Category: Level: Intermediate

How Christianity Transforms People and Society: The Highest Priority for Engaging Our Culture Many believers are disturbed by the decline in their country (e.g. America, England, Germany) of an interest in Christianity or even in living healthy constructive lives. People seem to less able to form healthy relationships and don’t seem to seriously seek a transcendent life. This situation is not too different from what the Christians faced in the first three centuries of the Church. The early Christians did not take an adversarial approach to their society. Sometimes Christian writers would point out the sinfulness of their culture but they did not focus on this. Instead, they focused on living the Christian life. In other words, they had a different spiritual theology concerning social engagement. Perhaps one could refer to their approach as “magnetic engagement”: the Church focused on drawing people by living attractive lives. A few believers were Continue Reading →

Here is an inspirational excerpt from Philip Schaff’s translation of Augustine’s On Christian Doctrine. In these sections Augustine makes it clear that his view of the fulfillment of God’s word is love of God and love of neighbor. I believe it is the center of his spiritual theology. This is a contrast to other early Christian writers who emphasized knowledge of God as preeminent. This was probably influenced by Plato’s similar emphasis on knowledge as the highest good of the soul. Augustine is also a contrast to the famous Westminster Catechism that states the “chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” While there is obvious overlap the emphasis is different in Augustine, since love is a more focused view and leads to different Christian living. (For those who are new to Augustine he is arguably the most influential Christian writer and theologian in history. He Continue Reading →