The Social and Historical Impact of Christianity
22 Aug '16 07:323 editsIntroduction
W.E.H. Lecky has commented on the Enlightenment that “The greatest religious change in the history of mankind” took place “under the eyes of a brilliant galaxy of philosophers and historians who disregarded as contemptible an Agency (Christianity) which all men must now admit to have been . . . the most powerful moral lever that has ever been applied to the affairs of men.”{1}
And yet, the West is in the process of abandoning its Judeo-Christian base which was the very source of this social development (Is this good or bad? Can we even ask such questions of history?).
The Negative Charge:
Christianity has been a repressive force against the advancement of civilization.
A. Karl Marx termed Christianity an opiate of the masses, a tool of exploitation.
B. Sigmund Freud called Christianity an illusion, a crutch, a source of guilt and pathologies.
C. Bertrand Russell: “I say quite deliberately that the Christian religion, as organized in its churches, has been and still is the principal enemy of the moral progress in the world.”{2}
D. Arnold Toynbee: “When the Greco-Roman world was converted to Christianity, the divinity was drained out of nature and concentrated in a single, transcendent God. Man’s greedy impulse to exploit nature used to be held in check by his awe, his pious worship of nature. Now monotheism, as enunciated in Genesis, has removed the age-old restraint.”{3}
E. Gloria Steinem observed that human potential must replace God by the year 2000.
F. Lyn White: “Christians, in absolute contrast to ancient paganism and Asia’s religions, not only established a dualism of man and nature, but also insisted that it is God’s will that man exploit nature for his proper ends.”{4} “The crisis will not abate until we reject the Christian axiom that nature has no reason for existence save to serve man.”{5}
Summary: Christianity. . .
1. Is a crutch
2. Impedes science
3. Is a source of bigotry
4. Causes wars
5. Causes pollution and animal extinction
6. Contributes to the population explosion
7. Causes inflation.
Analysis of the Charges
(Unfortunately, some of the charges are true.)
A. The church, as an institution, has not always been a positive influence for social change.
1. Two major errors:
Platonism — The spiritual sphere is the real world. Matter is evil. Thus, the body is the prison of the soul. This sacred/secular distinction has resulted in the “pie in the sky” religion which has at times not been concerned about social reform.
Humanism — Views the physical and social needs of man as the only importance. The institutional church has, at times, failed at preaching regeneration.{6}
2. Jesus was concerned for the total man. Should we put a “new suit” on the man, or a “new man” in a suit? Jesus would have done both—put a new suit on a new man! (See the Gospels).
B. When the church is assimilated by the culture in which it finds itself, it loses its cutting edge. Example: Under Constantine in the 4th century, “The church became a little worldly and the world became a little churchy.”
C. The institutional church and true Christianity are not always synonymous. Professing Christians many not live up to the ideals and practices of its Founder (“Faith without works is dead,” Jas. 2:26).
1. Renaissance popes are not Christianity; St. Francis of Assisi is.
2. Pizarro and Cortez are not Christianity, Bartolome de Las Casas is.
3. Captain Ball, a Yankee slave captain, is not Christianity, Wilburforce is.
D. Jesus Himself foretold that “tares” would be won among the “wheat.” (Matt. 13:25-39 ff).
Christianity’s Positive Impact
A. The Rise of Modern Science
1. Science rose in the West, not in the East. Why?
2. Whitehead and Oppenheimer insisted that modern science could not have been born except in a Christian milieu.
3. Many pioneering scientists were not only theists, but Christians: Newton, Pasteur, Kepler, Paschal, Fleming, Edwards.
4. Concepts conducive to scientific inquiry were expressly Christian:
a. Positive attitude toward the world.
b. Awareness of order (i.e. cause/effect, cf. Rom. 1:20).
c. Views of man as a superintendent of nature.
d. Positive attitude toward progress (“Have dominion . . .” [Gen. 1:28ff])
B. The Development of Higher Education
1. The Puritans were 95 per cent literate.
2. The University movement and the quest for knowledge (Berkeley, Descartes, the British Empiricists, Locke & Reid).
3. 100 of the first 110 universities in America were founded for the express purpose of propagating the Christian religion.
