Modern Christians fail to uphold the initial ideals and principles that the early Christian faith upheld. Modern Christians broadly accept the paradigm for what it is, and refuse to fight systems they would consider evil to their ideals. Furthermore, most modern Christians have almost no knowledge of any history or philosophy outside of their narrow understanding of Biblical texts, something that even the men who founded the Christians Church even understood. This is not specifically true for all Christians, however this broadly applies to the majority of Christians.
I grew up in a household of two Christian faiths: My father’s side were Baptists, while my Mother’s side were Polish Catholic. I attended church for 12 years. When I initially attended, I wholly believed anything that was said at Church. I only began to question my faith when one side of the family would say something about the other side’s Church. The Baptists believed that the Catholics were Satanists, and the Catholics believed that the Baptists were Heretics. I would ask why they believed what they believed, and neither side could ever provide concrete proof of what they believed. I began to realize that faith, and anything based on faith is not something that can be proved. Because of this, my answers were never satisfied, and I began to have doubts. Eventually, I stopped attending either Church all together; I was not interested participating in a fight where neither side could provide a compelling justification for their beliefs.
I always had a strong interest in history, philosophy, and how both are essentially entangled. Philosophy drives history and history drives philosophy, both simultaneously. Christianity is a fascinating religion to study because it is the most impactful religion in human history. No religion has had such a direct impact on the direction human history has undertaken, and it is based on a multitude of anthropological, social, and theological factors. Christianity itself was birthed from Judaism, and the Semitic world stood at the literal crossroads of Europe, Africa, and Asia. Peoples crossing east to west, west to east, north to south, and south to north, more or less used the lands of Syria, Babylonia, and Persia as a geographic highway, which the relatively flat landscape allowed. This contact and invasion paradigm shaped the peoples and the religion were shaped, and it is unsurprising that the three great messianic religions, all based on Abrahamic traditions, were based out of such a small strip of land sandwiched between the Mediterranean Sea and Jordan River.
With this contact and intermingling of cultures in mind, it is typical for different in people in contact with each other to share cultural and social norms, whether it is willingly or unwillingly. Usually this is portrayed as the conquerors forcing down on their subjects their culture and values. However the true is in reverse. Sometimes, the conquered people pass up their traditions, usually due to climatic or seasonal factors. Again however, there are times where a value is passed up that is not necessarily of practical value, and Christianity is the best example of this occurring. The Roman Republic and soon to be Empire was originally a pagan-cult state, where the state tolerated the practice of any religion and cult so long as the overall Roman pantheon was acknowledged. A common excuse that was used by both parties to justify the addition of new gods into their beliefs systems went something along the lines the god revealed themselves to the two different peoples under a different name or form. Christianity, being a fervently monotheistic religion, could not accept any other god into its tradition without completely upending the premise of the entire system.
This is not to say that the Greco/Roman world did not have an impact on Judaism or Christianity. After the Roman conquest of the Holy Land, Greek and Latin became common secondary or tertiary languages, and many of the Disciples and Apostles, notably Paul, either spoke Greek or Latin, or even outright held Roman citizenship. The cult-pagan stories and traditions from Greece and Italy were well known to Christians, and later Church Fathers, who used those stories in order to better describe Christian ethics in a quickly and easily understood way to the people who knew those stories. This is likely not just common to Christianity, and it is likely that virtually all religions are built on earlier traditions from forerunner religions.
To give a concrete example of the Greek and Roman theology having a direct impact on Christianity, our understanding of Christian Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory, comes from The Divine Comedy by the theologian poet Dante. In the stories, Dante used Greek/Roman stories such as the Homeric Illiad/Odyssey to illustrate the various dimensions of Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory, as well as commonly known Greek and Roman hero’s, and people who existed historically. A staunchly Catholic Christian theologian was almost as well read about the classics as the contemporary Greek and Roman people were.
This is not to say that everyone knew of these stories, as literacy through history was not a primary concern for the majority of people. People tried their best to learn to read and write when they could, however, there was a certain luxury to literacy that was out of reach for a good portion of ancient and medieval society. Some stories and histories were passed orally, meaning that it was possible for people to learn of them, but not to the same degree as a literate clergyman such as Dante, or the fathers of the Christian Church.
Modern society in general has scant excuse as to why people are not as well read of the classics as the thinkers of the past were. Literacy rates in the west are well over 95% in the vast majority of countries, and there is far more than enough leisure time to dedicate to reading some of the classics. Talk to any random person, whether they’re an acquaintance or not, and ask them about any of the classics. For the most part, the majority of people will not have even heard of whatever story or history you are referencing, much less actually have read it. The Psalms of the Bible and Aesop’s Fables share many themes, yet the majority of Christians have likely never have even heard of Aesop. The Hammurabic Code, from the 1st Babylonian Empire which the Biblical city of Ur was a part of, is relatively unknown today, despite virtually being understood as the basis of all legal systems that exist today. The list is by no means exhaustive, as history is built much like a pyramid, and the earlier cultures serving as a base for later cultures. It’s likely that there are lost or forgotten stories and histories that were important to developing the modern world, that we are not aware of, but were important to their contemporaries for moving history forward.
As stated, modern people, especially Christians, have no excuse as to why they cannot dedicate some of their time to learning all that was stated previous. I’d argue that engaging in such a study would benefit them, and make their understanding of their religion far wealthier than dedicating decades of their lives rereading the Bible over and over again. This is not to say that studying the Bible is not important, and reading something such as Aesop is. The point is that Christianity is not a standalone ideology that was birthed into existence from nothing. It came about as a natural outgrowth to the contemporary history, and its impact on downstream history and society is due to those initial conditions. Yet, virtually all the Christians I have met not only have not read, but refuse to read, saying more or less “Well, they’re just fake myths anyways”. I’m not here to argue whether or not god exists, and I personally do not think it is a question that is answerable. However, the arrogance in believing that a story, even one that is not based on any reality at all, is useless, demonstrates a level of vane arrogance that even Jesus would have detested. The refusal to understand their own heritage disgusts me no different than say a modern Critical Theorist criticizing their own society.
I have met many Christians that are well read, and everything I’ve stated is not directed at them. This is specifically dedicated to those who refuse to learn, to see beyond the wall they built for themselves. Refusing knowledge, even knowledge that is against you or what you believe in, weakens you. Refusing knowledge of your history or your culture weakens you. This is something that even Jesus understood, and is probably the evidence that he was well read in the crossroads of cultures that existed in his homeland. The strength of Christianity comes from the fact that it is truly a worldwide religion, as the world came to its cradle. Yet modern Christians are not worldwide; They continue to shrink and hide from their own heritage.