Great Christian Influencers of Society

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Great Christian Influencers of Society

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Great Christian Influencers of Society

• Constantine
• (died 337)

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Constantine and the Rise of the State Church

• Coronation of Constantine at York (Britain)
  upon his fathers death in 306.

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Constantine and the Rise of the State Church

• Turning Point --
• The Battle of Milvian Bridge against Maxentius
  in 312

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Constantine and the Rise of the State Church

• The Aftermath of Constantines Conversion
• The Edict of Milan in 313.
• Increasing privilege for Christianity.
• Prohibition of pagan worship in 341.

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Constantine and the Rise of the State Church

• Major Changes in Christianity in the Fourth
  Century --
• Close intertwining of Church and State affairs.
• Alliance of the Church with military might.
• Rapid expansion of the Church.
• Increasing superficiality in peoples adherence
  to the faith.
• Flowering of theological thought, debate, and
  writing.

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Constantines Legacy

• The Birth of a Dream
• That an entire empire would bow before Christ.
• That a Church-State structure would bring people
  into contact to God.
• That this structure would enable people to cling
  to God in the midst of the chaos of Late
  Antiquity and the Middle Ages.
• But was this an appropriate dream?

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Great Christian Influencers of Society

• Catherine of Siena
• (ca. 1347-1380)

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Great Christian Influencers of Society

• William Wilberforce
• (1759-1833)

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London in the 1780s

• The industrial revolution
• The vast casino
• The slave trade

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Wilberforces Life

• 1780 The young MP
• 1785 Evangelical conversion
• The surprising ministry
• 1787 The beginnings of activism
• 1807 The abolition of the slave trade
• 1833 The abolition of slavery throughout the
  British Empire

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The Turning Point 1787

• Has God saved me only to rescue my own soul
  from hell? I cannot accept that. I cannot be
  content with the comfort of life at Palace Yard
  and the stimulating debates of Parliament. If
  Christianity is true and meaningful, it must go
  deeper than that. It must not only save but also
  serve. It must bring Gods compassion to the
  oppressed as well as oppose the oppressors.
• Almighty God has set before me two great
  objectives The abolition of the slave trade and
  the reformation of manners.
• --Summarized/quoted from Wilberforces diary

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The Opposition

• The Earl of Abingdon
• Humanity is a private feeling, not a public
  principle to act upon.
• Lord Melbourne
• Things have come to a pretty pass when religion
  is allowed to invade public life.
• James Boswell

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The Long Battle

• Defeats in Parliament in 1789 and 1791
• Organization of a public boycott of slave-grown
  sugar in 1792 300,000 people took part.
• In 1792, Parliament passed a motion for the
  gradual abolition of the slave trade.
• In 1796, a bill to abolish the slave trade was
  defeated by only four votes.
• The abolitionist bill was finally passed in the
  House of Lords on Feb. 4, 1807. In Commons, the
  bill passed overwhelmingly on Feb. 22.

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Wilberforces Legacy

• A Christianity which enters public life
• Authentication of the calling of Christians to
  secular careers
• An extraordinary example of perseverance
• A pattern of evangelicals who care deeply about
  their societies

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Great Christian Influencers of Society

• George Washington Carver
• (ca. 1861-1943)

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Great Christian Influencers of Society

• Byang Kato
• (1936-1975)

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African Tribal Society

• Faith is integrated into all aspects of life.
• An anthropocentric view of Being
• God (originator and sustainer of humanity)
• Spirits (concerned with human destiny)
• Humanity
• Animals, plants, events, and objects (part of the
  human environment)

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African Tribal Society

• A non-linear view of Time
• Past and present, with little view of the future
• Two tenses Sasa (from the immediate past to the
  very near future) and Zamani (from the distant
  past to the immediate past)
• Immortality comes through descendants who will
  remember a person, thus keeping him in Sasa time,
  rather than allowing him to recede into Zamani.

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The Gospel and African Society

• Trying to adapt to the African mindset, but going
  too far
• A great deal of syncretism and relativism
• Frequently, universalism rather than
  evangelicalism
• Weakening of biblical authority in order to
  stress indigenous religion
• As a result, a grave threat to the vast harvest
  of souls brought in through 150 years of
  evangelism in Africa

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The Life of Byang Kato

• He was born in Sabruzo, Nigeria in 1936.
• He was destined to be a fetish priest.
• He was converted to Christianity at age 12.
• He studied in Nigeria, England, and America.
• He was elected as General Secretary of two
  African evangelical groups.
• He was chosen as vice-president of the World
  Evangelical Fellowship.
• He died in an accident in 1975.

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Kato and African Christianity

• Biblical Christianity is Africas only hope
• Adhere to the basic presuppositions of historic
  Christianity.
• Allow Christianity to judge African culture.
• Train leaders in the Scriptures, Greek, and
  Hebrew.
• Study non-Christian African religions.
• Make doctrinal agreement the basis of fellowship.
• Guard against syncretism and universalism.

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Questions Regarding Kato

• To what degree is the gospel a universal message,
  and to what degree is it a cultural message?
• How can we guard against over-adapting the
  message?
• How can we guard against under-adapting the
  message?

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Great Christian Influencers of Society

• John Perkins
• (1930 )

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Great Christian Influencers of Society

• Chuck Colson
• (1931 )