Lecture 36: The Ever-adapting Religion

The Ever-Adapting Religion............................................................

Lecture 36

O

ur survey of Christianity has been along fairly well-lit paths, where

historical evidence has been sufficient for us to observe the ways

in which this religion has demonstrated a remarkable capacity for

cultural adaptation. In this lecture, we will review that historical path and

follow it briefly from the 16th century into the present. We’ll also examine the

question of the religion’s fidelity to its own identity through all of its cultural

permutations. In the end, we find this fidelity in the lives of the “saints”—

not just those who are well known to us but those who sought to live by the

gospel as they understood it and, by doing so, communicated something of

its power to succeeding generations.

Tracing the History of Christianity

•    Beginning as a sect of Judaism in Palestine and interacting

intensely with the symbols of Torah as it shaped its own Scriptures,

Christianity’s first great expansion involved interaction with the

dominant Greco-Roman culture of the Mediterranean world.

•    During the centuries of persecution, as the movement sought

self-definition within a hostile empire, further negotiations with

culture were required: To Judaism’s Scripture, Christians said yes,

but to its language and law, they said no; to Greco-Roman moral

philosophy, Christians said yes, but to its religion, no; Christians

said yes to powerful religious experience, but no to experiences that

threatened tradition.

•    Becoming the established religion of the Roman Empire under

Constantine caused the greatest cultural adaptation: A formerly

despised sect regarded as a superstition became the religious glue

for a world-spanning empire. In every respect, Christianity had to

stretch mightily in order to play the role assigned it.