The erosion of church institutions does not mean the end of Christianity, for the latter needs to be seen not as something eternally fixed but as an ever-changing and developing process. The modern secular world is all part of that evolving process.
When Christianity emerged out of Judaism, Christians claimed it to be the legitimate continuation and fulfilment of the Jewish path of faith. Similarly, the modern, secular and humanistic world may be regarded as the legitimate continuation of the Judeo-Christian path of faith.
The churches must stop treating the secular world as an enemy to be fought and conquered and welcome it as the new form of the Christian tradition out of which it has come.
The most important task of the churches on entering the 21st century is to help the secular world to understand its Christian origin. The study of the past illuminates the present, but it does not dictate the future.
That is why the Bible remains an invaluable set of documents. We learn much from it but we are not bound by it.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
.JPG)
No comments:
Post a Comment