The Virtues of Christianity

Introduction

“It’s not hard to be hostile to the church,” Jane Fonda confided to Oprah. After all, “you can go through history, the Crusades and the inquisitions, and the formal church has a lot to apologize for.”

Fonda’s perspective is not uncommon. How should the church respond to such objections? First, we must recognize that all people who go by the name Christian are not necessarily Christian. Therefore, much of what is done under the banner of Christianity has no genuine connection with Christianity at all. (This is particularly true of the corrupt, medieval, institutional church.)

Jesus confirmed this when He said, “Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness’” (Matt. 7: 22-23).

Second, Christians have often done great harm. This is regrettable, but it is also undeniable. Christians are forgiven, and are in a process of being conformed to Christ. We do not claim to be perfect – just forgiven and in a process of becoming like Christ. But that process is not finished until we die or Christ returns. Until then we struggle against surviving sin within us. That struggle is very real, and sometimes we lose. Hopefully, we confess our sin and press on in the pursuit of God’s pleasure. And sometimes great harm is done in our sin. Sometimes Christ is not represented well by Christians. Indeed, over the centuries Christians have done great harm. But we need to temper this point by saying that it is the exception and not the norm.

Christianity, wherever it has gone and with very few exceptions, has elevated the experience of people across the globe and the centuries. But in the post-Christian culture of America, it has become vogue to fault Christianity for society’s ills and deny any positive contributions. Christianity is rarely given credit for the virtues it has birthed throughout civilizations. What follows is a brief presentation of some of those virtues.

The Dignity of All People

“We hold these truths to be self-evident,

that all men are created equal.”

This statement could only be born in a culture that was the legacy of Christianity. The influence of Christianity, wherever it has gone, is uniquely responsible for raising the sense of the dignity of all men.

Aristotle and Plato, representatives of ancient Greek thought, held that most humans are by nature slavish and suitable only for slavery, being unworthy of freedom. The Greeks attributed dignity to few - rather than to all - human beings. By contrast, Christianity posits the dignity of every human as bearing the image of God and being loved by Him.

This is illustrated in the first recorded declaration of human rights in history. The Spanish missionaries “argued that the Indians encountered in the New World were people of full human dignity, not some inferior species. It was sinful before God, they maintained, and contrary to natural law to offend the dignity of the Indians, as many of their compatriots were obviously doing. They pressed their suit at the Spanish Court… The suit was argued successfully by theologians of Salamanca. Outside the United Nations building in New York stands a statue of one of the greatest of these theologians, Francesco de Victoria (1486-1546), the founder of international law.”¹

One historian observed, "It is impossible to exaggerate the importance of the coming of Christianity. It brought with it, for one thing, an altogether new sense of human life. For the Greeks had shown man his mind; but the Christians showed him his soul. They taught that in the sight of God, all souls were equal, that every human life was sacrosanct and inviolate. Where the Greeks had identified the beautiful and the good, had thought ugliness to be bad, had shrunk from disease and imperfection and from everything misshapen, horrible, and repulsive, the Christian sought out the diseased, the crippled, the mutilated, to give them help. Love, for the ancient Greek, was never quite distinguished from Venus. For the Christians [who] held that God was love, it took on deep overtones of sacrifice and compassion."²

The Sanctity of Life

Infanticide

As difficult as it is to imagine, infanticide was widely practiced, and sometimes encouraged, in the ancient world. Cicero (106-43 B.C.) defended infanticide, at least for the deformed, by citing the Twelve Tables of Roman Law (De Legibus 3.8). Even Seneca (4 B.C.? – A.D.65), who is thought to have had a healthier moral philosophy than his culture, said, “We drown children who at birth are weakly and abnormal” (De Ira 1.15). Infanticide was so common that Polybius (205-118 B.C.) blamed the population decline of ancient Greece on it (Histories 6). Historian W. E. Lecky described it as “One of the deepest stains of the ancient civilizations.”

How did the widespread practice of infanticide end? The answer is it ended with the spread and influence of Christianity. Early Christian writings like The Didache and the Epistle of Barnabas condemned and forbade infanticide. And it was Valentinian, a Christian emperor who formally outlawed infanticide in A.D. 374.³

Bertrand Russell (1872-1970), a Nobel Prize winner in literature, was an agnostic who has been characterized as perhaps the most influential philosopher of the twentieth century. He was a militant opponent of Christianity, and was noted for his essay, Why I Am Not a Christian. Yet, even Russell recognized the influence of Christianity in elevating the dignity of infants, women, and slaves. In one example he said, “Infanticide, which might seem contrary to human nature, was almost universal before the rise of Christianity, and [was] recommended by Plato to prevent over-population.”⁴

Infant Abandonment

Another common practice of ancient civilizations was child abandonment. Rather than kill their children, many a parent would merely abandon them. In Rome, for example, undesirable infants were often abandoned at the base of the Columna Lactaria, so named because wet nurses would care for them. Infant abandonment was even written into Roman mythology. The city of Rome, according to myth, was founded by Romulus and Remus who had been tossed into the Tiber River in the 8^th century B.C.

