I've seen quite a few articles on Christendom written by fellow Christians. Some have condemned it while others favor it. Some say that Christendom was worthy of being preserved while others disagree. The article being reviewed today was written by a person who fits in the latter group. His name is Flynn Evans (brief personal info is at the end of the article).
The article being reviewed today, Christendom, Rightly Understood (click here for the article), provides a defense for Christendom. The defense provided comes from the religiously conservative perspective for it revolves around what Christendom did for Christianity first and America and the West second. Flynn's article starts with a few paragraphs on a few Christians who opposed Christendom. He described these Christian opponents of Christendom as extremists.
BTW, Evans defines Christendom as the Constantinian relationship between Church and State. In the middle of reviewing some who opposed Christendom, Evans claims that, even before Constantine's actions of privileging Christianity over other religions, Christianity began to thrive when local rulers showed favoritism toward it. He then goes on to say how Christendom's result of making Christianity a central part of the West and helped the West flourish. Then he gives details about what Christianity brought to the people in the West.
Evans then goes on discuss Christendom's effects on America. How, as Tocqueville claimed, Christianity became America's primary 'political institution.' And from that, it solidified America's exceptionalism and its democracy. Then Evans quotes Tom Holland to say that Christianity was the only religion then to recognize all people with 'human dignity.' Such is a very questionable claim.
Therefore, Evans claims that to oppose Christendom is to demand an undoing of the benefits that Christianity brought to America and subsequently the world. Thus one must, according to Evans, include with putting Christendom retiring the benefits that would be missing today without Christendom according to Evans.
In all, Evans very neatly shows a trait that I have seen in many a religious and political conservative. That trait is the demand that we religiously conservatives and/or our religion must be praised either for our own current accomplishments or for those of our ancestors. This might point to a claim made by Dave Verhaagen in his book, How White Evangelicals Think:The Psychology Of White Conservative Christians (click here for an Amazon page on the book), about a penchant for narcissism which white evangelicals demonstrated by their views of Christianity and America.
But with all of this praise for Christendom, what goes unmentioned are the negative effects that people experienced while under Christendom. Many of these effects were suffered by unbelievers while some effects were suffered from believers who were not in a respected race, economic class, or denomination. The history of Western Civilization includes Europe's religious wars and America's religious persecution of Christians by Christians. In fact, the Puritans was one of those groups that persecuted Christians from other denominations. For example, the Puritans persecuted and even martyred four Quakers.
European Christianity also promoted white supremacy. That was evident in European Imperialism, colonialism, brutal anti-semitism, slavery, ethnic cleansing of indigenous people and a culture of racial persecution in America called Jim Crow. Some might object to associating all of those horrific practices with Christianity, as they should. But these practices occurred during Christendom's watch and were often defended by Christians.
Christendom in America continued a period of socially accepted sexual repression with some common sexual practices, which are accepted today, being criminalized. Many in the LGBT community are suffering from the potential of being marginalized for their sexual orientation and/or gender identity. This points to a certain significant level of intolerance for those in the LGBT community that existed for centuries in the West and in America which still exists today in the latter.
Also occurring under Christendom's watch over the West was a materialistic way of living that has now put at high risk the future of human life on the earth. As with imperialism, colonialism, and white supremacy, materialistic ways of living were defended by Christians using their religious beliefs.
Evans's failure to mention these other associations with Christendom puts into doubt the positive claims that some have made about Christendom. These failures also give reasons for why some, even some devout Christians, celebrate the end of Christendom. Evans gave more religious reasons why some Christians celebrated the end of Christendom. And that, along with neglecting to mention the negative practices associated with Christendom puts Evans's article on Christendom at risk for being religiously self-absorbed if not narcissistic.
The article being reviewed paints religiously conservative Christians as being the lead character in the illustration of the bull in a china shop. Perhaps that is why many of us religiously conservative Christians have such a difficult time in learning anything from Critical Theory and Post Modernism.
No comments:
Post a Comment