"We prostituted Christianity..."

[godhole]

We prostituted Christianity when we told people they had to 'save their souls'. That attitude often affirmed the ego 'spiritually,' which is very dangerous and deceptive. We called it the journey into holiness, but it was often disguised and denied self-interest

Comments

[leafshimmer]

Interesting line of critique, given that the "salvationism" element is often identified as a key facet for how Christianity took strong root amongst the competing faiths (Mithraism, Isis worship, the Dionysos cult, etc.) arrayed against it in the world of Roman Antiquity.

[godhole]

Yes - and how X'ty is still marketed in the mission field. Clearly, different understandings and theologies of what the "goal" is, driving different efforts and levels of commitment to various forms of outreach. I went to a lecture once which grouped different cultures into several categories and had a theology which tended to appeal to each; it was interesting to hear a rather fundy presenter acknowledge the multivalency of the Gospel, even though he was using it in a rather slick sense, it felt to me.

[leafshimmer]

When I was doing my Chinese history kabuki, I recall reading in primary sources from the seventeenth society that the Christianity preached by the Jesuit missionaries was regarded by skeptical Confucians as the "get-rich-quick" religion because so much of the teaching emphasized that the "Lord of Heaven" and His Son would take care of all your worldly needs--translated for the sake of local converts as "as much wealth as you could possibly handle."

At the risk of being crudely simplistic, I more and more notice that *every* religion has its exoteric and esoteric facets. Mystical Christianity is as different from established protestant practice as it is from the Roman doctrine, or the brutal and austere creed of the Calvinists. As a teenager I recall being fascinated by the world of mystical thought Evelyn Underhill's book Mysticism (almost exclusively concerned with the Christian movements) opened up to me

[phoenixprime]

Wow. Thank you for posting - that just gave me a lot to think about.

[passionandsoul]

Falling in love.
Yes, that I believe in.

Thank you for sharing this.