Dominion - Notes from Oxford

 

That a man who had himself been crucified might be hailed as a god could not help but be seen by people everywhere across the Roman world as scandalous, obscene, grotesque. 

- Dominion by Tom Holland

Whilst in Oxford, I had the immense pleasure of attending a talk in the splendid Sheldonian Theatre with Tom Holland (historian) about his book, Dominion, and his ideas behind the premise. Take a peak at my last post to see Tom signing my copy of Dominion after the talk when I had the opportunity to meet him.

Here are few notes I scribbled in my notebook during the talk:

- What changed since Antiquity and why don't we celebrate war and enslavement like Julius Caesar?

- Christianity is full of paradox, example is the cross. A symbol of power for the Romans.

- The secular, liberal, humanist view is a mythology itself.

- The British rituals are all Christian, going back to the Old Testament. Anointing of Saul and David. 

- The slavery abolishment is fully Christian as a movement, and it may not have happened if Christianity didn't push it.

- Christianity spans all time from beginning to end.

- Jesus = the greatest story teller of all time.

- The stoic spark in Paul. 

- The ideas that changed culture - All humans have dignity, all are created equal in the eyes of God (Christian thoughts that passed into civilization no matter their beliefs).

Now that I have finished reading the book (I waited to buy it in Oxford specifically so I could have Tom sign it), I am digesting its massive span of history and am so impressed with Tom's analysis.

Dominion is an epic and grand venture taken to explore the Christian values that infuse our western civilization. Tom's argument centers around the fact that a person may live today as one without Christian belief, lives by and through Christian values that are so steeped into society that one doesn't even notice it. This idea is quite valid and fascinating to dig into. The scale of this book is huge. I feel he is only scratching the surface of each age/time he writes about. But it takes us from Roman and Greek Antiquity right into our modern day of the last few years. 

In this chunky 525 page book, he sums at the end:

The retreat of Christian belief did not seem to imply any necessary retreat of Christian values. Quite the contrary.

He goes on to talk about the strangeness of Christianity, and I have heard him say how this aspect of Christianity needs to be expanded upon in churches if they are to stay alive, as churches tend to hide from anything that involves mystery and strangeness. Yet when it comes down to it, that is what pulls us closer to the living God. The mystery and wonder is what makes Christianity so magnetizing. The aspects of Christianity and things that Jesus said and did are so mysterious and paradoxical, and it draws you in if you let it. It nudges you to "come and see" as Jesus would say.

Tom would remind us that even if you (in the western civilization) worship some other god or none at all, you are still living by Christian values and assumptions. You believe in values such as freedom, justice, human rights, dignity, fairness, equality, giving to the poor, and helping others in need. These are all things that came directly from Christianity, and Tom shows us how that looks through the ages of our history. It's absolutely fascinating.