Historian 3

 (cont'd from yesterday's post)

In the ancient cultures that Tom Holland so admired, "rights" belonged to winners of battles, to powerful masters, to the ruthless - not to the weak, suffering, powerless, deformed. The idea of "Human Rights" being inherent in all people is a modern idea. It developed over two thousand years of developing the Bible's concept that all human beings bear the image of God.

Christians have owned slaves, though, as recently as the 1800's in America's South. But the opposition which finally ended slavery in America came - also - through Christianity. Think of Dr. King's famous speech.

In the words of author and atheist Tom Holland: 

"So profound has been the impact of Christianity on the development of Western civilisation that it has come to be hidden from view . . . [I]n a West that is often doubtful of religion's claims, so many of its instincts remain . . thoroughly Christian.

"It is--to coin a phrase--the greatest story ever told."

photo

from Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World

Not sacrificial

From childhood, Tom Holland loved the exciting gods and warriors of ancient Greece and Rome. They were more fun than the Christian God of the church he grew up in. Later the books he read, like Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, confirmed for him that the values and people he admired came from the ancient classics.

Tom became a historian, looking deeply into the accounts and writings of his heroes like Julius Caesar and Leonidas. But he learned enough to discover that their values were not his values. Leonidas supported "murderous eugenics", and Caesar "killed a million Gauls and enslaved a million more."

Tom found that his own values were in sympathy with the God who came to earth to live a sacrificial life to save the people he loved. "In the ancient world, it was the role of gods [to inflict] punishment – not to suffer it themselves." Those gods would not inspire people like the Vanderpools to live sacrificially for others (yesterday's post).

He says that he was wrong about Christianity. "It took me a long time to realise my morals are not Greek or Roman, but thoroughly, and proudly, Christian." 

Ditto for most of the West.

image: signum-crusis

Not sacrifcial

Re-post from 2018

From childhood, Tom Holland loved the exciting gods and warriors of ancient Greece and Rome. They were more fun than the Christian God of the church he grew up in. Later the books he read, like Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, confirmed for him that the values and people he admired came from the ancient classics.

Tom became a historian, looking deeply into the accounts and writings of his heroes like Julius Caesar and Leonidas. But he learned enough to discover that their values were not his values. Leonidas supported "murderous eugenics", and Caesar "killed a million Gauls and enslaved a million more."

Tom found that his own values were in sympathy with the God who came to earth to live a sacrificial life to save the people he loved. "In the ancient world, it was the role of gods [to inflict] punishment – not to suffer it themselves." Those gods would not inspire people like the Vanderpools to live sacrificially for others (yesterday's post).

He says that he was wrong about Christianity. "It took me a long time to realize my morals are not Greek or Roman, but thoroughly, and proudly, Christian." 

Ditto for most of the West.

(cont'd tomorrow)

Not woke 2

If you listen to Bill Maher, it won't take long to notice that he shows no sign of being a man of faith. But it doesn't take Christian faith to believe in things that most Americans value. So we have some things in common. He posted a clip on X with some observations about Israel that should resonate with Americans. 

He starts out with this, "For all the progressives and academics who refer to Israel as an outpost of Western civilization, like it's a bad thing, please note: Western Civilization is what gave the world pretty much every [deleted] liberal precept that liberals are supposed to adore." 

True statement. As atheist and historian Tom Holland affirms, those precepts are based on the worldview that built Western Civilization, which is Christianity.

(cont'd tomorrow)

Ayaan speaks

Ayaan Hirsi Ali fled Somalia because she was forced into a Muslim marriage that she didn't want. From there, she went to Europe, becoming a member of the House of Representatives in The Netherlands. There she was a soft-spoken but courageous critic of Islam, speaking out against forced marriage and Muslim practices.

Since her move to America, she's continued speaking and writing on these themes, notably in London last weekend. She spoke at the conference for Jordan Peterson's organization, Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC). 

As a relatively new Christian, she said: "My message here to you today is to stress that responsible citizenship in the West is inseparable from Christian morality."

She has discovered, as Tom Holland did, that the things of Western Civilization that we admire come from its foundation in Christianity.

 

Goodbye Avengers

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Actor Tom Holland said in an interview that if his character (Spiderman) were to die in the movie, he would want it to be dramatic with everyone in the audience weeping. That's pretty close to what did happen. When we went to "Avengers: Endgame" on opening night, we heard a lot of audience reaction - including the young men behind us weeping at one point.

Fans were engaged with these characters. 

At #ThankYouAvengers they expressed what the movies have meant to them, like this tweet:

"there was an idea... to bring together a group of remarkable people, see if they could become something more..." 
and they did. for the past 11 years they gave us a home. they gave us a lifetime of memories. they gave us a family. #ThankYouAvengers"

Actor Chris Evans said that returning to film another Avengers movie was like coming back to be with a friend, his character, Captain America. That's how it was for us fans going to their movies.

