Tag Archives: Christendom

The Good and Bad of Christendom

The Good and Bad of Christendom

The legalization of Christianity by Roman Emperor Constantine I (272–337) in 313 with his Edict of Milan marked the beginning of a period lasting up to the Reformation and Enlightenment that some call “Christendom.” Religious toleration in the empire created conditions for the freedom and growth of Christianity to be sure, but when in 391… Continue Reading

The good and bad of Christendom

The good and bad of Christendom

Hindsight is always 20/20, but when thinking about a past period in history, it is always important to be careful not to generalize or paint with a broad brush either praising or condemning an era. Such is the case when evaluating the Middle Ages, a period in which, from an Evangelical perspective, many heretical theology… Continue Reading

The Sanctificationist Approach to Culture

The Sanctificationist Approach to Culture

This entry is part 20 of 20 in the series Christ the Sanctifier of Behavior You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

What is clear from this exploration is that each of the three primary post-Christendom approaches to culture have strengths and weaknesses when compared to the NT’s understanding of culture as behavior. The separatist approach rightly recognizes the fundamental antithesis between belief and unbelief, but it fails to also recognize commonality that exists due to common… Continue Reading

The Christendom Approach to Culture

The Christendom Approach to Culture

This entry is part 4 of 20 in the series Christ the Sanctifier of Behavior You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

Before exploring approaches to cultural engagement post-Christendom, or even that of Christendom itself, it is necessary to consider what happened before and during the period immediately after the Edict of Milan in 313. Early debates about approaches to culture are evident, for example, in differences between Tertullian (c. 160 – c. 225), quoted two weeks… Continue Reading

The Incarnational Mode of Missional Worship

The Incarnational Mode of Missional Worship

This entry is part 11 of 12 in the series Missional Worship You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

With regard to the missional movement’s understanding of Christendom, it is important to recognize that they saw what happened during this period as little more than the church contextualizing worship to the dominant culture of the civilization. Since Christianity happened to be the dominant religion of the western world, the church was able to easily… Continue Reading

Twenty-first Century Western Post-Modernism as Missional Worship Context

Twenty-first Century Western Post-Modernism as Missional Worship Context

This entry is part 10 of 12 in the series Missional Worship You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

According to missional authors, the Christendom model significantly affects how the average 21st century American church practices worship. During the Christendom period, the church dominated the culture, and therefore the forms used in worship were in many ways indistinguishable from the forms of Western culture. According to Murray, “Sunday” as a holy day, the clergy/laity… Continue Reading

The Rise and Fall of Christendom

The Rise and Fall of Christendom

This entry is part 5 of 12 in the series Missional Worship You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

Understanding this missionary imperative for the church leads missional writers to ask the question, “Is the 21st-century North American church fulfilling its place in the mission of God?” Guder answers bluntly, “Neither the structures nor the theology of our established Western traditional churches is missional.”1 Rather, the church today is locked in the mode of what… Continue Reading