religious revolution now 289ponement of such a future. Th e vision was adjusted to the realities of
or ga ni za tion and consciousness in the societies in which the invented
or reinvented religion exercised an infl uence at once powerful and rela-
tive. Th e codifi cation of doctrine and the authority of an or ga nized and
established Church became the twin mainstays of the faith.
If we were to look at these two religions coldly, the religion of Jesus
of Nazareth and the religion about Jesus of Nazareth, with an eye to their
propositional content, viewed in the light of the contexts in which this
content was produced, we would have trouble persuading ourselves
that they were the same religion. Yet they were made into the same re-
ligion by the half- conscious choice of the faithful and of their Church.
Th e changed Christianity that I have explored in these pages may
seem, for similar reasons, to be no Christianity at all. On its face, by the
reading of propositions in context, it amounts to a diff erent religion.
Whether, however, it is the same or a diff erent religion depends on a
contest that has not yet even begun.