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AR 23:23 - Does Christianity Harm Culture?
In this issue:
CULTURE - responding to claims that Christianity harms culture
+ "an insider's road map to postmodern moral theories" and the harm they bring with them
Apologia Report 23:23 (1,389)
July 24, 2018
CULTURE
The subtitle, "How the Flawed Beliefs of Religion Harm Our Culture," given James T. Houk's recent work, The Illusion of Certainty [1], could be uttered by any cultwatcher, for we all agree that there are myriad flawed - and harmful - beliefs. Of course, Houk has something far more widespread in his crosshairs.
Choice (May '18) observes that it is "especially fundamentalist religion associated with so-called Young Earth Christians" that irks Houk. He argues that "fundamentalists work with an epistemology that requires a level of certainty that is merely an illusion, thereby doing damage to society. His critiques are strong and worth taking seriously. In an extended argument, the author attempts to defend doubt (in part 1); deconstruct the illusory fundamentalist sources of belief by appealing to a wide array of empirical work (parts 2 and 3); critique the false assumptions that such fundamentalist epistemologies give to sacred scriptures (part 4); and undermine the traditional arguments for the existence of God (part 5). Houk's project is large, and many will find his argument compelling. The book has two major flaws. First, it ignores what is regarded by philosophers of religion as one of the most powerful arguments against the research program in which Houk engages - viz., Alvin Plantinga's evolutionary argument against naturalism. Second, Houk fails to engage the strongest philosophical arguments - raised by followers of Platinga's 'Reformed epistemology' - in support of warranted belief in God. Be that as it may, Houk's book will prove interesting to a broad audience, including those who find it wanting in places. Summing Up: Highly recommended."
Similarly, in "Did Christianity destroy classical pagan culture?" Philip Jenkins <www.bit.ly/2NEHB9e> reviews The Darkening Age: The Christian Destruction of the Classical World, by Catherine Nixey [2] - which he finds "harshly polemical and poorly connected to mainstream scholarship, [while] it makes some valid points about violence, intolerance, and iconoclasm in Christian history. Assuredly, it will serve as a major weapon in the arsenal of antireligious polemic for years to come. ...
"[T]he book accomplishes far less than its author and publisher claim. Anyone with any knowledge of early Christian history already knows this story in broad outline. When Nixey <catherinenixey.com> says it's a story nobody has ever told, she's forgetting about Edward Gibbon - and a couple hundred more recent successors.
"More troubling is the rosy account she offers of the pagan world that Christians struggled against. ...
"But she is not comparing like with like. Her portrait of classical pagan culture draws heavily on [earlier] Ages, from roughly the second century BC to the second century AD. But that older world of Ovid and Horace was in ruins by the time of Constantine - and Christianity had nothing to do with the collapse. ...
"Further, any reasonable account of the decline of classical civilization would focus not on the time of Constantine and his successors but rather on the lengthy period between about 230 and 560 AD. ...
"When contemplating Nixey's view of this era, we might remember the Christian monk Gildas, who around 540 attempted to reconstruct the history of his British homeland. He could find no written works, as all had perished under the pagan assaults on the old (Christian) Roman cities." Christian Century, Apr 19 '18, <www.bit.ly/2ISQ4mg>
In other reviews one reads:
* - "If correct, Nixey's arguments merit a reevaluation of the relationship between Christianity and Western civilization. Her arguments, however, are not sound. She bases her conclusions on faulty premises which illustrate a lack of awareness in three areas: Christianity, history, and logic." <www.bit.ly/2z9U5mN>
* - "This provocative book claims that Christianity in Antiquity did very much look like ISIS. Although I certainly won't defend a naive, innocent picture of ancient Christianity, I think this kind of sensationalist writing should not be confused with historical analysis." <www.bit.ly/2MNdZpD>
* - "While providing a valuable corrective and alternative to Christian-centric historical perspectives, Nixey is prone to push too far in the other direction, oversimplifying complex events, presenting speculation as fact, and offering limited evidence to support dramatic conclusions." Library Journal, (undated)
Even the New York Times Book Review (Jun 10 '18, p12) included something interesting in its glowing account: "as one of her many, thunderingly memorable case studies, Nixey makes the fundamental point that while we lionize Christian culture for preserving works of learning, sponsoring exquisite art and adhering to an ethos of 'love thy neighbor,' the early church was in fact a master of anti-intellectualism, iconoclasm and mortal prejudice. This is a searingly passionate book. Nixey is transparent about the particularity of her motivation. The daughter of an ex-nun and an ex-monk, she spent her childhood filled with respect for the wonders of postpagan Christian culture. But as a student of classics she found the scales - as it were - falling from her eyes. She wears her righteous fury on her sleeve. This is scholarship as polemic." <www.nyti.ms/2uG3opY>
POSTSCRIPT DEC 26 '18: One of our anonymous readers responed: "I thought how helpful it would be to readers if they were aware of Siedentop’s masterful treatment of Christianity’s long struggle for freedom, equality and reciprocity against the Gréco-romaine natural inequality in his book, Inventing the Individual."
