On the ironies of history

John Stackhouse navigates the historical gap between what Christianity teaches and what Christians did.

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Summary

John Stackhouse navigates the historical gap between what Christianity teaches and what Christians did.

Transcript

Some people might suggest that some of the impact that Christianity has had has been almost in spite of itself. They look at Christian leaders who had no intention of democratising things, no intention of freeing this or equalising that, but wanted to do something else instead. But the ironic outcomes of history are interesting to trace, but that has to do with the flaws of those individual Christian people. Christianity itself has to be measured by what it does teach, and what it does promote. And so whether we have ironic situations where somebody pushes for something and it has a result other than what he intended is interesting – helpful and historical analysis – but at the end of the day, the question is: are these genuinely and authentically Christian teachings that are being promoted? And if they are, they are to be credited to Christianity.