Medieval Christendom failed, the reformation failed, confessionalized Europe failed and Western modernity is failing, but each in different ways and with different consequences. Yet each in a different way continues to remain important in the present. They do not exist in isolation from the others. Medieval Christendom institutionalized Catholicism. But there was no conformity in practice. It failed to live by its own truth claims. It failed to practice what he preached and left room for reformation. The political structure of sovereignty and nobility contributed to its demise. Not only the aristocrats but the ecclesiastical authorities enjoyed power and privilege and possessions and rarely expressed self-denying virtues. The reformers did not practice what they preached either. The reformers claimed that the Catholic Church misinterpreted doctrine. Yet the reformation was not successful at applying the fundamental principles of the bible. Scripture alone was not the solution but a continued cause of misinterpretation. Conflicting issues of interpretation were suppressed. No supreme authority had the final say. The reformers wanted to fix the institutionalized world view on which eternal life depended. Confessionalization-secular authorities oversaw the churches they created and controlled ecclesiastical leaders. They seized all political power ceding to the church only what served their purpose and interest. Religious and political wars continued until the Dutch realized a cooperation between economy and the church. Yet punishment from the institutions continued: the inquisition in Spain and the witch trials in American.
Western modernity was forged in the context of the unintended persistence of Christian pluralism and the failures of confessional rulers to achieve their goals. A resultant break was made between public life and private religious life. The church especially in America realized that acquisition of material goods was not sinful and one could be pious along with prosperity. The most important idea from the American experience was individual rights. The failings of western modernity is that it does not prescribe what citizens should believe, how they should live or what they should care about. Christian values no longer exist. People live for themselves and ignore politics. Secularization and scientism are subverting modernity. The theological controversies in the protestant churches put a hold on the advancement of theological certainties even though there is agreement on many doctrinal issues. Arguing the differences left the door open for secularism.
Reason alone is no better than scripture alone in discerning persuasive answers to the life questions. The natural sciences have made extraordinary advances, but by definition, can offer no answers to any of the life questions. What remains is divergent secular and religious truth claims in the western world. Secular discourse offers no prospects for resolving any of the contested moral or political issues. As a result, public life today is riddled by anger and uncivil rivals with incompatible views about what is good, true, and right. Most of these views and values are distantly related to Christianity. Men and women prioritize the fulfillment of their desires on a strictly individual basis and what feels good to them at the time. Modern philosophy replicated the open ended and irresolvable pluralism of Protestantism regarding truth claims. Modern natural sciences have had success in explaining natural phenomena by not depending on theology or morality. But modern science has not addressed human sufferings. It is amoral. And power is being concentrated in a political and wealthy elite who enact their own moral preferences through technological applications. This paradigm shift is set within a rancorous culture of moral disagreement and political conflict. This conflict within modernity has created a discipline of individual rights beyond what is natural. Individual rights and dignity can only be real if human are more than biological matter. Unfortunately society is moving away from the idea that humans are created in the image and likeness of god. Nature is not a creation. Human beings randomly evolved. They are not endowed by their creator with unalienable rights. Only energy and matter exists. Our world today exists as a result of an unintended extension of the late medieval and reformation era developments that remain influential in the 21st century. Modern philosophy and thoughts failed to provide a reasonable substitute for religion. This happened only because secular research institutions have banished theology from their academic disciplines. They tend to define discoveries in the natural sciences with no theological basis. God, for those who choose to believe, can be anything that they want god to be, each determining his own desires and truths and meaning of life. Universities have discarded natural law and become inhuman. Because of their abandonment of God, God has abandoned us.
Western modernity was forged in the context of the unintended persistence of Christian pluralism and the failures of confessional rulers to achieve their goals. A resultant break was made between public life and private religious life. The church especially in America realized that acquisition of material goods was not sinful and one could be pious along with prosperity. The most important idea from the American experience was individual rights. The failings of western modernity is that it does not prescribe what citizens should believe, how they should live or what they should care about. Christian values no longer exist. People live for themselves and ignore politics. Secularization and scientism are subverting modernity. The theological controversies in the protestant churches put a hold on the advancement of theological certainties even though there is agreement on many doctrinal issues. Arguing the differences left the door open for secularism.
Reason alone is no better than scripture alone in discerning persuasive answers to the life questions. The natural sciences have made extraordinary advances, but by definition, can offer no answers to any of the life questions. What remains is divergent secular and religious truth claims in the western world. Secular discourse offers no prospects for resolving any of the contested moral or political issues. As a result, public life today is riddled by anger and uncivil rivals with incompatible views about what is good, true, and right. Most of these views and values are distantly related to Christianity. Men and women prioritize the fulfillment of their desires on a strictly individual basis and what feels good to them at the time. Modern philosophy replicated the open ended and irresolvable pluralism of Protestantism regarding truth claims. Modern natural sciences have had success in explaining natural phenomena by not depending on theology or morality. But modern science has not addressed human sufferings. It is amoral. And power is being concentrated in a political and wealthy elite who enact their own moral preferences through technological applications. This paradigm shift is set within a rancorous culture of moral disagreement and political conflict. This conflict within modernity has created a discipline of individual rights beyond what is natural. Individual rights and dignity can only be real if human are more than biological matter. Unfortunately society is moving away from the idea that humans are created in the image and likeness of god. Nature is not a creation. Human beings randomly evolved. They are not endowed by their creator with unalienable rights. Only energy and matter exists. Our world today exists as a result of an unintended extension of the late medieval and reformation era developments that remain influential in the 21st century. Modern philosophy and thoughts failed to provide a reasonable substitute for religion. This happened only because secular research institutions have banished theology from their academic disciplines. They tend to define discoveries in the natural sciences with no theological basis. God, for those who choose to believe, can be anything that they want god to be, each determining his own desires and truths and meaning of life. Universities have discarded natural law and become inhuman. Because of their abandonment of God, God has abandoned us.
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