Nancy R. Pearcey <nancypearcey.com>, professor and scholar in residence at Houston Baptist University, responds to the rampant sexual confusion in today's society with "Sex Parties in Silicon Valley: How to Fight Back against a Culture of Sexual Exploitation." Summarized: "A sexual ethic based on 'consent' is not enough. A genuine turnaround in the culture requires a change in the underlying worldview. Although critics say the hookup scene gives sex too *much* importance, in reality, it gives sex too *little* importance. It is the biblical worldview that offers the higher, more fulfilling view of sexuality."
Pearcey calls attention to how "Silicon Valley is as sexually debauched as Hollywood, politics, and the media. The entrepreneurs and founders of tech companies regularly host drug-fueled sex parties." In response, she explains: "As a former agnostic, I give an insider's road map to postmodern moral theories, showing how they devalue the human being and destroy human rights.
"Nowhere is this more obvious than in the hookup culture. The rules of the game are no love, no relationship, no commitment. ... It derives from a materialistic view of the human being as a mere physical organism driven by sheer physical drives.
"No wonder people keep grabbing for more sexual experiences, while enjoying less real fulfillment." The solution isn't more sex education, which "reduces the meaning of sex." This is exacerbated by how "Adult culture is essentially telling young people that they are mature, and they are ready for sex if they can be uncommitted and emotionally detached." Added to this are the ways that "Advertisers use sex to sell, filmmakers use sex to entice viewers, and musicians produce raunchy videos.
"The irony is that when young people experiment sexually, they think they are rebelling against adult culture. But in reality they are following a script that adult culture is giving them. ...
"Lutheran ethicist Gilbert Meilaender <www.bit.ly/2OdyFIT> says the environmental movement has taught us that we should not objectify nature - that is, we should 'not treat nature as simply an object over which we exercise dominion.'" Yet today's cultural trend is to objectify our bodies sexually.
"The irony is that science is constantly uncovering new evidence of the profound interconnection between body and person. ...
"Imagine scientists' surprise when they discovered that oxytocin is ... released during sexual intercourse, especially (but not exclusively) in women. Consequently, the desire to attach to the other person when we have sex is not only an emotion but also part of our chemistry. ...
"The main neurochemical responsible for the male response in intimate sexual contact is vasopressin. It is structurally similar to oxytocin and has a similar emotional effect. Scientists believe it stimulates bonding with a woman and with offspring. Vasopressin has been dubbed the monogamy molecule. As a UCLA psychiatrist observes, 'You might say we are designed to bond.' ...
"Christianity has a much more respectful view of our psychosexual identity" than what we get from the message of our culture. Pearcey develops this idea with a discussion of the meaning of the word "porn" in its culture of origin: ancient Rome and Greece. The essence of porneia was to objectify by "treating another human being as a thing." In contrast, for the Christian: "The body is not meant for porneia 'but for the Lord' (1 Cor. 6:13).
"From the beginning, Christianity was not traditional, it was radically countercultural." Pearcey then concludes by developing the idea that "Scripture offers a stunningly high view of physical union as a union of whole persons." Christian Research Journal, 41:2 - 2018, pp34-41.
We strongly suspect that one can see all of this expanded in her new book, Love Thy Body: Answering Hard Questions about Life and Sexuality [3].
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SOURCES: Monographs
1 - The Illusion of Certainty: How the Flawed Beliefs of Religion Harm Our Culture, by James T. Houk (Prometheus, 2017, paperback, 381 pages) <www.amzn.to/2KAPs9N>
2 - The Darkening Age: The Christian Destruction of the Classical World, by Catherine Nixey (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018, hardcover, 352 pages) <www.amzn.to/2KMlAYa>
3 - Love Thy Body: Answering Hard Questions about Life and Sexuality, by Nancy R. Pearcey (Baker, 2018, hardcover, 336 pages) <www.amzn.to/2MLXqKY>
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