The Greeks practiced infant abandonment, also. Euripides, a fifth century B.C. Greek poet, described children being thrown into rivers and manure piles, and left on roadsides or in fields, where they were exposed to weather and animals.⁵ In Sparta, newborn children were taken before the elders of a tribe, who determined whether the child would be kept or abandoned.⁶

This practice was confronted and denounced by early Christians. Clement of Alexandria, a very influential church father of the late second century, condemned the Romans for saving and protecting young birds and other creatures while abandoning their children.⁷ The African church father Tertullian (ca. 200 A.D.) strongly denounced it.⁸ And the early Christians did more than just speak against child abandonment. Early writings are full of stories of Christians taking abandoned children into their homes and adopting them.

When Valentinian, a Christian emperor, outlawed infanticide in A.D. 374, he also criminalized child abandonment.⁹

Roman Games

Another example of a low regard for human life in ancient civilizations was the gladiatorial games. Historians tell us that they were begun in Rome around 264 B.C. by Marcius and Decius Brutus. Thus these atrocities had the inertia of three hundred years of slaughters when Christianity arrived in Rome. The historian Will Durant described the “Roman games” with the words, “beasts fought men, men fought men; and the vast audience waited hopefully for the sight of death.”¹⁰

Christians objected strenuously to this blood entertainment. Minucius Felix cites a Roman pagan who criticized the early Christians for their opposition: “You do not go to our shows; you take no part in our processions…you shrink in horror from our sacred [gladiatorial] games.”¹¹ Tertullian devoted an entire chapter of his book de Spectaculis (Concerning Shows), to urging Christians to not attend the games.

Under the reign of the Christian emperor Theodosius I (378-395), the games were stopped in the East; and his son Honorius ended them in the West in 404.

One historian concluded, “There is scarcely any single reform so important in the moral history of mankind as the suppression of gladiatorial shows, a feat that must be almost exclusively ascribed to the Christian Church.”¹²

The Dignity of Women

Christianity has profoundly elevated the experience of women throughout history. In ancient societies, including both Greek and Roman, the status of women was extraordinarily low. They did not speak in public. The Greek wife had very little freedom. In fact, she had less freedom to travel with her husband or be with her husband’s male friends (in her own home) than his hataera, or mistress, had.¹³ Plutarch, the second century Greek writer, observed that men kept their wives “under lock and key.”¹⁴ Girls in Greece were denied education. Ancient Greek poetry equates women with evil (e.g., Pandora’s jar).

The plight of a woman in Roman society was not much better. A married woman was commonly under the Roman law of manus, which placed her under the absolute control of her husband, who owned her and all her possessions. Table four of the Twelve Tables of Roman Law established the law of Patria Potestas, which gave the husband extraordinary control over his wife. He could divorce her, but she could not divorce him. It even gave him a right of capital punishment over her in some cases.

It was the ministry of Jesus of Nazareth that began the significant elevation of women in the ancient world. One historian said, “The birth of Jesus was the turning point in the history of woman.”¹⁵ His treatment of women and His inclusion of them in His cause were counter-cultural. His disciples for the next several centuries raised their dignity, freedom and rights to an unprecedented level in all of history. Granted, the church did not always get it right. But with few exceptions it has dramatically elevated the place of women. A few examples are appropriate.

For centuries India’s Hindu-oriented culture practiced the custom of suttee (or sati).¹⁶ When a woman’s husband died, she was expected to voluntarily mount his funeral pyre and be cremated with him. If she refused, she was often forcibly placed there. If she managed to escape the custom altogether, her life in society was ruined. She was considered a “nonperson” – culturally despised. She could only eat one meal per day, work menial tasks, and wear the dowdiest of clothes. She could not sleep in a bed. Her head had to be shaved monthly so that she was undesirable to men. Contrast that with the profound concern for widows in Acts 6 and the Pastoral Epistles. Under Christian influence, the British authorities outlawed suttee in 1829. In 1856 widows were given the right to remarry.

