026<\/h2>\n

Lovers of history will adore the detail in which Holland describes the history of Christianity. It is not a summary, he provides detailed stories of individuals both well-known and obscure along with vividly painting\u00a0 a picture of historical chapters that have been influenced by Christianity in the West. Additionally, those who are feeling discouraged by the current state of Christianity in the West, those who are deconstructing their faith and church leaders who are looking to the next chapter of the story could all be refreshed and revived from the insights Holland provides. Stephen Prickett captures it perfectly in the following review:<\/p>\n

Everywhere Holland reshapes one\u2019s knowledge of history. Who knew, for instance, that many of the ideas behind the Reformation can be traced back to the eleventh-century reforms to the Catholic Church made by Gregory VII? Other connections include mass education, especially universities (also pushed forward by Gregory), the growth of Western science and astronomy (his account of Galileo is especially interesting), the Enlightenment, and the notion of secularity \u2013 itself a source of misunderstanding among Westerners who assume that Islam is a \u2018religion\u2019 that can coexist with others in a secular space.[2]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Encouragement for Discouraged Christians<\/h2>\n

In this world of identity politics, social media and emphasis on deconstructing faith, it\u2019s easy for the Christian to get discouraged. Holland\u2019s Dominion <\/em>reminds us that God is always working the good\u2014even when culture seems against Him. What I\u2019m most taking away from this book is the reminder that God is faithful. He has a plan\u2014we just can\u2019t see the forest from the trees. Revisiting the tumultuous times of the past, reminded me that He has brought His people through much greater trials and obstacles than those facing us today. Our lives are writing a new chapter in the history of Christianity. Centuries from now. People will look back on these times with both horror and amazement, just as we do to those before us. In the midst of it all, we must simply do the next right thing in love and trust that God will take care of the rest.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Tom Holland, Dominion<\/em>, Reprint edition (Basic Books, 2021).<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Stephen Prickett, \u201cTom Holland, Dominion: The Making of the Western Mind,\u201d Theology<\/em> 123, no. 2 (2020): 144\u201345, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/0040571X19894860h.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the book, Dominion, author and historian, Tom Holland, takes his reader on an adventurous journey through the past to expose how Christianity has impacted the moral fiber of the Western world despite popular attempts to extinguish it. From Antiquity through Christendom to Modernitas[1], Holland provides vignettes of people and cultures that followed Christ\u2019s call […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":154,"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":[3171,2630],"class_list":["post-37448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dlgp01-holland","tag-dominion","cohort-dlgp01"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37448","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\/154"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37448"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37448\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37451,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37448\/revisions\/37451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}