When world history teachers introduce the Christian religion to
students, it is often as a cultural factor in the transition from the ancient era
to the Enlightenment. Rarely do the textbooks present Christianity as a
religion that, from the beginning, has had a global aspiration because of Jesus’
instruction to His disciples to go into all the world, teaching, making
disciples and baptizing. Perhaps it is assumed that the students already
understand this missional objective. Much of Western history, from the Crusades
to the colonialization of the Americas and the exploration of Africa can be
contextualized as an expansion and defense of Christianity. This has often
included actions and dogmas that are inconsistent with the core tenets of the
faith even though, in many cases, the words of the Bible have been extracted to
strengthen the resolve of the religious activists.
Andrew Walls wrote that “Christian history may be seen as
a succession of cross-cultural movements”[1]
starting with its initial transformation of Judaism. From Jerusalem, the faith
impacted the Hellenistic Roman Empire, clashing with its persecution of many of
the Christians until Constantine’s accommodations in 313 CE. It spread through
the Persian Empire and into India and China between 339-635 CE. King Ezana of
Ethiopia converted to Christianity and brought his subjects with him into the
faith in 316 CE[2].
Christianity spread into north-eastern Europe impacting the barbarian tribes starting
around the same time. With the advent of Islam, the center of Christianity
moved to Europe – to Rome and Constantinople (followed by Moscow). It also
traveled to the “new world” with the explorers and colonists. Its missional
objectives, unfortunately, were twisted and militarized during the Inquisition
by a papal bull we know as the Doctrine of Discovery[3],
which persists in international law today. Now, Christianity is the largest
religion in the world with loyal adherents living on each of the six inhabited
continents in spite of the atrocities by which its message has from time to
time been spread.
Whenever Christianity has become ambitious for political
power, whether this is to make a land-grab as in the Crusades and the later
European empire-building efforts or to control elections and legislative
agendas, it has lost its focus on the love of God. Unfortunately, Christianity
has frequently resorted to military might to enforce its ambitions, using the
force of religious conviction to justify any intended or accidental carnage.
Christianity has much blood on its hands. These damming incidents and genocides
are not consistent with what the “Good Book” requires. The Bible does not
permit Christians to mete out consequences to people who choose not to embrace
the faith. Infidels are not to be enslaved, conquered, maimed or put to death. The Bible leaves the consequences of a person’s
unbelief to eternity. For earthlings now, the Bible offers a spiritual
relationship with a loving, all-wise, all-powerful, all-knowing Creator God
through faith in Jesus Christ to any who respond to the invitation. Christianity
offers the assurance of salvation to all who call on and appeal to the name of
Jesus Christ.
Christians, however, have frequently taken the biblical call
to reach the world with their message of hope as license to force people to convert
or to be governed by its beliefs. This creates a mixed message. Is God loving
and does He offer salvation as a free choice to those who believe that Jesus is
Lord and that God sent Him to be the ultimate sacrificial lamb to make peace
between people and Himself? Or is God a bully who offers no freedom but calls
His servants to intimidate and exterminate people who do not succumb? For
Christians, the answers to these questions are found in the Bible. For
Christians, the Bible is clear that there is no other name than Jesus Christ by
which we can be saved. For teachers of world history at any educational level,
the goal is not to move the students to make a personal response to a spiritual
claim or invitation. It is to set the facts in place – the good and the bad –
on a timeline. It is also to provide the students with enough information about
the ideas, writings, conflicts and convictions that motivated the Christians to
enact and/or respond to historic events so that the students can objectively
evaluate the issues and approaches. Of course, there will be students who are
adherents of the faith as well as those who are antagonistic or even truly
ignorant about its claims and its history so the things you teach may produce
passionate discussions in the classroom. Your job is to monitor the debate,
keeping it within the bounds of collegiality. It is not your responsibility to
defend or to deface the faith.
Our goal at the Kentucky Faith & Public History Project
is to provide factual information about the Christian religion and its history
with an emphasis on the Christian history of Kentucky. The Project is sponsored
by Christians but we, in no way, will be propagandist nor will we white-wash
the times and the peoples who have been treated by Christians, in the name of
the faith, in ways that are inconsistent with the tenets of our faith. For
that, there are no excuses.
c. 2021 By Lesley Barker PhD
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