There have always been two kinds of Christianity--man's and Christ's. Does anyone today remember how the emperor Constantine made Christianity the official religion? It is said that he had a vision—saw a cross in the sky with the inscription, "In this sign shalt thou conquer." He accepted the new faith promptly, because he thought it would defeat his enemies for him. That is man's Christianity, a means to earthly triumph. And in our present crisis we are appealing to it to defeat the Russians for us. We hear of the life-and-death struggle between Christianity and Communism, the necessity of "keeping God alive as a social force"--as if our Lord could not survive a Soviet victory! It is a poor sort of faith that imagines Christ defeated by anything men can do. ... Joy Davidman (1915-1960), Smoke on the Mountain [1955]Posted by tripp at September 12, 2006 11:35 AM
I think many Christians, Christian politicians not least, take Christianity and understand it as a form of license, a title to can-only-rarely-be-wrong in the realm of morality, as opposed to a radical humility.
I'm reading about hermits right now and both the Desert Fathers and the Russians startsy believed that the most fundamental Christian virtue is humility, that it is the root of all virtues and the bane of all vices.
"Man's Christianity" seems to be described as an utter lack of humility, not before man, but before God.
Posted by: Jorge Sanchez at September 12, 2006 12:45 PM