4. The American university emerged from American Seminaries (Witherspoon, Princeton; Timothy Dwight, Yale).
C. Christianity and the Arts: the influence has been so broad as to be inestimable.
D. Social Change
1. Means of Social Change
a. Reform—moderately effective, but slow. Not always good.
b. Revolution—more rapid, but usually bloody.
c. Reneneration—Changing persons changes society. Jesus said, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. . .That which is born of flesh is flesh: that which is born of spirit is spirit” (John 3:3,6). Paul spoke of the Christian rebirth in this way, “Do not be conformed to this world-system, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind . . .” (Romans 12:2).
d. There is a difference between professing Christianity and possessing a personal relationship with Christ.
2. Examples in the Early Church
a. In 252 A.D., the Christians of Corinth saved the city from the plague by responding to the needs of those who were simply dragged into the street.
b. In 312 A.D., half of the Roman Empire came under the political and social influence of Christianity under the rule of Constantine.
c. Early Christians stood in opposition to infanticide, degradation of women, gladiatorial combats, slavery, etc.
3. Examples in the Middle Ages (Consider the Monks, not the knights.)
a. Monasteries served as hospitals, places of refuge.
b. Monastic schools trained scribes to preserve manuscripts.
c. Monasteries also developed agricultural skills and knowledge.
d. The Scholastics remain a pivotal period of intellectual growth.
e. A time of major artistic development: architecture, music, literature.
4. Examples during the Reformation
a. A myriad of forces were at work in the vast social and religious shift known as the Reformation (i.e. Luther, printing, Gutenburg Bible).
b. Calvin and the other reformers must not be ignored. Says Fred Graham in The Constructive Revolutionary, “Economic, scientific, and political historians . . . generally know little about Calvin’s own secular ideas. They assume that it was simply the rupture with tradition made by Calvinists which produced certain changes of life-styles which, in turn, affected society in Protestant countries in later centuries. But the heart of this study shows clearly that Calvin himself was aware of the epochal character of his own (social and economic) teaching and of the transforming implications of the Genevan pattern which he had a hand in forming” (11).
W.E.H. Lecky has commented on the Enlightenment that “The greatest religious change in the history of mankind” took place “under the eyes of a brilliant galaxy of philosophers and historians who disregarded as contemptible an Agency (Christianity) which all men must now admit to have been . . . the most powerful moral lever that has ever been applied to the affairs of men.”{1}
And yet, the West is in the process of abandoning its Judeo-Christian base which was the very source of this social development (Is this good or bad? Can we even ask such questions of history?).
The Negative Charge:
Christianity has been a repressive force against the advancement of civilization.
A. Karl Marx termed Christianity an opiate of the masses, a tool of exploitation.
B. Sigmund Freud called Christianity an illusion, a crutch, a source of guilt and pathologies.
C. Bertrand Russell: “I say quite deliberately that the Christian religion, as organized in its churches, has been and still is the principal enemy of the moral progress in the world.”{2}
D. Arnold Toynbee: “When the Greco-Roman world was converted to Christianity, the divinity was drained out of nature and concentrated in a single, transcendent God. Man’s greedy impulse to exploit nature used to be held in check by his awe, his pious worship of nature. Now monotheism, as enunciated in Genesis, has removed the age-old restraint.”{3}
E. Gloria Steinem observed that human potential must replace God by the year 2000.
F. Lyn White: “Christians, in absolute contrast to ancient paganism and Asia’s religions, not only established a dualism of man and nature, but also insisted that it is God’s will that man exploit nature for his proper ends.”{4} “The crisis will not abate until we reject the Christian axiom that nature has no reason for existence save to serve man.”{5}
Summary: Christianity. . .
1. Is a crutch
2. Impedes science
3. Is a source of bigotry
4. Causes wars
5. Causes pollution and animal extinction
6. Contributes to the population explosion
7. Causes inflation.
Analysis of the Charges
(Unfortunately, some of the charges are true.)
A. The church, as an institution, has not always been a positive influence for social change.
1. Two major errors:
Platonism — The spiritual sphere is the real world. Matter is evil. Thus, the body is the prison of the soul. This sacred/secular distinction has resulted in the “pie in the sky” religion which has at times not been concerned about social reform.
