For a while now I’ve argued that the Christianity proclaimed by the Church has more to do with the Apostle Paul and Constantine than it does with Jesus of Nazareth. Paul’s organizing of “the Way” broke from his Jewish heritage and was secularized Gentile communities. Constantine legitimized Christianity as a system of domination, blessed its further organization, and the thinking that became the orthodoxy of “substitutionary atonement.” Is there no other way to understand Jesus of Nazareth? Is there no other reason that he is an important teacher or leader in his time and ours?
Ross Douthat recently wrote an article in the New York Times, “Can Liberal Christianity be Saved?” He is arguing that conservative Christian theology is superior to liberal Christian theology or the social gospel movement. I’ve read several good responses to his thoughts, convictions, and read of attendance numbers. This piece by Bryon Williams on the Huffington Post is the best I’ve read so far, but of course it confirms what I’ve thought and believed for a long time. A few paragraphs. Click the article title to read more.
Constantine Christianity or the Teachings of Jesus?
by Bryon Willimas | The Blog | Huffington Post | 07/24/2012
Early Christianity was a rebellious underground movement until Roman Emperor Constantine made it his religious practice in A.D. 312. Constantine’s conversion was based on what he viewed as a victorious sign from God prior to going into battle. His successor, Theodosius I, made it the official religion of Rome in A.D. 380. These events did more for the spread of Christianity than any proselytizing efforts conducted by the Apostle Paul.
We should disabuse ourselves of the notion that there was at one time a liberal theology that served as the dominant ethos for the church as a whole. From the ministry of Jesus into the present day, liberal theology has found itself on the outskirts against a conservative theology that offered the perceived security of predictability.
But strident claims of vaunted superiority of the theology we embrace ultimately serves to obfuscate what’s really at the core of those beliefs. Is it a Roman Emperor whose faith is based on war and domination that we subscribe or that of a Mediterranean peasant from Nazareth who places the radical notion of inconvenient love at the core of his movement?
While my companion has been away I watched a film that I really like, Kingdom of Heaven. There are several quotes from the film that are worth pondering specifically in this time in American culture when the politicians and many of the super wealthy are behaving in the mode of “economic nobility” aided by some within Christendom that desire a Christian theocracy that resembles Taliban rule. The super wealthy and multi-national corporations are extracting wealth from common people in much the same way that some in nobility did centuries ago. These that would be knights by their wealth have a greater responsibility and they are mostly failing the common good. How are the Republicans doing the peoples business? They are becoming wealthy and apparently powerful at the expense of the working, the working poor, and the poor in order to create business that can charge me to drive on public roads, charge me to cross public bridges, and raise rates for water and electricity all of which the public should own. Those that would get Mr. Romney elected what will they be seeking from their anonymous investment to purchase all three branches of government? How will they continue to divide this nation to benefit their bank accounts? Where are the knights that stand for the people and that stand for justice? There are some politicians, Democrats and Republicans, at the local, state, and federal levels that know what is right, but cannot find the will to do because some consultant said they would get challenged in a primary. Is the public that easily bought, cynical, or distracted? The multi-national corporations and super wealthy are doing what they always do. Divide people by race, religion, and nationality. What has Mr. Romney done to make the world better for anyone other than himself, his family or his Mormon faith? One thing that I know of is health care for the residents in Massachusetts, but he is not claiming that.
A few of my favorite quotes from, Kingdom of Heaven (2005)
Nemo vir est qui mundum non reddat meliorem: What man is a man who does not make the world better?
Godfrey of Ibelin (talking to his new found adult son about the oath of a knight): Be without fear in the face of your enemies. Be brave and upright that God may love thee. Speak the truth always, even if it leads to your death. Safeguard the helpless and do no wrong. That is your oath.
Godfrey of Ibelin: [slaps Balian with the back of his hand] And that’s so you remember it.
Hospitaller (a member of the Templar order and religious servant of Godfrey of Ibelin speaking to Balian of Ibelin about Christianity and religion): I put no stock in religion. By the word religion I have seen the lunacy of fanatics of every denomination be called the will of god. I have seen too much religion in the eyes of too many murderers. Holiness is in right action, and courage on behalf of those who cannot defend themselves, and goodness. What god desires is here [points to head] and here [points to heart] and what you decide to do every day, you will be a good man – or not.
Godfrey of Ibelin (talking to his new found son, Balian of Ibelin): You are not what you were born, but what you have it in yourself to be.