Wednesday, May 03, 2006
The Context Of History
Fred Sanders, writing at Middlebrow, took a look the other day at the Augustine view of history and begins his concluding paragraph this way
I would very much have to answer that it is likely. If the fall of the Roman Empire is just not that significant in the grand context of history, would not things like worship trends or demographic studies be equally, even more so?
Is it just me? I weary of looking for new paradigms and trying to find relevancy. Polls that tell me what people in my neighborhood want forma church cause my eyes to glaze over. I want to find the wonder of the God beyond time and timeless. And then I want to share that wonder with others.
Related Tags: history, time, the church, Christianity, trends, timelessness, change
But if we take him on his own terms, he has nested human history within such vastly larger structures that he is not unduly impressed by the fall of Rome. Sure, it was an "excellent empire" with a lot of Pax Romana to spare for anybody it wasn?t crushing. But empires come and go, and they?re all the city of man in various guises.Sanders ultimate point is about allegiance to nation or to the Kingdom of God, but I could not help but consider that point in relation to the "development" of the modern evangelical church. Are we building the city of man in various guises?
I would very much have to answer that it is likely. If the fall of the Roman Empire is just not that significant in the grand context of history, would not things like worship trends or demographic studies be equally, even more so?
John 18:36 - Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting, that I might not be delivered up to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm."If we are indeed to be in this world, but not of it, should not the church reflect something more rock solid, more unchanging than mere fashion? Should not the church reflect more God's nature as described by an Augustine commentator as "First, beyond all history, and indeed beyond time, is God, existing timelessly."?
1 Cor 3:19 - For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God. For it is written, "He is the one who catches the wise in their craftiness";
Is it just me? I weary of looking for new paradigms and trying to find relevancy. Polls that tell me what people in my neighborhood want forma church cause my eyes to glaze over. I want to find the wonder of the God beyond time and timeless. And then I want to share that wonder with others.
Related Tags: history, time, the church, Christianity, trends, timelessness, change
