{"id":39711,"date":"2024-12-02T08:00:23","date_gmt":"2024-12-02T16:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=39711"},"modified":"2024-12-01T17:23:48","modified_gmt":"2024-12-02T01:23:48","slug":"the-unfinished-story-how-christianitys-radical-impact-continues-through-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/the-unfinished-story-how-christianitys-radical-impact-continues-through-us\/","title":{"rendered":"The Unfinished Story: How Christianity\u2019s Radical Impact Continues Through Us"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cInevitably, to attempt the tracing of Christianity’s impact on the world is to cover the rise and fall of empires, the actions of Bishops and kings, the arguments of theologians, the course of revolutions, the planting of crosses around the world. It is, in particular, to focus on the doings of men, yet that hardly tells the whole story.\u201d [1]<\/span><\/p>\n

In the book <\/span>Dominion:\u00a0 The Making of the Western Mind<\/span><\/i>, author Tom Holland traces how a movement sparked by the execution of an innocent, obscure criminal, Jesus, in a long-forgotten empire had come to wield such lasting and transformative influence on the world and still is impacting the world today.\u00a0 The book explores how Christianity transformed the moral and ethical framework of the ancient world, replacing systems based on power and dominance with values of humility, compassion, and justice. Holland highlights key historical moments, from the crucifixion of Jesus and the spread of the early church to the Enlightenment and beyond, showing how Christian ideas shaped law, politics, art, and philosophy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Holland’s central thesis is that Christianity\u2019s legacy is so deeply embedded in Western culture that even modern secular ideas owe their origins to it.\u00a0 He states, \u201cEven in Europe a continent with churches far emptier than those in the United States, the trace elements of Christianity continue to infuse people’s morals and presumptions so utterly that many failed even to detect their presence.\u201d\u00a0 [2]\u00a0 He emphasizes that concepts we take for granted, such as caring for the marginalized and viewing all people as inherently valuable, are rooted in the revolutionary teachings of Jesus.<\/span><\/p>\n

As the author chronicled the impact of Christianity throughout the millennia, it was so disturbing to read the threads of distortions of scripture and Christian morality used over time to dominate and destroy humanity, contradictory to the teachings of Jesus.\u00a0 Holland notes how atrocious acts of violence from power-hungry systems like Hitler, communism, the KKK, and theories of Darwinism (survival of the fittest) have been committed, using portions of scripture to back up heinous claims and the justifying the mistreatment of humans.\u00a0 Holland highlighted the goals of Hitler\u2019s regime, stating, \u201cThe strong, as science had conclusively demonstrated, had both a duty and an obligation to eliminate the weak.\u201d\u00a0 [3]\u00a0 It got me thinking: where in my current cultural context do I see evidence of this \u201cobligation to eliminate the weak\u201d?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One section of the book highlighted Nietzsche\u2019s influence on Hitler as evident in the concept of \u00dcbermensch (Superman).\u00a0 It was an idea that promoted the idea of a superior race. [4] Nietzsche despised the scriptural themes that measured a man’s greatness by his compassion for the lowly and suffering, emphasized the reversal of status where the last would be first, and exalted humility as a path to elevation.\u00a0 [5] \u00a0 Reading about Nietzsche and his rejection of Christian morality, how he viewed the act of serving the lowly and the suffering not as a path to justice but as a source of corruption and decay, just pointed to the sad reality that maybe Nietzsche didn\u2019t have an Aunty Deb (like the author mentions as a tremendous influencer in his faith) or someone else in his life who pointed him in the direction of the ancient path that leads to life. [6]\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I was also intrigued by the author\u2019s mention of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien.\u00a0 My limited knowledge of J.R.R. Tolkien was expanded. Tolkien believed every story was ultimately about the fall, interpreting all of history as a record of human iniquity, with the whole of history bearing witness to Christ. [7] This connected with my understanding of the Bible as God\u2019s Big Story and each of us as a continuation of God\u2019s story in us.\u00a0 I wondered how the theme of the <\/span>Lord of the Rings<\/span><\/i>, destroying the ring as true strength, manifested itself not in the exercise of power but in the willingness to give it up.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In conclusion, the author referenced a message from a sermon of Columbanus (543\u2013615 CE), an Irish missionary monk, abbot, and influential figure in the spread of monasticism in Europe during the early Middle Ages, that helped me to frame my thinking \u201cSince we are travelers and pilgrims in this world, let us keep the end of our road always in our minds, for the road is our life, and its end is our home.\u201d\u00a0 [8]\u00a0 A central theme to <\/span>The Lord of the Rings<\/span><\/i> is the return of a king.\u00a0 This is the end of the road of my path that I am most looking forward to: the return of the King.\u00a0 While this book does not tell the whole story, there is much of the story that has yet to be told through the lives of faithful followers choosing to be last instead of first, lifting the weak and marginalized, caring for the poor and sick, and providing for widows and orphans. Many do not know that the veil was torn, that Christ has risen, that the King is returning, and the promise of life everlasting. We need more Aunty Debs.\u00a0 In the meantime, let\u2019s remember that the story of how Christianity transformed the world would never have happened without people like our Aunty Debs, like you and me in the lives of others who may or may not have encountered\u00a0 [9]<\/span><\/p>\n

[1] Holland, Tom. <\/span>Dominion: The Making of the Western Mind<\/span><\/i>. (New York: Basic Books, 2019), 519.<\/span><\/p>\n

[2] Ibid, 517.<\/span><\/p>\n

[3] Ibid, 460.<\/span><\/p>\n

[4] Ibid, 450.<\/span><\/p>\n

[5] Ibid, 516.<\/span><\/p>\n

[6] Ibid, 448.<\/span><\/p>\n

[7] Ibid, 462.<\/span><\/p>\n

[8] Ibid, 158.<\/span><\/p>\n

[9] Ibid, 518.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cInevitably, to attempt the tracing of Christianity’s impact on the world is to cover the rise and fall of empires, the actions of Bishops and kings, the arguments of theologians, the course of revolutions, the planting of crosses around the world. It is, in particular, to focus on the doings of men, yet that hardly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":168,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","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":[2310],"tags":[2489,2627],"class_list":["post-39711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-doctor-of-leadership-3","tag-dlgp02","tag-holland","cohort-dlgp02"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39711","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\/168"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39711"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39711\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39712,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39711\/revisions\/39712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}