In our PC world, it is easy to take for granted our privileges and ignore how we got them and who paid the price. The Western political experience that includes genuine democracy, equality, human rights and individual freedom, finds its origin in the Christian religion, along with its Hebrew forebear. Western civilization was transformed, if not founded, by Jesus Christ and his teachings.
The ancient world was a cruel place. The famous Coliseum entertained the Roman masses with death matches while Emperor Tiberius enjoyed private viewings of torture. Most of society was enslaved, women were lesser citizens, sickly children were exposed at birth, pedophilia was commonplace, and the poor and suffering were so because of their or their ancestors’ past wrongs.
And then Christianity burst onto the world stage. Christianity forbade infanticide and adultery and insisted on the inherent worth of every human being. Eventually, it would outlaw the horrible circus games, end slavery, emancipate women, inspire charities, establish orphanages, create hospitals, found universities and modern science.
Five specific examples can be mentioned.
Science & Education – Education, while important to the Greeks and Romans, was never institutionalized until the advent of Christianity. The early Greeks and Romans had no public libraries or universities. Early formal education arose from training disciples at monasteries in obedience to Christ’s directive to “teach all nations.” Unique to Christian education was the teaching of all social and ethnic groups, regardless of societal status or wealth, as well as women. As part of their classical studies, monks would recopy manuscripts (preserving classical culture) building up great libraries in the process. In time, these famous libraries would be the foundation for modern and public universities. Christ’s passionate directive to “teach all nations” was a driving force
Workers’ Rights – Prior to Christianity, the ancient world had a very low view of manual labor. While the elite strived for personal happiness, the slaves and lower classes were forced to toil in the fields. As the slaves outnumbered freemen, there was no such thing as the dignity of labor and economic freedom was only for the slave master. The Christian church changed all this. Christ was the son of a carpenter and Paul was a tentmaker. Work was seen as an honorable and God-given calling. The early admonition, "If a man will not work, he shall not eat" was taken seriously by the early believers. Laziness and idleness were seen as sinful. The idea of labor as a calling, and the idea spoken by Christ that the laborer is worthy of his wages, revolutionized the workplace. The dignity of labor, the value of hard work, and the pride of vocation, soon led to the development of a middle class. Over time, the Protestant Reformation would encourage the formation of the unions and concerns for social justice in the workplace.
The Arts – Christ may have been the single greatest artistic inspiration in the past 2000 years for the achievements in art, architecture, music, and literature that we treasure. From the Pieta to the Last Supper, the Ascension to the Descent From the Cross, Christ poignantly influenced artists as diverse as DaVinci, Durer, Raphael, and the incomparable Michelangelo. How much poorer the world would be without the Christian artistry of Rembrandt, Bach, Handel, Brahms, Dante, Milton, Bunyan, and countless others.
Women’s Rights - In spite the claims of some today that Christianity oppresses women; the historical record shows just the opposite. Women were oppressed in almost every culture prior to the coming of Christianity. By elevating sexual morality, and by conferring upon women a much higher status, the Christian religion revolutionized the place and prestige of women. The way Jesus treated women was in stark contrast to the surrounding culture. In Roman law a man's wife and children were little more than slaves, often treated like animals. Women had no property rights and faced severe social restrictions. Christ changed all that. The way he treated the Samaritan woman was not lost on the early disciples. We know from the New Testament documents that many women exercised various leadership roles in the early church. Indeed, during this period Christian women actually outnumbered Christian men. Admittedly there were some anomalies later in the church's history, when chauvinistic and anti-feminine views were allowed to re-enter parts of the church. But such aberrations must not detract from the truly revolutionary elevation of the status of women achieved by Christianity.
Health Care – When we think of health care, we usually think of a doctor’s office or hospital. Strange as it may seem to us, these things did not exist in the ancient world. Given the early Romans’ fear in contracting sicknesses, and their fatalistic attitude toward those who were sick, they had little or no interest in the poor, the sick and the dying. As Dionysius says, the pagans threw the sick into the streets to die, and treated them with “utter contempt” as they lie dying. When the Antonine Plague of 166 AD broke out in Rome the famous doctor Galen ran for the countryside; no one expected any different behavior. But the Christians, to the amazement of the ancient world, stayed and helped people. Many died in the attempt. Christ had healed the blind, lame, deaf, crippled, and diseased. His apostles also carried on that tradition in the book of Acts, healing many as they spread the gospel message. During the first three centuries of the church they could only care for the sick where they found them, as believers were then a persecuted people. Once the persecutions subsided, however, the institutionalization of health care began in earnest. For example, the first ecumenical council at Nicea in 325 AD directed bishops to establish hospices in every city that had a cathedral. The first real hospital was built in 369 AD by Basil, which housed physicians and nurses in it. A second was built in Fabiola, then a third was built in Rome around 390 AD. These hospitals brought the sick in off of the streets and cared for them. By the 6th century, hospitals were “securely established” in Europe, and they were ever further established by the Council of Orleans, who passed a canon assuring their protection. Hospitals soon began to be a part of monasteries, and many monks worked as nurses. The Crusades, despite the terrible things done during them, also helped to advance the caring for the sick in the East. While the Western knights were fighting in and near Jerusalem, they founded many hospitals, which gave aid to both Christians and Muslims during the wars.
Christianity bestowed the light of civilization on pagan kingdoms overturning their barbaric and inhumane traditions. For further reading, please consider How Christianity Changed the World by Alvin J. Schmidt.
