19AR24-36

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AR 24:36 - How Christianity transformed the world

In this issue:

AMERICAN HISTORY - an "airtight case" for the nation's Christian founding

WORLD HISTORY - 'Christian ethics, even when ignored, have been the norm worldwide'

Apologia Report 24:36 (1,444)

September 12, 2019

AMERICAN HISTORY

Did America Have a Christian Founding? Separating Modern Myth from Historical Truth, by Mark David Hall [1] -- this ongoing debate <www.bit.ly/34c59LI> gets a strong conservative entry.

Publishers Weekly (Aug 12 '19): "Hall, <www.bit.ly/2kvOQri> senior fellow at Baylor University's Institute for Studies of Religion, argues in this persuasive study that the founders of the United States of America were not deists, but rather leaned on their Christian beliefs to create constitutional order. Though the Constitution never mentions God specifically, Hall suggests that the document bears distinctly Christian elements, such as the phrase 'in the year of our Lord' and the prohibition of work on Sunday. Hall then argues that the Bill of Rights is rooted in the Christian belief of original sin, which acknowledges that people will inevitably make mistakes, so inherent rights must be protected against trespassers. Through a meticulous reading of the founders' own works, Hall explains how the separation of church and state did not originally mean a total separation, citing the early history of religious support by the state, such as the government funding of chaplains in Congress and in the military. Hall also tracks early conflicts that defined the current understanding of separation of church and state, such as the rejection of religious tests for federal officials. Hall's trenchant analysis will pique the curiosity of any reader interested in the religious origins of American government."

The publisher adds: "A distinguished professor debunks the assertion that America's Founders were deists who desired the strict separation of church and state and instead shows that their political ideas were profoundly influenced by their Christian convictions." Hall makes "the airtight case that America's Founders ... did not create a 'godless' Constitution; that even Jefferson and Madison did not want a high wall separating church and state; that most Founders believed the government should encourage Christianity; and that they embraced a robust understanding of religious liberty for biblical and theological reasons. In addition, Hall explains why and how the Founders' views are absolutely relevant today."

Endorsements include: "A decisive, readable and scholarly answer to the perennially debated question" - Peter A. Lillback, president, Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia. "Hall shows that, contrary to the conventional wisdom, the American Founding was a Christian founding - and that American religious freedom was in the first place a Christian principle." - Kevin R.C. Gutzman.

Also see: <www.herit.ag/2Ln1O3E> and <www.cs.pn/2MPFKlK>

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WORLD HISTORY

Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World, by Tom Holland [2] -- the publisher points out that for first-century Romans, crucifixion was "the worst fate imaginable. ... How astonishing it was, then, that people should have come to believe that one particular victim of crucifixion - an obscure provincial by the name of Jesus - had been a god. Dominion explores the implications of this shocking conviction as they have reverberated throughout history. Today, the West remains utterly saturated by Christian assumptions. Our morals and ethics are not universal. Instead, they are the fruits of a very distinctive civilization. Concepts such as secularism, liberalism, science, and homosexuality are deeply rooted in a Christian seedbed. From Babylon to the Beatles, Saint Michael to #MeToo, Dominion tells the story of how Christianity transformed the world."

Awarding the book a "starred" review (Aug 1 '19), Kirkus says: "Christianity may not be on the march, but its principles continue to dominate in much of the world; this thoughtful, astute account describes how and why. This is not a biography of Jesus or a history of the church, writes Holland.... His aim is to 'study Christianity for what it can reveal, not about God, but about the affairs of humanity. No less than any other aspect of culture and society, beliefs are presumed to be of mortal origin, and shaped by the passage of time.' He accomplishes this with 21 isolated chapters (in three parts: 'Antiquity,' 'Christendom,' and 'Modernitas') that proceed chronologically, beginning when the ancient world, which featured a live-and-let-live attitude toward the gods of every nation, became aware of the Jewish God, who insisted that He reigned alone. Leaping forward centuries and then decades at a time, Holland delivers penetrating, often jolting discussions on great controversies of Western civilization in which war, politics, and culture have formed a background to changes in values. Thus, Christ taught that slavery was offensive in God's eyes. Christians accepted this idea until they became the establishment, when practicalities took priority. Radical Christians fumed and skeptics sneered, but the author points out that when abolition finally became a political force in the 18th century, it was almost entirely Christian based, and no other world religion participated. So it has been with issues from women's rights to genocide to evolution, and Holland looks at the work of Julian the Apostate, Mohammad, Voltaire, Nietzsche, Hitler, and countless other relevant historical figures. Readers may squirm, but even a humane concept such as human rights 'was far likelier to be signed up to if its origin among the canon lawyers of medieval Europe could be kept concealed.' An insightful argument that Christian ethics, even when ignored, are the norm worldwide."

Publishers Weekly (Aug 12 '19): "Novelist, playwright, and historian Holland, whose scholarly pursuits include Greek, Islamic, and Roman history, brings all of that to bear in this cultural history of how 'a cult inspired by the execution of an obscure criminal in a long-vanquished empire came to exercise such a transformative and enduring influence on the world.' In the period stretching from pre-Christian Athens in 479 BCE, when the Persian Artayctes lost his battle with the Athenians, to Germany in 2015, when Angela Merkel had an emotional encounter with a teenage Palestinian girl, Holland traces Christendom's philosophical, ethical, political, and even linguistic legacies in the West. Sophocles and Aristotle appear, as do Solomon and Moses, who 'brought something without parallel: legislation directly authored by a god.' Luke writes, so does Muhammad, and Luther publishes his 95 theses; later Holland weaves in Voltaire, Darwin, and even de Sade. He does not lose sight of political events - Charlemagne reigns, Columbus sails, the West fights WWI, and Hitler rises to power. He also wrestles with the theological disputes, inconsistencies, and recurring questions within Christianity, and the faith's intertwined but often hostile relationship with Judaism and Jews. Entertaining is too light a term and instructive is too heavy a term for a rich work that is enjoyably both."

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SOURCES: Monographs

1 - Did America Have a Christian Founding? Separating Modern Myth from Historical Truth, by Mark David Hall (Thomas Nelson, October 2019, hardcover, 240 pages) <www.amzn.to/2zKRwVD>

2 - Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World, by Tom Holland (Basic, October 2019, hardcover, 624 pages) <www.amzn.to/34hI7mM>

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