Author Archives: jcappuc2

Team 5, Question 1

Posted on by under global christianity

The optimism of a modernizing Christian Europe at the turn of the century did not last long. By the time World War I was underway, churches across the country were stoking the fire of religious fervor to goad young Christians into representing their God and their country on the field of battle. After the war, people had to reconcile their religion with the horrors of war. Some saw it as proof of the sinfulness of humanity. Karl Barth, a Swiss pastor, became a spokesperson for this feeling. He asserted that the Christian God could not be on the side of any one military state – He is so too different from humanity to be defined in that way. But not everyone listened to such theologians. Many still linked the church with the reckless violence that had scarred Europe.

When World War II was collected from the promissory note that was the Treaty of Versailles, Christians around Europe believed it was a “just war”, a war to defend the defenseless from evil. But many more Christians did nothing – could do nothing – to prevent the atrocities of the Nazi regime. It was not only a failure by Christians, but by God. How could He have let the Holocaust happen?

These wars contributed to the decline of Christianity in the 20th century, but there were other factors. In many countries, there was a drive to secular society rather than a church centric society. The French policy of Laïcité forcibly removed religion from government. Great Britain’s church attendance was below 20% by the year 1900. In the Eastern Bloc, communist governments held churches on a short leash. Some churches were even disbanded and priests assaulted.

This decline in faith has been cited as a reason for the deterioration of the traditional family unit in Europe. The rate of single mothers in Europe has skyrocketed. Many couples choose to forgo marriage.  Further, to sustain a population, each woman in the society must bear two children, on average, during their lifespan. European women are averaging 1.5 children. This means that the ethnically European population will slowly begin to dwindle as immigrants with higher birthrates continue to out-produce their native neighbors.

Immigration has also caused religious instability in Europe. A large portion of immigrants are Muslims, a faith that has not existed extensively in western Europe before now. The appearance of obviously non-Christian peoples in Europe has come as a culture-shock to Europeans, who have existed for a thousand years as an exclusively Christian continent.

But a still larger percentage of immigrants are Christians, as well. These foreign Christians boast some of the most growth in churches across Europe, such as the Blessed Kingdom of God for All nations church in Ukraine, founded by a Nigerian immigrant in the 1980s. These churches are not “European” in nature, but a new breed of Christianity.

Europe has a long history of written philosophy, theology and rhetoric that use reason as a pillar for understanding faith. More recently, though, the propagation of reason into science has cause some troublesome waters. Scientifically proven facts, such as evolution, come into conflict with the idea of a creator God. Some Christians have accepted this, and others still have not. The age of the Earth, according to science, is nearly five billion years – much longer than the Bible says. As of 2006, 70% or more Europeans believe in evolution, a testament to the deterioration of Christian authority in Europe.

In the past few years, the trend of postmodern thinking has brought up the issue of truth and the question of its attainability. Some believe that the truth is not available for humans to understand, if it exists at all. This is simply preposterous. The very idea that we cannot find or understand truth is a disgrace to our ancestors, whose thousands of years of work have put us in this rational world in which we can begin to explain things based on reason, based on truth. We have gotten here on the backs of rationality and empirical reasoning. To abandon these central tenants would be to move backwards. This postmodern thinking is too presumptuous. We have not moved out of the modern era. There are issues to solve at this time, with the thinking that has gotten us this far. But many believe themselves “progressive” and seek to leave behind the work that has been done in the hopes of attaining some more perfect existence that cannot yet exist.

I do not believe that European Christianity will defend itself as it stumbles on in this 21st century. Europe is already being enveloped in a postmodern, politically correct society that will bend and bend until it is no longer Christian. I doubt that the majority of Europe even cares. It will be swallowed up by collective religious apathy or by the increasing immigrant populations blossoming in Europe’s urban centers. The number of Christians in Europe, is expected to decrease by nearly 20% over the next half century while unaffiliated and non-Christian faiths are expected to grow significantly, some by up to 90% (http://www.pewforum.org/2015/04/02/europe/). The transition may not happen very quickly, but European Christianity is on its deathbed.

