My wife and I had an opportunity to join an archaeological tour of Turkey with friends. We decided to visit Greece and Italy at the same time. We spent an entire month in this interconnected region.
Turkey and Greece have been assaulted by invading armies since the earliest recorded history. Even their legendary times, like the Trojan War, involved protracted military campaigns and sieges of impregnable fortresses.
Under Alexander the Great, the Greeks conquered Turkey and Persia and most of the known world as far as India. A few centuries later, the Romans subjugated this region and built a world empire that lasted 700 years. After that, the Byzantine Empire ruled the Mediterranean region for nearly 1000 years.
From about 1400 to 1800, the Ottoman Turks dominated the entire Mediterranean region, and controlled much of Egypt, Arabia and parts of Europe. They became the most powerful empire on earth. Although Emperor Charles V was the most powerful ruler in Europe, he trembled at the military might of the Turkish Sultan. Fortunately for Charles, the reigning Sultan died right when the Turkish armies were poised to take Vienna and to sweep further into Europe.
At any given time, Turkey, Greece, and Italy were either ruling their neighbors or being ruled by them. And nowhere is this more evident than in the city of Istanbul, where our recent trip began. This city has been settled for at least 2,500 years, but it did not gain prominence until the Roman Emperor Constantine decided to make this city the new capital of the Roman Empire (which soon morphed into the Byzantine Empire). Constantine left Italy because Northern tribes were threatening to take Rome, which fell less than a century later. The Emperor Constantine named his city after himself: Constantinople. Later the city name changed to Byzantium and then finally to Istanbul.
There are many visible remnants of these ancient empires. Museums overflow with statues, weapons, costumes, thrones, coins and sarcophagi commemorating ancient generals and kings. Ancient city ruins have been excavated and partly restored. Old stone roads that were built 2,000 years ago still run through flourishing fields today. In Turkey, history lives visibly on.
Spiritual Conquerors
An entirely different type of conqueror also profoundly affected these Mediterranean lands. Small bands of unarmed travelers walked along Roman roads with an entirely different vision of conquest. I am talking about the first Christians who arrived in the first century. They sought to build an empire of the spirit. The evidence is hard to find at first glance. They left few objects to be found in museums nor did they build monuments. But in another sense, the evidence left by these spiritual conquerors is immense.
Saul of Tarsus was the most notable early Christian missionary. He started his life as a devout Jew and rose to high leadership in that community. When Christians started attracting many Jewish followers, Saul led the movement to exterminate them completely. But on a trip to Damascus, where he planned to arrest and kill, Saul was struck down by an overpowering vision of Jesus speaking to him from Heaven. Within a few days, Saul was transformed and became Paul the devout Christian messenger.
Paul walked on lots of Roman roads with Barnabas, Silas, Mark, and Timothy to found new churches throughout Turkey. Later, Paul and his companions moved on to Greece and Italy. Their intention was radically different from the plundering soldiers that lay waste to every region they passed through. Instead of mass subjugation, these missionaries taught equality of all races, classes, and of male and female. They build new communities based on love and compassion, rather than on wealth and power.
Their teaching was deep love and compassion for all people: love for family, for neighbors, for strangers and for foreigners. Never before had such a compelling spiritual vision been offered with such great self-sacrifice. These messengers were opposed, outlawed, tortured and killed in every city they visited. But still they marched on.
Leadership in early Christian communities was demonstrated by humility and by willingness to suffer. The Apostle Paul wrote a letter to the church in Rome to explain his vision:
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us ... No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
In today's post-Christian world of Europe and North America, we forget how profoundly the Christian message changed history. It soon spread throughout Italy and prospered during the Dark Ages. St. Benedict built the first Italian monastery, which we visited at Monte Cassino in the mountains of southern Italy. Other monasteries soon spread out from there.
Eventually, all the pagan tribes of Europe were converted to Christianity. Obviously, "converted" is a relative term, since no tribe or nation has ever become fully "Christian". Even today I wince at things said and done supposedly in the name of Christ.
But the transformation of Europe was unmistakable. Read Sir Arnold Toynbee's Study of History and his analysis of all civilizations that have been known since recorded history began. Though not a Christian himself, Sir Arnold credited Christianity with being the fundamental element of European Civilization. For centuries, this civilization was labeled "Christendom." Later it became known as "Western Civilization," and now its law, economics, and social vision have swept over the whole world.
Western Civilization brought us our calendar, our legal system, our modern concept of morality, social justice, public service, and the equality of all races and gender. It inspired universities, built hospitals, and freed slaves. Though many scholars in the twenty-first century consider Christianity obsolete, they forget what the world was like before it arrived.
I am not a fundamentalist. I have high regard for other religious traditions. I believe in fresh spiritual insights for every century. But to deny our debt to these first-century Christian pioneers is unthinkable. Mahatma Gandhi, Albert Einstein, and the best thinkers of our planet have recognized the potency for societal transformation that Jesus inspired.
Obviously, many bad things have been done by people allegedly following Jesus Christ. But these so-called followers with their personal agendas of coercion can never offset the world transformation brought about by his sublime teaching.
By contrast, memories of the great Mediterranean kings have been mostly lost in the sands of time. We still see lovely statues, crowns, jewelery, and crumbling monuments built in their honour. But they didn't fundamentally change history. People hardly remembered which marauding army had come through last. Their glory was in rampage, blood-lust, and plunder.
