Posted on 12/20/2011 8:45:06 AM PST by SeekAndFind
“By far the most important event in the entire rise of Christianity was the meeting in Jerusalem in around the year 50, when Paul was granted the authority to convert Gentiles without them also becoming observant Jews.”
So wrote Rodney Stark, the Distinguished Professor of the Social Sciences and co-director of the Institute for Studies of Religion at Baylor University. His most recent book is “The Triumph of Christianity: How the Jesus Movement Became the World’s Largest Religion” (HarperCollins).
For Christians in particular, I recommend it if only because so many have a tenuous grasp of Christianity’s real history, as opposed the versions that too often are casually accepted as truth.
The truth is that the rise of Christianity is one of the most extraordinary stories of the past two millennia. Stark not only has the knowledge of his vast subject, but he writes with such felicity that it is hard to put the 500-page book aside for both its revelations and its devotion to the facts.
Despite the fact we live in a society that has at most only 4% who self-describe themselves as atheists, the more active among them have the audacity to demand that Christmas be banished to the privacy of homes or the pews and pulpits of churches. They rebuke religion in general as the source of conflict and wars, but ignore the spiritual support and ethical lessons that Christianity provides along with its promise of salvation.
While Judaism was the bedrock of morality and faith that gave it birth, Christianity made it more accessible and significantly includes the Torah as part of its liturgy.
To ignore the rise of Christianity is to be ignorant of an essential element of Western history. Likewise, to ignore the threat of Islam whose beginning is usually dated around 622 CE and which exploded following Mohammad’s death in 632 CE is to ignore the greatest threat to civilization, past and present. Less a religion than a battle plan for world conquest, Islam preaches death to all “unbelievers.” Take heed!
Stark provides a summation to his book and, even so, I shall select only parts of it in the interest of brevity.
“The first generation of the Jesus Movement consisted of a tiny and fearful minority” of a religion, Judaism, that had already been around for a thousand years or more before the assertion was made that the messiah had come and was a crucified Galilean rabbi who mainly and briefly preached in that area of Israel.
“The mission to the Jews was quite successful: large numbers of Jews in the Diasporan communities outside of Palestine did convert to Christianity.” The Diaspora were the Jewish communities in the Middle East and throughout the Mediterranean nations, including Rome, living in places where pagan faiths were dominant.
“Christianity was not a religion based on the slaves and lowest classes of Romans, but was particularly attractive to the privileged.” Moreover, in its earliest years, women often played important roles. Contrary to popular belief, however, “Paganism was not quickly stamped out, but disappeared very slowly.” Paganism involved the worship of multiple gods as well as a belief in magic.
Despite impressive cathedrals, in medieval times church worship among Christians was largely ignored and, as often as not, the clergy were ill-informed about the faith and sometimes not even baptized.
Despite what is said of the Crusades, they were a campaign to reclaim the holy land from Muslims who had conquered it and they were led by men who knowingly bankrupted themselves and often died in this cause. Though Christianity had been widely observed in the East, the armies of Islam destroyed all but remnants, thus shifting its survival to Europe in the West.
“Science arose only in the West because efforts to formulate and discover laws of nature only made sense if one believed in a rational creator.” Even the misnamed “Dark Ages” were actually times of technological development. Likewise historians have determined that the Spanish Inquisition was “a quite temperate body that was responsible for very few deaths and saved a great many lives by opposing the witch hunts that swept through the rest of Europe.”
Perhaps the greatest surprise was the damage done by Constantine who, having made it the religion of his empire, gave rise to an indolent and hypocritical Church hierarchy initially composed of Roman aristocracy. It fostered a clergy who were ignorant of the faith and indifferent to its mission. Not until the Reformation was competition introduced, forcing the Church to return to piety, as various Protestant sects emerged, and energized Christianity in the process.
Stark concludes that “The claim that religion must soon disappear as the world becomes more modern is nothing but wishful thinking on the part of academic atheists. Religion is thriving, perhaps as never before. More than forty percent of the people on Earth today are Christians and their number is growing more rapidly than that of any other major faith.”
And that, as they say, is the good news.
Goes to show that Christianity is going to the four corners of the world.
Nothing here demonstrated support for the Christianity's growth. The essay - to quote its own words - is wishful thinking.
Color me disappointed....
Nice article, and I like how it pokes some holes in some atheistic myths. Like the Inquisition, which only had professing Christians within its scope of operation. Too few people understand that it basically reigned in the more lawless and unjust secular proceedings that were going on at the time. As a Protestant I'm not remotely positive about it, but the notion that non-Christians were hunted by it, or that it operated in a generally unjust manner, are historical fabrications.
Ping for later
BS. Much of the ‘reformation’ was to seize Church lands, resources and power.
We know from Scripture that the basic premise of “Protestantism” cannot be true:
“And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Mat 6:18
“I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.” John 16:12-13
“But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.” 1Tim 3:15
Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Mat 28:18-20
Fortunately, we have Christ’s promise that heresies will never prevail against the Church. They will arise, endure sometimes for centuries, like Protestantism, but we can be confident in Christ’s promise that the Church He established will always teach the Truth.
