Tuesday, August 18, 1998

Does not the public repudiation of the whole Christian scheme of life in a large part of what was once known as Christendom force to the front the question whether the path of wisdom is not rather to attempt to work out a Christian doctrine of modern society and to order our national life in accordance with it?

Those who would give a quick, easy or confident answer to this question have failed to understand it. It cannot even be seriously considered without a profound awareness of the extent to which Christian ideas have lost their hold over, or faded from the consciousness of, large sections of the population; of the far-reaching changes that would be called for in the structure, institutions and activities of existing society, which is in many of its features a complete denial of the Christian understanding of the meaning and end of man’s existence; and of the stupendous and costly spiritual, moral and intellectual effort that any genuine attempt to order national life in accordance with the Christian understanding of life would demand.

... J. H. Oldham (1874-1969), from a letter to The Times printed October 5, 1938, quoted in The Idea of a Christian Society, T. S. Eliot, London: Faber, 1939, reprint, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1960, p. 68 (see the book; see also 2 Peter 2:20-21; Matt. 12:31-32; 13:22; Mark 4:18-19; Luke 8:14; 11:24-26; 18:24; Heb. 6:4-6; 10:26-29; more at Authenticity, Existence, Failure, Life, Man, Meaning, Nation, Question, Social, Understanding)

 
Compilation Copyright, 1996-2024, by Robert McAnally Adams,
        Curator, Christian Quotation of the Day,
        with Robert Douglas, principal contributor
Logo image Copyright 1996 by Shay Barsabe, of “Simple GIFs”, by kind permission.
Send comments to curator@cqod.com.

Last updated: 03/02/18

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