Sunny Days in Heaven
Spiritual/Political/Philosophical Blog on the Nature of Truth and Falsehood and Heaven


Monday, May 02, 2005  

What goes around goes around

"ISLAM HAS NOT CONQUERED ARAB CULTURE -- ARAB CULTURE HAS CONQUERED ISLAM:"
I'm watching Irshad Manji on Tucker Carlson's PBS show -- Instapundit

Interestingly enough, similar could be said about the Roman Caholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox.

Let's look at ancient Rome with the office of the Pontifex Maximus (a current title of the Pope), the flamen dialis (a man set apart with severe dietary and behavioral restrictions), and the Vestal Virgins. Add to that the structure of Roman hierarchy and organization and you pretty much have the Church which adopted everything Roman into its gradual formation.

Rome had dozens of temples for different gods along with crossroad shrines. Christianity created the cults of saints and small shrines everywhere for votive offerrings.

It is curious when the RCC talks about being instituted and endorsed by Jesus how that endorsement should be so typically that of ancient Roman practice or system.

Of course, the Protestant evangelical churches in America can also be said to conform to American culture and forms.

The point is that we filter everything through our own prisms which alters that which is whole or pure into various strains or emphases. This is a truth which makes it hard to seriously engage certain self-serving claims of either priority or superiority in religion.

Of course, the Pope never says to himself, "How like a Roman Emperor I am in form and government. I wonder if this is really how God insists we should be organized?"

posted by Mark Butterworth | 11:51 AM |

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