Another example is that of foot binding in China. For at least a thousand years, the people of China bound the feet of little girls, usually at about five years of age. A bandage several inches wide was tightly wrapped around both feet. The effect over time was to severely deform the feet, making them look like clinched fists. The practice often caused severe infections, and sometimes amputation.

And why was this done? To please the men, by causing girls to walk tiptoe and sway seductively. Foot binding was so common that it was considered a disgrace to not have it, and it made marriage unlikely. The social pressures to conform to this cultural practice were enormous. Historians tell us that it was the influence of Christian missionaries that led to the outlawing of foot binding in China in 1912.

A third example of Christianity’s influence on the treatment of women developed in the fourth century A.D., when Constantius, Constantine’s son, ordered the segregation of jailed men and women. Those women had previously been severely abused by male prisoners.

A fourth example of Christianity’s contribution to the elevation of women is the redefining of adultery. In the Greco-Roman world, adultery was exclusively defined in terms of a woman’s marital status, not a man’s. Thus, a man, whether married or single, could only commit adultery with another man’s wife. If he consorted with a single woman, it was not considered adultery. But if a married woman had sexual relations with a man not her husband, married or single, she was guilty of adultery (and subject to capital punishment under patria potestas). Historians credit the church with bringing down this double standard in the fifth century.

In fact, Christianity curbed the ancient world’s acceptance of sexual promiscuity, marital infidelity, polygamy, homosexuality and pedophilia, greatly elevating the sexual morality and consequent marital strength of many societies. Edward Gibbon concluded, “The dignity of marriage was restored by the Christians.”¹⁷

Hospitals and Medical Care

Healthcare is another area where Christianity has made a tremendous impact on society.

In 325 A.D., the Council of Nicea decreed that hospices were to be established by bishops in every city that had a cathedral. A hospice was the predecessor of a hospital. Originally and primarily for the care of the sick and dying, they also provided shelter for the poor and lodging for pilgrims.

Many historians say the first hospital (ministering exclusively to the sick) was built by St. Basil in Caesarea of Cappadocia around 369 A.D. Others quickly followed – all by the church. Fabiola, a wealthy associate of Jerome, built the first hospital in the West in Rome in about 390 A.D., then another in Ostia, 50 miles outside Rome. For four hundred years, Christians were the exclusive sponsors of hospitals in the world.

By the sixth century, hospitals had become a common part of monasteries. Throughout the Middle Ages, monks provided medical care, and monasteries doubled as infirmaries. In one reputable example, the Swiss monastery of St. Gall, medicines were made by monks from plants grown in the monastery garden. By the year 1100 there were 37,000 Benedictine monasteries that cared for the sick.

Education

In the ancient world, a good education was the rare privilege of the economical and political elite. Some historians point to the Greeks and/or Romans as having established the first “universities.” But others point out that there were no permanent institutions, no libraries, no guild of scholars and students, and no certification of graduates. The best evidence indicates that universities were born of the Christian monasteries.

The development of universities must begin with Benedict of Nursia (483-543/ A.D.), who founded the first Benedictine monastery at Mount Cassino, Italy in 528. The Benedictine order placed great value on libraries. St. Benedict is sometimes called, “the godfather of libraries.” The Benedictines established an elaborate library system; they collected books; they copied manuscripts in the scriptoria, loaned books to other monasteries, and required monks to read books daily. Monks used to say the library was the monastery’s armory.

With the academic footing provided by Benedictine monasteries, the first universities arose in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The first was the University of Bologna in 1158, specializing in canon, or church, law. Then the University of Paris was begun in 1200, for the study of theology. ¹⁸

From their monastic roots and through the nineteenth century, all universities were begun as Christian institutions, whether they taught theology, law, or medicine.

It appears that the development of public education was the brainstorm of Martin Luther, and was effected by his associate, Philip Melancthon.

The history of education in America is particularly telling. It appears that every collegiate institution founded in the colonies prior to the Revolutionary War – except the University of Pennsylvania – was established by some branch of the Christian Church. And in 1932, when Donald Tewksbury published The Founding of American Colleges and Universities Before the Civil War, he concluded that 92 percent were founded by Christian denominations.

Literacy

“In most of Europe, as in Africa, South America, and in many other parts of the world, the birth of literacy and literature essentially, not accidentally, coincides with the arrival of Christian missionaries.”¹⁹ This statement speaks to the impact of the first century church, whose written revelation from God made a compelling case for the development of literacy.

First century Christianity was so concerned about its writings (inspired and not inspired), that it was responsible for a pivotal change in early bookmaking, namely, the rise of the codex.²⁰

Even today, literacy advances in less developed societies on the wings of Christian missions (e.g., Wycliffe Bible Translators).

