And the fundamental message of the Gospels is that Christ died for our sins, and hence all who accept Jesus as their Savior will enjoy everlasting life after death. This is the doctrine that forms the core of the Christian appeal and gives meaning, purpose, and duration to human life. Nor must one pursue a painfully ascetic existence in order to gain these blessings. Good Christians are free to pursue an abundant life enhanced by an enlightened morality. Put another way, Christianity not only offers the immense reward of eternal life, but many profound blessings here and now—as was demonstrated in chapter 6.
However, it would be misleading to represent the typical Christian as engaged in an ongoing existential calculus to weigh the benefits of faith, while overlooking the potent and widespread mystical and emotional aspects of the Christian experience. Through the centuries countless Christians have reported direct encounters with Jesus, Mary, and other sacred beings.
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This is but one form of the many experiential confirmations of faith that abound in Christianity, from a quiet sense of the closeness of God to ecstatic episodes and speaking in tongues.
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Other world religions seem unable to produce these mystical manifestations in a general population, or do so only among a cloistered few. This is not to minimize Christianity’s intellectual side. Every year thousands of serious books on Christian history and theology are published, read, and discussed.
Scripture
However, unlike most religious “texts” associated with other world religions, neither the Old nor New Testament is a compendium of veiled meanings, mysteries, and conundrums—there is nothing about the sound of one hand clapping. For the most part, the Bible consists of clearly expressed narratives about people and events. Although there are many theologically challenging passages (in Paul’s letters, for example) and some deeply mystical sections, most of the stories are suitable for people of
all ages
and cultural backgrounds,
in addition to which they are interesting! Consider the Christmas story or the confrontations between Moses and the pharaoh.
Unfortunately, for many centuries popular Christianity had only an oral existence. This was not merely because of the general lack of literacy, but also because the only written scriptures were in Latin or Greek, and hence readable only by a small elite. The church was militantly opposed to translations into “vulgar” languages, in part because it wanted to avoid disputed interpretations which were bound to arise to the extent that more people had access to scripture. Today, when the Bible has been translated into nearly two thousand languages, this unwillingness may seem peculiar. But, of course, to some extent the church’s reluctance was well founded in that increased access to scripture did indeed lead to conflicts and thence to the almost endless proliferation of separate Christian bodies. On the other hand, this proliferation so energizes the faithful that it has played a major role in the spread of Christianity—missionizing is remarkably competitive.
Pluralism
Chapter 17 examined how the lazy monopoly church of medieval times was very slow to convert northern Europe and long neglected the rural populations. And chapter 20 showed the vigorous religious situation that arises with pluralism—when religious bodies compete for members and support. That chapter also demonstrated how churches that no longer believe that they possess a unique truth rapidly lose out.
The same principles apply to mission efforts. Thus, late in the nineteenth century, following his world tour of American missions in Asia and Africa, the prominent American Baptist William Folwell Bainbridge
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noted that where a mission had an exclusive territory it did not display nearly the level of activity and effectiveness he observed in places where two or more Christian missions were in competition.
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He counted it as a blessing that there were so many different mission efforts and strongly advised against dividing up the mission territories to avoid duplications of effort.
In those days, a great majority of American missionaries abroad were trained and supported by what are today defined as “liberal” denominations: Congregationalists (now the United Church of Christ), Presbyterians, Methodists, and Episcopalians. But early in the twentieth century leaders of these denominations began to suffer from a loss of conviction: Was there any theological or moral basis for attempting to convert non-Christians? In January 1930 a group of leading liberal theologians was assembled to “rethink” missions, and in the report they issued in 1932, these liberal leaders charged that “it is a humiliating mistake” for Christians to think their faith is superior, for anything in Christianity that “is true belongs, in its nature to the human mind everywhere.” Thus, “phrases like ‘evangelization of the world’... [are] downright embarrassing.”
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Therefore, these leaders proposed that if missionaries were to be sent out at all, it should not be to evangelize but to perform social services—to teach sanitation, not salvation.
Of course, few found this a sufficient motivation to undertake a life of sacrifice in strange lands. Consequently, the liberal denominations no longer play a significant role in what has since become an enormous mission effort. But had there still been only one Christian organization, foreign missions probably never would have begun in the first place, and certainly they would have disappeared in the 1930s. Instead, it was only the liberal Protestant mission effort that ended, as scores of conservative and evangelical Protestant denominations continue to send out huge numbers of missionaries. Faced with these Protestant challenges, the Roman Catholic Church also currently sustains a very large and effective mission force, especially in Africa.
