So often, it is easy to look at the ancient Christian
practices shocked by the drastic measures taken. But, I think that it is also
important to take in the context. When looking at baptisms, we first those
ideas came from. We have similar rituals today, but adapted for the modern
context. We read about monastic communities and their seemingly strict laws.
Many places were binding life-long commitments. These people had to serve
completely and were excluded from the community around them. The Benedictine monks
spent all their time following the rule “Pray and Work”. In fact, the Rule of
St Benedict is a book that contains 73 chapters of rules by which those monks
lived. I understand the structure and appreciate the meaning behind those
rules. Yet, when I look at modern contexts, in places such as Liberty
University, I find the rules excessive. Boys can’t visit girls’ dorms except
during special hours during exam week and even then the doors have to be open
and all feet have to be on the floor. And vice versa. It seems ridiculous! But,
as an academic scholar, I see Liberty as a modern parallel to these monastic
communities. Obviously, not everyone who was a Christian lived in these
monastic communities, but some people who wanted certain advantages did. In the
medieval times, women joined to get a good education. Liberty gives a good
education and has some really good programs. Instead of just contextualizing
the past that we don’t understand, we need to remember to also contextualize
the present. The same goes for the Jerusalem theme park and the serpent holding
Pentecostalists mentions in a previous post. What other modern practices do we
sometimes look at as weird that could be contextualized?
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