#ThankYouAvengers.

Dawkins flip 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

"Fundamentally decent," that's his description of Christianity as opposed to Islam. He feels at home in the Christian ethos, he loves hymns (what?!) and Christmas carols. He thinks Britain is a Christian country: "If we substituted any alternative religion, that would be truly dreadful!"

photo

He's come to the same point that historian and atheist Tom Holland did, who said, "It took me a long time to realize my morals are not Greek or Roman, but thoroughly, and proudly, Christian." 

Do I attack Richard Dawkins for doing something of a flip-flop? No. He learned there's goodness in Christianity, and that many of the good things he appreciates in his own culture come from that source.  It's good that he's acknowledging the truth he learned.

Atheism 👎2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Influencers who now express approval of Christianity or religion also include Tom Holland and Richard Dawkins (both are still atheists to my knowledge). It's good to see the tone of our culture pull back from hostility to God. It means less pressure against young people who want to believe.

Intellectuals who have actually converted to Christianity from atheism include Ayaan Hirsi Ali  and her husband, historian Niall Ferguson, formerly British but now in America. They and their two sons were baptized in the Anglican Church in 2023.

"Though Ferguson sees profoundly the crisis of our times . . brought about by the abandonment of Christianity, this is not primarily a political conversion. 

"He is, in his own words, a lapsed atheist. Much more important, he's a believing Christian. . . It’s a deeply personal and deliberate turn to faith by a man who was formerly a lifelong atheist . . ."

Here's a video of Dr. Ferguson from 2019:

Historian 1

Dinosaurs, Roman armies, Greek gods were much more interesting than the Christian God to Tom Holland as a boy in England. His faith faded away as he grew up and had no revival in adulthood. Today he's a historian and author.

He has modern, secular, humanistic values. But gradually he learned to his surprise that those values decidedly did not come from ancient Rome or Greece. And it went further. As a historian looking across hundreds of years, he found that modern, secular, humanistic values like his own . . . came from Christianity. 

Compassion for slaves, for the poor, for human suffering, made Christianity a stark contrast to ancient attitudes.

(cont'd tomorrow)

Changed 2

Atheists of today have been loud in their rejection (and here) of Christianity. I welcome the change of mind some of them have had (here, here). 

Historian, atheist, and author Tom Holland (Dominion) changed his mind a few years ago from disdain of Christianity to surprised admiration. Now it seems like he has gone a step further, from admiration to something like faith. His understanding grows and grows.

He explains to this Jewish-and-open-minded interviewer (photo) how powerfully the life and crucifixion of Jesus changed the world. He says that even woke American ideologues are drawing from Christian values, but "they have cut themselves off from the scripture." 

He even says that the doctrine of original sin is important. Without it, we may think we have the ability to be good on our own, that we're sinless. 

He goes to church sometimes. Things about Christianity are really making sense to him. As in the theme of yesterday's post ("Lux Venit"), he says "the idea of light in the darkness is very vivid for me." Praying he goes the rest of the way.

from The Free Press

Change of mind

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Universities originated in the European Middle Ages (roughly 900 to 1400 A.D.) when Christianity was the primary cultural influence. 

"Natural History" was a common course of study, scholars and students working to understand the natural world and its ordered principles. Being made in the Creator's image, they thought it reasonable that we humans could use our gift of rationality to understand the rest of creation.

Now, however, universities in general take an increasingly hostile position toward Christian views, going beyond nature & science to morality. Many university graduates assume Christian values are inferior and foreign to their own. 

Tom Holland (yesterday's post) assumed that . . until, as a historian, he studied the ancient pre-Christian cultures he was attracted to. He found that his own deeply held values came from the Christian faith, and that they transformed that cruel ancient world.

He calls the writings of the New Testament (Bible) revolutionary, a depth charge into the ancient world. His latest book tells the story, not from a Christian but rather from a secular viewpoint. Can't wait to read it.

New media 3

Follow-up to these posts here and here

 "2024 was arguably the year of the meteoric rise of the independent creator and the calamitous fall of the so-called legacy media." Jeff Bezos was just one of the many who noticed.

Independent writers can publish their own content on the Substack platform and earn their own following, even earning income if readers subscribe to it. Essentially, it's self-publishing so that they can move past the gatekeepers of old legacy media.

Bari Weiss was working for the New York Times but quit her job in 2020. She believed the NYT had abandoned important journalistic values by censoring ideas they didn't like. She and her wife, Nellie Bowles, started a newsletter on Substack that turned into a "new media company" which they call The Free Press.

In contrast to NPR (National Public Radio), they still try to search for the truth. They say "Free people deserve a Free Press."

Bari is the one who interviewed Tom Holland in yesterday's post.

 from Mind Matters