The Church is to be one, not many.
“I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. My brothers, some from Chloe's household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, "I follow Paul"; another, "I follow Apollos"; another, "I follow Cephas"; still another, "I follow Christ."
Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul? I am thankful that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, so no one can say that you were baptized into my name. (Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don't remember if I baptized anyone else.) For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. 1Cor 1:10-17
You could easily read the above as “One of you says, "I follow Luther"; another, "I follow Calvin"; another, "I follow Wesley"; still another, "I follow Christ."
Christians cannot be “perfectly united in mind and thought” when they have different beliefs on, say, the necessity of water baptism, while others believe “This is my Body” means “This is a cookie”
Historical error #1: Theodosius the Great did that, not Constantine.
gave rise to an indolent and hypocritical Church hierarchy initially composed of Roman aristocracy.
Historical error #2. Ambrose, Augustine, and the Cappadocian Fathers were "indolent and hypocritical"???
It fostered a clergy who were ignorant of the faith and indifferent to its mission.
Same comment as above.
actually this statement is true. Although Christianity is dying in the West, it’s exploding in Africa and in China. There’s 10,000 new Christians a day in China!
“You could easily read the above as “One of you says, “I follow Luther”; another, “I follow Calvin”; another, “I follow Wesley”; still another, “I follow Christ.” “
You could, but that would be changing the meaning of what Paul wrote.
It is Christ. It is never a man. It is never a sect.
There is one Savior. One universal Church Triumphant. One Body of Christ.
One faith. One Lord. One Baptism.
The Body of Christ is comprised of all who receive His Gospel of Grace
throughout history. The gates of Hell will not prevail against this
Church.
I follow Christ.
Most African’s that I talked to just don't seem to care about Lutheran vs Roman Catholic. They wander into what ever church is near by.
So how would you make sense of the following Scripture?
"If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that 'every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.' If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector. "I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Mat 81:15-18
So where do you take your concerns? Which Church? This makes no sense whatsoever without the visible Church Christ established with teaching authority, and the power to loose and bind. Christians can’t even agree on what the meaning of the word “is” is.
The Church of the apostles was definitely one: "There is one body and one spirit," Paul wrote, "just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all" (Eph. 4:4-5). Paul linked this unity to the Church's common Eucharistic bread: "Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of one bread" (1 Cor. 10:17). Jesus had promised at the outset that "there would be one flock, one shepherd" (John 10:16).
Think about it. Would Christ establish his Church – to teach the way, the truth – and allow thousands of interpretation as to what is the truth? If the Church doesn’t teach the Truth, Christ is a liar. If He would allow multiple versions of Truth, he’d be an idiot. I don’t believe He is either.
From Daniel 2:35:
Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were broken to pieces at the same time and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth.
Then one needs to determine what exactly comprises the “church”. It certainly isn’t the CC who claims to be the “church”. No true “church” would include pagan symbols and rituals in their worship of the One True God who condemns such practices and imagery. When God, throughout scripture, shows that He is the only Rock but the CC denies that and places that designation on a mere mortal it shows that the CC cannot possibly be the true “church”.
Then which one is it?
It would be the totality of those who truly believe in Jesus as their savior and hold to faith in Christ alone for salvation. There is no earthly “organization” that encompasses the true “church” of Christ.
More and more I'm drawing a conclusion that Rome is adhering to "another gospel"..."another Christ"..than the Christ of the Bible and the One whose Birth we are now in the midst of celebrating.
After awhile, once one examines the teachings of the catholic church, a picture unfolds that is anything but the Christianity Jesus taught us. In fact it leads people into another gospel message altogether....works, rituals, repetitive prayers, worshiping idols, praying to the departed and the list goes on and on and on...
.... all which evidences again and again something far different than God has established for believers...and this despite the outcry from catholics these things are not so....when in fact the evidence shows otherwise.
It's sorrowful thing to "see" this....to get ones head around the obvious distortions and lies...to the truth concerning what indeed do they worship and who.
Why the body of believers of the congregation of the church where you attend..and of course to the scriptures and Jesus first and foremost. Simple.
Amen....case closed.
This is good news, but this part:
“...the damage done by Constantine who, having made it the religion of his empire..”
I think is way wrong.
Among other things this gave emphasis to a truly catholic, one, faith. And without that, Christianity would have splintered into several pieces before the 4th Century. And, the great evangelism of Europe after the fall of Rome would have been much less likely.
It’s truly a miracle how the faith survived and thrived, and this was a key part of it.
So I will ask this again, how would you make sense of the following Scripture?
"If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that 'every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.' If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector. "I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Mat 81:15-18
So where do you take your concerns? Which Church? Makes no sense whatsoever without the visible Church Christ established with teaching authority, and the power to loose and bind. Christians can’t even agree on what the meaning of the word “is” is.
“My brother calls me a liar because I believe Christ when he said, “This is my Body” That is what Scripture says, in clear language. He says “This is” really means, “this represents”, even though the Scripture doesn’t really say that.” So, where can you get a definitive answer to this dispute? To which Church do you go?
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