Of course, in many parts of the world foreign missionaries have become superfluous as local Christians have taken over the work of spreading the faith. Here too, pluralism plays a major role, for Christianity sustains a tradition of innovation and adaptation. Hence locals not only take over missionizing; they often form new denominations especially suited to their particular situation and culture—there are thousands of new Christian groups in Africa, for example. The formation of new Christian organizations ensures local pluralism and, of course, the competition among them energizes each. In the end, Christianity grows, partly because so many Christians work so hard to make it grow.
Modernity
The liberal proposal that missionaries devote themselves to teaching about such things as sanitation touches upon a final and very significant aspect of the spread of Christianity. Inevitably, as the religion of the West, Christianity is associated with Western modernity. Thus, for many in the less-developed world, it is nearly impossible to separate their embrace of Christianity from their acceptance of modern culture in general. The West’s demonstrable wisdom in such things as medicine and technology seems to certify Western wisdom concerning God as well. Indeed, many conclude that the West’s knowledge of God forms the basis for its progress in other respects. As one of China’s leading economists put it, “in the past twenty years, we have realized that the heart of your culture is your religion: Christianity. That is why the West is so powerful. The Christian moral foundation of social and cultural life was what made possible the emergence of capitalism and then the successful transition to democratic politics. We don’t have any doubt about this.”
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Neither do I.
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Conclusion
P
ERHAPS THE MOST ESSENTIAL
aspect of Christianity that has facilitated its globalization is its remarkable cultural flexibility. Wherever it goes, the faith is adapted to the local culture—made possible by its universal message. Hence, worldwide Christianity is an enormous tent within which thousands of distinct churches sustain a common faith in Christ.
I
N LITTLE MORE THAN TWENTY
years will come the two-thousandth anniversary of the Crucifixion. During these two millennia Christianity has passed through many decisive moments, both tragic and triumphant. Excluding the Christ story from the list, three events stand out as being far more crucial than all the rest to the historical trajectory of the faith—two of them were exceedingly beneficial, and one of them was a great misfortune. Of course, each of the three has been given attention in previous chapters, but to conclude my reexamination of the Christian story, it seems appropriate to meditate a bit further on why these developments made such a difference.
Council of Jerusalem
B
Y FAR THE MOST
important event in the entire rise of Christianity was the meeting in Jerusalem in around the year 50, when Paul was granted the authority to convert Gentiles without them also becoming observant Jews. This meeting is reported both in Paul’s letter to the Galatians 2:1–10, and in Acts 15.
Having returned to Jerusalem accompanied by his loyal assistants Barnabas and Titus (who was of Gentile origins), Paul stated the case for Gentile converts on grounds that “we believe that we shall be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will” (Acts 15:11). Not surprisingly Paul’s position was hotly disputed, since few Jewish Christians in Jerusalem had any contact with Gentiles other than Roman officials and soldiers, so their contempt for Gentiles had not been tempered by familiarity. What seems truly surprising is that James, the brother of Jesus and head of the church, did not side with Paul’s opponents. James was known as “the righteous,” partly because he led an extremely ascetic life, and he could well have been expected to demand that all converts fully observe the Law. Instead, he blessed Paul’s proposal and required only that Gentile converts observe the Ten Commandments and not eat meat that has been strangled (Acts 15:20).
Until this decision was made, Christianity was just another Jewish sect. Although Judaism had made a substantial number of converts, it seems unlikely that any religion unalterably linked to an ethnicity could have become a world religion—not even with the added Christian aspect. Having worked to spread the faith outside Palestine, Paul was fully aware of this ethnic barrier—he had encountered many Gentile “God fearers” who attended and even helped to finance synagogues, but who remained marginal since they refused to fully accept the Law. He also had recognized how many marginal Jews might convert if they could have a form of Judaism that freed them from fully observing the Law. Indeed, as noted in chapter 4, once enabled to bring in converts not required to observe the Law, Paul seems to have devoted most of his efforts to these two groups—probably perceiving them as “low hanging fruit.” But the true importance of the Jerusalem Council’s ruling was not its effect on Paul, but on rank-and-file Christians who now were able to reach out far more effectively to their Gentile friends, relatives, and neighbors—a process that eventually assembled the world’s largest religion.
The Conversion of Constantine
C
ONSTANTINE’S INVOLVEMENT IN CHRISTIAN
doctrinal disputes established the basis for an intolerant monopoly church responsible for centuries of negligence, followed by centuries of brutal heresy hunting and conflict.
It is true that Constantine never made Christianity the official faith of the empire and was surprisingly tolerant of paganism. But he was incapable of permitting diversity within Christianity and quite willing to use the powers of the state to suppress all challenges to the prevailing orthodoxy. This set a precedent for future emperors who did invest the church with official status, as well as for popes who freely called upon the state to defend their monopoly against all significant dissenters.