And with the emergence and progress of literacy, come ancillary gains in healthcare, economic opportunity, and democracy.

Slavery

(Note: This particular area is so significant, and yet filled with such misinformation, that I will treat it extensively so as to present a fuller picture of the profound impact of Christianity.)

The Biblical Treatment of Slavery

An episode NBC’s Emmy award-winning The West Wing featured an encounter between Dr. Jenna Jacobs (an obvious caricature of Dr. Laura Schlessinger as a rude and bigoted religious talk show host) and U.S. President Josiah Bartlet. The president was speaking to a gathering of radio talk show hosts in the White House.

He addressed Dr. Jacobs, saying, “I like your show. I like how you call homosexuality an abomination.”

“I don’t say homosexuality is an abomination, Mr. President,” she replied haughtily. “The Bible does.”

“Yes, it does!” he shouted. “Leviticus 18:22.” The president was just warming up. “I wanted to ask you a couple of questions while I had you here. I’m interested in selling my youngest daughter into slavery as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. She’s a Georgetown sophomore, speaks fluent Italian, always cleared the table when it was her turn. What would a good price for her be?”

After a brief moment, he continued: “While thinking about that, can I ask another? My chief of staff, Leo McGarry, insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly says he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself or is it OK to call the police?”

Now on a roll, the president steamed on triumphantly. “Here’s one that’s really important, ‘cause we’ve got a lot of sports fans in this town. Touching the skin of a dead pig makes one unclean, Leviticus 11:7. If they promise to wear gloves, can the Washington Redskins still play football? Can Notre Dame? Can West Point?

“Does the whole town really have to be together to stone my brother John for planting different crops side by side?

“Can I burn my mother in a small family gathering for wearing garments made from two different threads?

The first part of this sarcastic assault on the Bible includes a common criticism of the Bible. It is often argued that the Bible is too condoning of the institution of slavery. That conclusion betrays a superficial and mistaken understanding of the revelation of God.

In truth, the Bible does not commend slavery; rather it recognizes the reality of slavery. It is an institution as old as recorded history, and reaching virtually all civilizations. The Bible brought matters of justice to the institution of slavery.

The Old Testament

The Bible distinguished between slavery, as we often think of it, and indentured servitude. The Old Testament law made it a capital crime to kidnap a person and sell him into slavery. “Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him, shall be put to death” (Ex. 21:16). It also commanded Israel to welcome a slave who escaped from his master and to not return him (Deut. 23:15-16). So the Scripture condemned forced slavery and made liberators of God’s people.

But the Bible recognized the common institution of indentured servitude. In ancient times and in many cultures, those who needed financial assistance or needed protection could become indentured servants (Ex. 21:2-6; Deut. 15:12-18). But this was a voluntary act very different from the forced slavery many of us identify as slavery. It was economic-based, not at all race-based. And the Lord provided for the servant’s freedom in the Year of Jubilee, which was every seventh year (Lev. 25:40). Also, a thief that could not make restitution could be sold as a slave (Ex. 22:1-3), but his servitude would cease when restitution had been made.²¹

The New Testament

“no longer as a slave,

but better than a slave,

as a beloved brother” (Philemon 16)

In the New Testament, we see that Paul wrote how slaves (and masters) were to act toward one another (Eph. 6:5-9; Col. 3:22-25, 4:1; 1 Tim. 6:1-2). Since nearly half of the population of Rome was slaves, it is understandable that he would address their attitudes and actions. Paul was hardly endorsing the Roman system of slavery.

Paul’s letter to Philemon encouraged him to welcome back his slave Onesimus, who had now become a Christian under Paul’s ministry (Philemon 8-16). And Christian tradition says that Philemon did welcome him back as a Christian brother, gave him his freedom, and Onesimus later became the bishop of Berea.

And in a telling passage, Paul groups slavetraders in the company of murderers, adulterers, and homosexuals (1 Tim. 1:10).

Slavery in the Ancient World

Slaves made up an estimated sevent-five percent of the population of ancient Athens and well over half of the Roman population. With few exceptions kings, priests, and philosophers of every culture approved of slavery. Aristotle once said, “A slave is a living tool, just as a tool is an inanimate slave. Therefore there can be no friendship with a slave as slave.”²²

Historians tell us that, “Not only was slavery endemic in the Greco-Roman culture in which Christianity first appeared, but it thrived around the world, too. Slavery in fact is one of the true universal institutions of human society, found at one time or another in every continent and among every race and people. Every great ancient civilization – from Mesopotamia to China, from the Indus Valley up to Crete – was defined by the ubiquitous presence of slaves.”²³

And unfortunately, slavery has not been limited to distant history. Ethiopia had slavery until 1942, Saudi Arabia until 1962, Peru until 1964, and India until 1976. It exists today in Sudan, which is Africa’s largest country.

Slavery and Early Christianity

The teachings of Christ on humility, the dignity of all people, and the primacy of love for all people were extraordinarily counter-cultural in His day. The apostles (see Section I above) and early Christians applied Christ’s teachings in speaking against slavery. Augustine (354-430 A.D.) taught slavery was “an inconceivable horror,” the product of sin and was contrary to God’s divine plan.²⁴ Chrysostom, in the fourth century, preached that when Christ came He annulled slavery. He said, “in Christ there is no slave…Therefore it is not necessary to have a slave…Buy them, and after you have taught them some skill by which they can maintain themselves, set them free.”²⁵ And St. Patrick of Ireland, in the fifth century, rejected every form of slavery.

History demonstrates that the early Christians, in the second and third centuries, established the practice of freeing slaves, often in church in the presence of a bishop.²⁶ It became so common that Roman emperors began issuing edicts that prevented it.

While the early church did not always get it right,²⁷ the predominant convictions and practices of Christians helped stop the wide practice of slavery in the ancient world.

Slavery and Modern Christianity

Slavery in Europe had virtually come to an end by the fourteenth century. It was revived again in the seventeenth century, especially in the English, Portuguese and Spanish colonies, with slaves transported from Africa.

1. Great Britain

The slave trade in the English colonies was confronted in England by serious-minded Christians like Thomas Clarkson, John Newton (author of “Amazing Grace”), John Wesley, and William Wilberforce. Wesley’s tract, Thoughts on Slavery, brought Methodists into the cause.

Wilberforce’s efforts were heroic. He introduced antislavery bills in Parliament in 1788, 1791, 1795, 1796, 1797, 1798, 1799 and 1802, none of which gained even 15 percent support. In 1823 he again presented a petition to the House of Commons to abolish slavery. Thomas Fowell Buxton, a close associate of Wilberforce, moved the petition “as a resolution declaring slavery repugnant to Christianity and the Constitution.”²⁸ Just days before his death, Wilberforce received word that Parliament had passed his Abolition Act, freeing 700,000 slaves in the West Indies colonies. Wilberforce’s great effort was honored in a popular West Indian island song:

Oh me good friend,

Mr. Wilberforce, make me free!

God Almighty thank ye!

God Almighty thank ye!

Alexis de Tocqueville, the eminent historian said there was no denying “the philanthropic and especially Christian conscience that produced British emancipation.”²⁹

2. America

In much the same way, it was the truths and virtue of Christianity that accomplished abolition in America.

Samuel Sewall, an early critic of slavery, wrote an inspiring tract entitled The Selling of Joseph in 1700. He was a Boston Presbyterian, but the Quakers soon joined his cause, as did Congregationalists and Methodists.

Elijah Lovejoy, a Presbyterian clergyman, is often cited as the American abolitionists’ first martyr. He was accosted and killed in his printing office in 1837 because of his strong stand against slavery.

It is estimated that Christian clergy accounted for ⅔ of the abolitionist movement. Charles Finney, of Oberlin College, was one example. Another was Charles Torrey, “the Father of the Underground Railroad,” who is credited with helping 100,000 slaves escape northward to freedom. He died a martyr’s death in a Maryland jail serving time for abetting escaped slaves.

Harriet Beecher Stowe fired the shot that fell slavery in America. She was the daughter of a Presbyterian minister and the wife of a Congregationalist professor. Her novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, was first published in weekly installments from June 5, 1851 to April 1, 1852. The book was released in 1852.

It cast Uncle Tom as a slave suffering under the cruel treatment of his master. The book abounds with Biblical passages and spiritual tensions in the daily lives of the characters. Mrs. Stowe demonstrated how slavery violated the teachings of Christ. She succeeded in removing the cause of abolition from the sphere of “fanaticism” and bringing the common person into the cause. Abolition in America was then inevitable. Her novel created such a controversy that when she was introduced to President Abraham Lincoln in 1862, he is said to have greeted her with the words: "So you are the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war!"

Note: In demonstrating the virtuous influence of Christianity, we should note that Christianity was fundamental not just to the slaves’ emancipation, but to their survival, as well. “Indeed, Christianity’s importance to abolitionists may have been equaled only by its importance to slaves themselves, who were sustained by its message of hope and its assurance of a liberty that transcended their current bondage.”³⁰