Interview on Issues, Etc.: Does the Church Find Herself in the Same Culture as the First Century?
Today I did an interview with Todd Wilken on Issues, Etc. about whether the Church finds herself in the same culture as the first century A.D. While there are many significant similarities between today and the first century, one of the biggest differences exists in what some parts of the Church have become.
It seems so speculative to go there. Like comparing apples and oranges. There might be similarities, but given the lack of education for the masses in the first century, how can we really know how people thought, viewed society and politics, and developed a world view. These were times of great hardship, famine, disease, and continual war and conquest. The few noted writers were of the ruling class and described their times with some class bias. In my view, the church has undergone heresies, religious wars, and splits because of mankind's sinful nature, and this never changes from century to century....and these conflicts within and outside of the church will continue until the Lord returns.
ReplyDeleteJohn, I think that is an unnecessarily skeptical view concerning what we can know about the Greco-Roman world in the first centuries. Scholarship in this area takes into account far more information than a "few noted writers." See:
Deletehttp://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2013/dec/19/rome-sex-freedom/