Contextualizing Modern Practices

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?