The Most Tragic Mistake in the History of the Church
It has been just over five weeks since I wrote anything about Christendom. Between the end of the school year, an improv performance, knee surgery, and assorted other twists and turns, I haven’t had the mental space to jump back in.
I recently finished Scot McKnight’s new book Revelation for the Rest of Us, where I read this:
“A more forceful way of saying this is that when the church ties itself to political powers, as it did from Constantine to Theodosius I, it becomes Babylon. Christendom was the most tragic mistake in the history of the church.”
So of everything the church has done in 2000 plus years, McKnight states that Christendom was its most tragic mistake. That seems important.
Would you agree with McKnight’s assessment?
Let me build that out a bit.
Christendom isn’t the only example of the church aligning itself with political power. It is simply the behemoth in the room. Multiple examples over the past 50 -100 years illustrate the result of the church aligning itself with political power. Just three off the top of my head…
The Orthodox Church in Russia with Putin.
The Catholic Church in Ireland pre-1970s.
The Religious Right in the 1970s & 1980s America (which bears a great deal of responsibility for the current form of christian nationalism we see there now.)
It may be fantastic for the people in power…but everyone else tends to bear the costs.
There are simply zero examples in history of the church hitching its wagon to political power where it ends up being a positive.
It doesn’t happen. Ever.
This is the point McKnight makes above…when the church marries itself to political power, the church becomes the problem. The church, aligned with political power, becomes Babylon.
What Do You Mean by Babylon?
So, what is McKnight saying when he says the church “becomes Babylon”?
In the book of Revelation (which, as you might guess, is what the above-referenced book is about), John often refers to Babylon. And as he does this, he uses Babylon to talk about Rome, exchanging one well-known empire for another. But John's point isn’t just about Babylon, or Rome…or Egypt or Assyria. The issue he is getting at is the issue of “empire”.
He is reminding his readers what empires are and what empires do.
And if you need reminding, it was an empire that executed the Messiah, Paul, Peter, and multiple church leaders.
So, what is an empire? McKnight quotes Michael Gorman and lists four characteristics of an Empire:
exceptionalism,
nationalism,
colonialism, and
militarism
There are other characteristics, but these get at the core issue of empire.
Is This the Most Tragic Mistake?
But is Christendom the most tragic mistake the church has made? Think about the huge sins of the church over the past two millennia. We could start with the Crusades and the Inquisitions (knowing that, sadly, the list of evil done by the church doesn’t stop there).
So wouldn’t they qualify as more tragic?
Think about the Crusades. What were they? They were the church acting like an empire. They were demonstrating that it was Babylon. Pick whatever low point in the history of the church…and you will find it was another example of the church thinking and acting like Babylon…because the church was Babylon.
As you examine these four characteristics, it is clear that these are not the goals or features of the church of Jesus. Since the goals empire and church do not align, when they unite, one of them has to change.
And it will never be the empire that changes. It will always be the church that undergoes a transformation.
In Christendom, as the church aligned with Rome, it naturally became like Rome. The church became Babylon. It became an empire. And it acted like an empire.
How Did the Church Change to Accommodate the Empire?
In the early years of Christendom, the church needed to address a series of theological hurdles to fit more comfortably into the Roman Empire.
Here are a few examples:
The empire responsible for killing Jesus now needed to be seen as his agent on earth. (Sure we killed him, but now he’s on our side!)
Jesus told the poor they were blessed and gave warnings to the rich and powerful. The church adapted its theology to “spiritualise” Jesus's teachings so that the rich are blessed.
Living out the stuff Jesus taught? Normal people can’t do that. That is only for certain people. Most of you just live your life, and the professional, religious people will do the Jesus stuff.
In the early years of the church, soldiers were not allowed to join the church because they had jobs that allowed and often required the taking of a life. If you take life, you cannot be part of the community of Jesus followers…until Christendom. It was Augustine, whom Stuart Murray calls the ‘architect of Christendom’, who eventually developed the theology which justified Christians killing during war.
Post-Christendom
While we live at a time often described as post-Christendom, large West church segments still behave as if the church rightly holds a position of power in its society.
Many of the remnants of Christendom are believed to be essential to what it means to be the church. So, instead of allowing them to fade into history, many in the church do what people tend to do when they fear losing power or position. Whatever is necessary. Again, just like Babylon.
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I’m sure some of this post was a refresher if you’ve been following along in this series. I needed to get my head around it again.
Next week I will pick up where we left off, discussing power and position.
If you’d like a refresher or are just joining in, you can find the previous posts in this series here: