The Christian Foundation for Everything

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. – 2 Corinthians 10:3-5

It is Summer time, and you know what that means! Mostly clear skies, green trees, extremely humid New Jersey Summers, but even more importantly, it is a time to sit down and enjoy a hot summer read. And let me tell you nothing, I repeat nothing, is hotter than a book about church history. But this isn’t any book about church history, it actually doesn’t talk that much about church history when it comes to dates and places. Rather, it is a book about why we think the way that we do. It is Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World by Tom Holland. This isn’t the actor Tom Holland who plays Spider-Man, this is the much lesser-known British historian and cricket enthusiast. Here is how the publisher describes the book:

Crucifixion, the Romans believed, was the worst fate imaginable, a punishment reserved for slaves. How astonishing it was, then, that people should have come to believe that one particular victim of crucifixion-an obscure provincial by the name of Jesus-was to be worshipped as a god. Dominion explores the implications of this shocking conviction as they have reverberated throughout history. Today, the West remains utterly saturated by Christian assumptions. As Tom Holland demonstrates, our morals and ethics are not universal but are instead the fruits of a very distinctive civilization. Concepts such as secularism, liberalism, science, and homosexuality are deeply rooted in a Christian seedbed. From Babylon to the Beatles, Saint Michael to #MeToo, Dominion tells the story of how Christianity transformed the modern world.

We live in a world where there are all sorts of assumptions made about the way the world works. We take the care for the poor and disadvantaged for granted. We expect the humans to be treated with a certain amount of dignity. We assume it is natural for humans to not want to lie, cheat, or steal. That these are universal truths found in all places and cultures. However, this is not the case. Tom Holland’s book does a tremendous job at showing how all of the assumptions that we make come, fundamentally, from the perspective of Christianity. This is incredibly important today as we need to do evangelism. One of the easiest ways to make Christianity relevant to the world is to remind it that the world would look very different without Christianity here.

Christians do not live for ourselves. We are reminded about this in the Second Letter to the Corinthians that I quoted above. The reason that Christianity moved beyond itself and has reshaped the world the way it has is because we as Christians should not be content with things the way that they are. As long as there are sinners that need to be brought to repentance, justice that needs to be wrought, and God’s word that needs to be preached our work is never done. It makes sense that Christianity would become as universal as it has if we take the convictions of the Bible seriously. The power of Holy Spirit lies in its ability to change hearts. We leave our hardened hearts behind and instead put on Christ. This calls us to be sacrificial and to hold up the lowly of the earth in face of the powerful. It causes us to care about all people regardless of what they look like or what they believe. And it causes us to hold fast to God’s word and banish sin and evil as best we can.

I have read through Dominion once already and I plan to do it again. I highly recommend giving this book a read this summer in whatever format you wish. Audiobook, e-reader, hardcover, softcover, whatever. This is an important book for Christians to read as we face a world that takes of our theology for granted without any of the substance to actually make it work. And we must also remind ourselves that we too, need to let all our thoughts be held captive by Christ.

Pastor George