Team 5, Question 3

Posted on by under slavery

As the founding of the new American nation approached, many believed that it should be free from the sinful institution of slavery. In 1776, the Quakers expelled anyone who owned slaves. Other denominations held similar views, but they did not stick until later in the 19th century, as such thoughts were quelled in favor of presenting Britain with a united front. By the middle of the 1800s, anti-slavery sentiments were boiling to the top of Christian American thoughts again. In 1844, the Methodist church split over the Bishop of Georgia owning slaves, and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was formed. The Southern Baptist Convention was created after similar circumstances. The Presbyterian church split during the Civil War in 1861. Christians on both side of the war preached in favor of their side. Following the Union victory, the white Southern population was held subservient to the North, and anger stemming from this was redirected towards the resident black population. The Ku Klux Klan was born from this resentment and was supported by many white southern Christians.

Feeling alienated from their former congregations, many freed slaves broke away and formed their own denominations. Churches such as the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church were formed, as were the African Methodist Episcopal and the African Methodist Episcopal Zion in the North. Following the reconstruction, these churches formed an indispensable core of black society, as the black population was restricted from other prestigious positions. Most black leaders of the era were also ministers to their congregations.

Sojourner Truth was a former slave and activist. In her speech ‘Ain’t I a woman?’, she speaks for women’s rights by using herself as an example. She needs no special treatment. She is as strong as a man and can work as hard. She also counters a man’s argument – a that Jesus was not a woman therefore women deserve less rights – by explaining that Jesus was made from God and from a woman. The Son of God had nothing to do with men.

Frederick Douglass calls out the entire nation in a speech the day after the 4th of July, 1852. He says, “This Fourth July is yours, not mine” (Douglass 1). Douglass says that the nation was founded on liberty and independence, but that those things are not extended to him. The principles the founders envisioned were not being upheld by the current generations. He references the fall of Judah, which was allowed to be conquered by Babylon because they did not follow God’s will. This is a not-so-subtle call to look upon America’s actions and change for the betterment of all society. At the end of his speech, Douglass references several biblical passages, hoping for the end of tyranny and oppression, the end of violence, and pledges to keep fighting for that day.

Team 5, Question 2

Posted on by under reformation

In the Geneva Ordinances (1547), John Calvin laid out a structure of rules and regulations to create a Christian community based on biblical ideals, not those of the Roman Catholic Church. This society placed great importance on the spiritual discipline of its people, heavily fining citizens who breached Calvin’s code. One major difference from the Catholic church was that Calvin only recognized two sacraments: baptism and communion (216). There were also strict penalties for drunkenness, singing unworthy songs, and brawling (217). Further attacking the Catholic Church, Calvin prohibits the adoration of idols, pilgrimages, papistical feasts or fasting, and attending mass (216). That Calvin admonishes going on pilgrimage and attending mass made his opinion of the Catholic church without doubt. His society was, in some ways, the antithesis of Rome.

Calvin’s Geneva depended on a system fines to maintain order and proper practice. The smallest of indiscretions, arriving late to sermon – or leaving early – held a fine of three sous, roughly a day’s wages (215). Fornication, on the other hand, between two unmarried people held a fine of sixty sous each and imprisoned for six days (217). Adultery came with a fine for an amount at the lord’s discretion and nine days imprisonment (217). These punishments were applied by the local secular lord as well as the consistory, the council of community leaders.

In this way, both the spiritual and secular leaders of the community worked together to safeguard their Christian society. The revenues gained from fines were split between the church, the local lord and the poor and needy in the community (218). This is further evidence of Calvin’s focus on creating a community of Christians, not only a church. Wrongdoers were admonished by the community. The community voted for their ‘guardians’, the church leaders (217). The fines levied were split between the authorities and those who needed it most. The Geneva Ordinances operates not only as a religious document prescribing correct practice, but also as a legal document that governs the whole community. Such a document would be welcomed in Calvin’s day – a day when Popes used the people’s money to build magnificent cathedrals and throw extravagant parties and couldn’t care less for the well being of the common Christian across the continent. This document was insurance that Geneva’s people would not be subject to papal theft, monetarily or spiritually. Geneva would stand together. The church, the secular lord, and the people would all work towards a common goal: a better Christian society.

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