From Shakespeare to Kafka, from Mozart to Beethoven, from Michelangelo to Rembrandt, from Hobbes to Locke, the individual and collective creative processes which constitute this civilization have been nourished by some aspect of the Christian faith.
To be sure, Christianity was not the only factor in forming this culture: Judaism played a large role, as did ancient Greco-Roman civilization. Ironically, Western Civilization has managed to absorb and synthesize both Judeo-Christian influences and elements of the Greco-Roman culture which were quite hostile to both Judaism and Christianity.
The word ‘Christianity’ is subject to use, misuse, and abuse. For historical purposes, its definition must be focused. A starting point for defining ‘Christianity’ will be the individual named Jesus, a Rabbi who lived in a territory occupied by a Roman military government. A second major point will be the texts collected and preserved under the title ‘The New Testament.’
This one individual, and this one slim collection of texts, define for historical and scholarly purposes what ‘Christianity’ is. The reader will need to jettison a large number of impressions gained from a multitude of other sources, both contemporary and past.
Given this definition, what is the net impact of Christianity? Timothy Keller writes that Christianity
is the most unsentimental, realistic way of looking at life. It does not say, “Cheer up! If we all pull together we can make the world a better place.” The Bible never counsels indifference to the forces of darkness, only resistance, but it supports no illusions that we can defeat them ourselves. Christianity does not agree with the optimistic thinkers who say, “We can fix things if we try hard enough.” Nor does it agree with the pessimists who see only a dystopian future. The message of Christianity is, instead, “Things really are this bad, and we can’t heal or save ourselves. Things really are this dark — nevertheless, there is hope.”
The contribution of Christianity is, then, a view of human nature and of the world. Humans are essentially flawed and imperfect, and yet there is reason for hope. The world is essentially a broken and imperfect place, and yet there is reason for hope.
Informed by Christianity, a culture can then have realistic expectations of people and of the world, and can also look for hope. Hope is, in the terminology of philosophy, something ab alio — something from beyond one’s self, from outside of one’s self. The Christian
message is that “on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.” Notice that it doesn’t say from the world a light has sprung, but upon the world a light has dawned. It has come from outside. There is light outside of this world.
Keller goes on to explain that, in the Christian worldview, “Jesus has brought that light to save us; indeed, he is the Light.”
The Christian worldview is therefore both transcendent and immanent. It is transcendent inasmuch as the source of hope is categorically outside of humanity, and as such, hope must break into our world from the outside. It is immanent inasmuch as this hope arrives in the here and now of life.
The influence of Christianity can be seen in Wordsworth and Longfellow, in Brahms and Bach, and in Dürer and Cranach. This influence includes notions such as the value of each and every human life, regardless of its rank or station; it includes a respect for both the individual and the community; it includes an acknowledgement of individual freedom.
