Post-Constantinian musings
This is another of the wildly conjectural posts that my readers have come to know, and a few of them to love.
I suppose it is clear to everyone in the West that Christianity no longer holds the favored status in society it once did. The privileged place we held since Constantine is ours no more. I see some good in this.
To begin with, a certain amount of cultural Christianity was always sham, for when you award social bonus points for piety, some will be pious merely for the points. As Christianity loses its place as a cultural institution and becomes countercultural, we shall shed a good many of our hypocrites.
Another good aspect is that the power of the state will no longer align itself behind one side or the other in factional fights among Christians, something that historically did much harm, not least to the cause of Christian unity.
Some denominations will not survive the loss of favored status that Christianity as a whole is experiencing. They will dry and wither and finally fade away as historically obsoleted institutions always do. That means that some believers and congregations are going to be without the connections and oversight that they used to get via their denominations.
At that point, a canny bishop whose role and functions have survived the cultural paradigm shift can step in and offer his help to the marooned congregations, taking them under his wing, but it must be real help. The matter of the greatest being the servant of all must be expressed in actually useful and beneficial services. The use of the same language as a merely forensic claim will not do. ("Servus servorum Dei" is difficult to say with a straight face if you read much history.)
In this way, a bishop may find himself taking under his wing some congregations with rather peculiar beliefs, at least when those beliefs are measured against his own, churches that earlier belonged to other denominations. That will be rather a challenge. It will also be a fine demonstration of unity. Going forward from the end of this cultural era, we must forget what is past and press on toward the prize.
I suppose it is clear to everyone in the West that Christianity no longer holds the favored status in society it once did. The privileged place we held since Constantine is ours no more. I see some good in this.
To begin with, a certain amount of cultural Christianity was always sham, for when you award social bonus points for piety, some will be pious merely for the points. As Christianity loses its place as a cultural institution and becomes countercultural, we shall shed a good many of our hypocrites.
Another good aspect is that the power of the state will no longer align itself behind one side or the other in factional fights among Christians, something that historically did much harm, not least to the cause of Christian unity.
Some denominations will not survive the loss of favored status that Christianity as a whole is experiencing. They will dry and wither and finally fade away as historically obsoleted institutions always do. That means that some believers and congregations are going to be without the connections and oversight that they used to get via their denominations.
At that point, a canny bishop whose role and functions have survived the cultural paradigm shift can step in and offer his help to the marooned congregations, taking them under his wing, but it must be real help. The matter of the greatest being the servant of all must be expressed in actually useful and beneficial services. The use of the same language as a merely forensic claim will not do. ("Servus servorum Dei" is difficult to say with a straight face if you read much history.)
In this way, a bishop may find himself taking under his wing some congregations with rather peculiar beliefs, at least when those beliefs are measured against his own, churches that earlier belonged to other denominations. That will be rather a challenge. It will also be a fine demonstration of unity. Going forward from the end of this cultural era, we must forget what is past and press on toward the prize.
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