Comments on a post by The Native Tourist
Amen!
Boy you can really tell how nervous it makes Sandlin that we're in not in power. So, aside from his point that "synthesis" Christianity is bad and weak and still with us... You've got to wonder: let's say we only existed as a very small, but utterly pure, and yet powerless group... does Sandlin have a complaint with that? If so, why?
Baus, I think part of the problem is that Sandlin has boxed himself in on his concept of culture. There are plenty of cultural options open to small community, many of which may be a great deal richer than the mass-cultural options.
Baus - but what do you think about what he says about the effect of Hellenistic thinking on Christian theology?
I certainly agree that Christian theology has historically compromised with pagan Greek thought in various ways. Have those specific Hellenizing compromises made us less able to battle secularism? Well, let's take an example: form-matter dualism in anthropology, baptized in various ways. Now, when secularism says "man is only matter," did our unbiblical acceptance of anthropological dualism leave us with weak rebuttals? Yes, I think so. If for no other reason than "form-matter" or any dualistic anthropology is no more biblical than "matter only" anthropology in my view.
But de-greekifying Christianity is not possible without Biblicizing it. And that is a fate beyond imagining for most western Christians. It would mean taking on aspects of Biblical law and culture that we have been conditioned to find most distasteful.
So we are between a rock and a hard place. What are we going to do?
Commenting by HaloScan