Humanism — Views the physical and social needs of man as the only importance. The institutional church has, at times, failed at preaching regeneration.{6}
2. Jesus was concerned for the total man. Should we put a “new suit” on the man, or a “new man” in a suit? Jesus would have done both—put a new suit on a new man! (See the Gospels).
B. When the church is assimilated by the culture in which it finds itself, it loses its cutting edge. Example: Under Constantine in the 4th century, “The church became a little worldly and the world became a little churchy.”
C. The institutional church and true Christianity are not always synonymous. Professing Christians many not live up to the ideals and practices of its Founder (“Faith without works is dead,” Jas. 2:26).
1. Renaissance popes are not Christianity; St. Francis of Assisi is.
2. Pizarro and Cortez are not Christianity, Bartolome de Las Casas is.
3. Captain Ball, a Yankee slave captain, is not Christianity, Wilburforce is.
D. Jesus Himself foretold that “tares” would be won among the “wheat.” (Matt. 13:25-39 ff).
Christianity’s Positive Impact
A. The Rise of Modern Science
1. Science rose in the West, not in the East. Why?
2. Whitehead and Oppenheimer insisted that modern science could not have been born except in a Christian milieu.
3. Many pioneering scientists were not only theists, but Christians: Newton, Pasteur, Kepler, Paschal, Fleming, Edwards.
4. Concepts conducive to scientific inquiry were expressly Christian:
a. Positive attitude toward the world.
b. Awareness of order (i.e. cause/effect, cf. Rom. 1:20).
c. Views of man as a superintendent of nature.
d. Positive attitude toward progress (“Have dominion . . .” [Gen. 1:28ff])
B. The Development of Higher Education
1. The Puritans were 95 per cent literate.
2. The University movement and the quest for knowledge (Berkeley, Descartes, the British Empiricists, Locke & Reid).
3. 100 of the first 110 universities in America were founded for the express purpose of propagating the Christian religion.
4. The American university emerged from American Seminaries (Witherspoon, Princeton; Timothy Dwight, Yale).
C. Christianity and the Arts: the influence has been so broad as to be inestimable.
D. Social Change
1. Means of Social Change
a. Reform—moderately effective, but slow. Not always good.
b. Revolution—more rapid, but usually bloody.
c. Reneneration—Changing persons changes society. Jesus said, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. . .That which is born of flesh is flesh: that which is born of spirit is spirit” (John 3:3,6). Paul spoke of the Christian rebirth in this way, “Do not be conformed to this world-system, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind . . .” (Romans 12:2).
d. There is a difference between professing Christianity and possessing a personal relationship with Christ.
2. Examples in the Early Church
a. In 252 A.D., the Christians of Corinth saved the city from the plague by responding to the needs of those who were simply dragged into the street.
b. In 312 A.D., half of the Roman Empire came under the political and social influence of Christianity under the rule of Constantine.
c. Early Christians stood in opposition to infanticide, degradation of women, gladiatorial combats, slavery, etc.
3. Examples in the Middle Ages (Consider the Monks, not the knights.)
a. Monasteries served as hospitals, places of refuge.
b. Monastic schools trained scribes to preserve manuscripts.
c. Monasteries also developed agricultural skills and knowledge.
d. The Scholastics remain a pivotal period of intellectual growth.
e. A time of major artistic development: architecture, music, literature.
4. Examples during the Reformation
a. A myriad of forces were at work in the vast social and religious shift known as the Reformation (i.e. Luther, printing, Gutenburg Bible).
b. Calvin and the other reformers must not be ignored. Says Fred Graham in The Constructive Revolutionary, “Economic, scientific, and political historians . . . generally know little about Calvin’s own secular ideas. They assume that it was simply the rupture with tradition made by Calvinists which produced certain changes of life-styles which, in turn, affected society in Protestant countries in later centuries. But the heart of this study shows clearly that Calvin himself was aware of the epochal character of his own (social and economic) teaching and of the transforming implications of the Genevan pattern which he had a hand in forming” (11).
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