The great English Romantic poet Percy Shelley wrote Ozymandias, which is about the futile poignancy of earthly conquest:
I met a traveler from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look upon my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
Far better then generals or kings were those spiritual pilgrims who conquered their own minds, and who learned not to lose their temper. They helped gradually transform a violent society into one that is more gentle. These spiritual conquerors achieved the true immortality that former kings and emperors only dreamed of. They brought us a taste of the Kingdom of Heaven.
John Dominic Crossan: The Search for the Historical Paul: Which Letters Did He Really Write?
So, then...what went so terribly wrong? (I'm sorry ~ If you believe this Disney version.... *sigh)
One needs to read the rest of the story in Acts and in Paul's letters to understand it better. Paul was not running a political campaign to become king or emperor. Anyone who runs for president on such an idealistic platform would be promising far too much. And yet, there have been individuals and communities since the day of Paul who have come very close to living out this ideal. Mother Teresa's community was a current day model. I have experienced such communities. Regrettably, very few Christian communities live up to this ideal. Even in the First Century churches mostly failed to achieve this incredibly high standard, as is obvious in reading Paul's letters to the churches. But it is obtainable. It requires wise and saintly leaders plus fully committed community members. It can happen on a small scale: in a marriage, in a family, in a workplace, or in a church. It is never typical, just as Olympic level running is very rare. However, it is the ultimate ideal for any society. We will never be completely happy until we reach it. Whenever a community or a society pursues this high ideal, it becomes far better, even if it gets only half way there. When it pursues lesser goals, unhappiness becomes certain.
I was an avid student of history from my earliest days. I won honors in the state of Ohio in state-wide History exams. At Harvard, I started out planning to major in History, but changed my plan to something more practical. But I have continued my study of History throughout my lifetime.
I fully agree with you that any two people can study History and come to quite different conclusions. I don't ask you to accept mine. I merely offer my insights to those who find them of interest.
You and I do agree that the "Christian Church" has not always been a great source of light, particularly during the middle ages. But I view the church in those days as being a step forward in civilization, even though it was a thousand miles from perfection. There were some sublime Christian philosophers all along the way, but they were outvoted in the church structure by popes and kings. Christianity is always a work in progress. Sometimes, it even seems to be going backward in its specific manifestations. The same God who gave us the Bible also gave us science. I can not reject one to embrace the other. I believe that Christianity will keep being reborn in every century as God inspires those who will listen.Surprisingly, Christianity is still the largest belief group on this planet. Those who expect it to die out soon better have infinite patience.
“Having once become Muslims, these Spanish converts showed themselves zealous adherents of their adopted faith, and they and their children joined themselves to the Puritan party of the rigid Muhammadan theologians as against the careless and luxurious life of Arab aristocracy”
Quoted from the book “ The Preaching of Islam”
By Sir Thomas Arnold Page 132.
One of the first steps taken by Muhammad II after the capture of Constantinople and the re-establishment of order in that city, was to secure the allegiance of the Christians, by proclaiming himself the protector of the Greek Church. Persecution of the Christians were strictly forbidden.
Sir Arnold op.cit Page 145
The following two quotes from the Quran justifies the tolerance in Islam towards other religions.
Chapter 10. Verse 99
If it had been thy Lord's will, they would all have believed,- all who are on earth! wilt thou then compel mankind, against their will, to believe!
Chapter 6. Verse 108
Revile not ye those whom they call upon besides God, lest they out of spite revile God in their ignorance. Thus have We made alluring to each people its own doings. In the end will they return to their Lord, and We shall then tell them the truth of all that they did
no comment.
"Eventually, all the pagan tribes of Europe were converted to Christianity."
Yes, Theodosius outlawing Paganism, the teutonic and northern crusades, inquisitions, oppression, slavery....
You are crediting Christianity with the progress of the Enlightenment, does that count as Irony?
It is either ignorant, or being intentionally dishonest, not sure which one.
This essay by Mark Twain sums some stuff p pretty well:
http://www.ratbags.com/rsoles/comment/twain01.htm
Charging Christianity with not ever living up to the ethics and vision of its founder is completely fair - in fact, no one since Jesus has ever reached his level of sublime perfection. I could write books about what is wrong with Christianity and what has been wrong about it throughout history. Before I was 18, I had rejected it entirely. When I arrived at Harvard, I was already a convinced atheist. But after spending a decade of investigating secularism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and some more obscure belief systems, I came gradually to the reluctant conclusion that the religion of my ancestors had more profound aspects than I had first thought. I found that the Bible provides a road-map that can help people of both little or great intelligence confront the daily challenges of life. Christianity works very slowly, both in an individual and within a society. But it does improve both if they follow Jesus with sincerity. I love Mark Twain's stories. and I would agree with many of his criticisms of his society and of the religious establishment. I get angry when I hear some of the statements and actions done by people who claim to follow Jesus. But I am also one of his imperfect followers. So that helps me to understand and to forgive. However, I would still rather meet a few sincere Christian missionaries on an ancient road than any invading army. That was the central point of my essay.
When the long trip was over, I asked myself, what conclusions can I draw from seeing the magnificent ruins of Ephesus, the Acropolis, and the National Archeological Museum in Athens? Hence, my essay above. I did not try relating all the lessons of history to modern empires and military adventures. That is a topic for another day.
He was so arrogant, and as my impatience with his insolent and disrespectful attitude increased, he departed with a warning tone, as if I'd just been served some kind of legal summons. It was classic fear-based proselytizing.
Being drunk, high and after a week of stress, I was trying to squeeze a little bit of enjoyment out of my Friday evening, I was not in the mood to for this and I said "F*ck you". He deserved it for accosting me and behaving like an upstart. I'm going to have to crack-down on the passive aggressive dudes who irritate me in public. What should I do, back-hand them across their insolent faces?