Religious dissent is inevitable because no single religious body can serve the entire spectrum of human religious preferences. In any society, some people prefer a very lax and permissive religion (or none at all); others want a somewhat more vigorous religion; while still others seek an intense and strict religious life. Consequently, wherever religious freedom prevails there will exist a multitude of religious bodies based on these different “market sectors” of religious demand. But where there is no freedom to dissent—where a monopoly attempts to dominate all demand—conflict is inevitable. Moreover, since a monopoly religion will always drift toward permissiveness, the challenges will come from those with the most intense religious preferences—precisely those most willing to take risks and make sacrifices for their faith. Hence, the medieval centuries of heresy-hunting and religious wars trace directly back to Constantine, as does a Europe wherein the people have long been so neglected by lazy monopoly churches that only small bands of worshippers huddle in the continent’s magnificent churches.
Had Constantine not made himself the arbiter and enforcer of Christian orthodoxy, but confined himself to policies of state neutrality, all this might have been spared, and Europe may have prospered from effective and sincere religious competition—as came to pass in America much more than a millennium later.
The Reformations
T
HE THIRD GREAT SHIFT
in the trajectory of Christian history was in response to the Reformations of the sixteenth century. In the long run, these Reformations undid much of Constantine’s harm to Christianity. In the shorter run, the Reformations merely replaced the lazy and intolerant Catholic monopoly with a number of equally lazy and intolerant Protestant monopolies. Hence, the Protestant Henry the VIII burned Lollards and Lutherans, and his successors hunted high and low for Catholic priests. Luther persecuted Anabaptists as well as Catholics, and Calvin excluded nearly everyone. Meanwhile, the nations of Western Europe became involved in long and bloody wars over which religion should prevail, and in the end a barely tolerated diversity remained. However, the survival of dissenting Protestants, whether as unpopular minorities or as monopoly state churches, encouraged other dissenters, and some of them succeeded in adding to the existing diversity.
Perhaps the most often overlooked benefit of the Reformation was the transformation of the Catholic Church into a vigorous assembly of highly educated and devoted nuns and priests whose efforts have strengthened the faith both in Europe and abroad. Thus the end result of the Reformations was to reenergize Christianity, enabling it to grow once more: the faith is now thriving in Africa, Latin America, and China because so many separate Christian denominations are working so hard to “preach the gospel to every creature.”
Summing Up
F
INALLY
, I
HAVE TRIED
to bring some of the pivotal moments in the Christian journey to life and to expose many falsifications and errors in the traditional tellings. In closing, here are a few of the points I hope readers will consider and remember:
• The first generation of the Jesus Movement consisted of a tiny and fearful minority existing amid a Palestinian environment abundant in zealots willing to assassinate even high priests for not being sufficiently orthodox and pious—let alone willing to tolerate Jews who claimed the messiah had come.
• The mission to the Jews probably was quite successful: large numbers of Jews in the Diasporan communities outside Palestine probably did convert to Christianity.
• Christianity was not a religion based on the slaves and lowest classes of Romans, but was particularly attractive to the privileged. Jesus himself may have been from a wealthy background.
• Christian mercy had such profound worldly consequences that Christians even outlived their pagan neighbors.
• In a Roman world quite short of women, women greatly outnumbered men among the early Christians. This occurred in part because Christians did not “discard” female infants and Christian women did not have a substantial mortality rate from abortions done in a world without antibiotics or even knowledge of germs. It also occurred because women were more likely than men to convert.
• Paganism was not quickly stamped out by a triumphant and intolerant Christianity, but disappeared very slowly and lingers still in various New Age and esoteric circles.
• For centuries, there probably were more Christians in the Middle East and North Africa than in Europe. Christianity was eventually destroyed in these areas by Islamic persecution and repression.
• The crusaders were not greedy colonialists, but marched east for religious motives and at great risk and personal expense. Many knowingly went bankrupt and few of them lived to return.
• The so-called Dark Ages not only weren’t dim, but were one of the most inventive times in Western history.
• Despite medieval Europe’s great cathedrals, most Europeans of that era were, at best, barely Christian. Few ever attended church.
• Science arose only in the West because efforts to formulate and discover laws of nature only made sense if one believed in a rational creator.
• The Spanish Inquisition was a quite temperate body that was responsible for very few deaths and saved a great many lives by opposing the witch hunts that swept through the rest of Europe.
• Religious competition increases the level of religiousness prevailing in a society. In the long run it also results in norms of religious civility.
• The claim that religion must soon disappear as the world becomes more modern is nothing but wishful thinking on the part of academic atheists.
• Despite the low levels of religious participation prevalent in Europe, religion is thriving, perhaps as never before, all around the globe; excluding China, but including Europe, 76 percent of the earth’s inhabitants say religion is important in their daily lives.
• More than 40 percent of the people on earth today are Christians and their number is growing more rapidly than that of any other major faith.
Palm Sunday, 2011
Corrales, New Mexico