my friend Mike and I were hanging out, and the issue of the Pope's comments concerning medieval Islam as being "evil" and "violent" came up.
Has anyone noticed the irony what with the angry and violent protestations put forth by Muslim mobs???
what do you think?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
just how evil and violent was the church in the middle ages?
Phil,
Great question. At times, the Church in the middle ages was very evil and very violent.
But the question here is more encompassing than just behavior. It has to do with what we might call core doctrine. And the bottom line there is that Christianity, for all of it's inabilities to live up to Christ, was founded on peace. It wasn't until some 300 years after Christ that violence was propogated "in the name of Christ".
Consider then that Islam was from the start a religion founded upon forced conversions, giving complete freedom to its adherants to kill "in the name of Allah". Violence was, is, and will continue to be its mainstay.
Until Islam goes through a formal reformation (something I am highly doubtful of, at least with regard to its happening all over Islam) and embraces peace as its core doctrine, it cannot and will not change. It can't.
Sadly, the reactions to the Pope's words only enforce the realities of what he quoted.
all valid points. although i have a hard time caring more about core doctrine than behavior in this instance if the church's evil is 'just' behavior. i mean, was the church in the middle ages even christian if they were not following core doctrine?
Phil,
It's not to say that core doctrine trumps poor behavior. It is to say that inspite of the Church's poor behavior, the core doctrine still stood, and inspite of the Church's poor behavior, there were still Christians who were still striving to live out the true faith inspite of Rome.
The Church's behavior in the middle ages ran from good to poor. I believe it was the fact that the Church fell so far from the true Gospel that the Lord allowed the Reformation to tear the Church apart as a way of waking it up.
Ultimately, the difference between the Church then and Islam now is that we're hearing few if any Muslims in positions of authority condenming the acts of violence their brothers of faith are utilizing to gain "entry" into "heaven", let alone bothering to explain the context of the Pope's quote - which was by a Byzantine Emperor; not a medieval pope. Alas and alack, the problem of the medieval Church was that it had strayed so far from the core doctrines that it suffered from moral and theological problems throughout that period. But it went through a Reformation that would have positive effect in the long run. Islam has yet to experience such a profound and positive event - and I suggest, in its current form, it will not accept such an event, and even work to prevent it. Those are just some quick, off the cuff thoughts. Do with them as you will.
Post a Comment