The Air that we Breathe
Discerning our Hidden Mind-frame with Tom Holland
Christian patterns still dominate the West
According to Tom Holland, the beginning and growth of Christian teaching is the most decisive moment in history for Europe and perhaps the whole world. The impact of the Jesus’ ministry and the letters of his apostle Paul seems small at first, but when we analyze the human history in the years after Christ, we find resulting transformation in almost everything we think and do. Paul’s letters to his congregations are not elaborate; yet, Holland sees them as a depth-charge that first barely rippled the surface while later there are shockwaves everywhere.
In its distinctive western form, it continues to completely saturate the way that people in the West view the world, morally and ethically but also in a host of current-day issues, even though they are seen as self-evident truths that must be taken for granted. It is, as if the very air we breathe is saturated with Christianity, and when we look at ancient cultures, we cannot help looking through a smoke screen, where the tiny smoke particles bear the stamp of the Bible.
This is what Holland’s book ‘Dominion’ is all about: ‘How the Christian Revolution remade the World.’ 1
Tom Holland’s changed perspective on the Bible
As a teenager, Tom thought the Bible was not ‘very nice’ with its apparent acceptance of slavery and genocide. And, Paul’s letters seemed rather boring. Now, he says that he had “totally bought into the idea that the classical world was bright and beautiful, and that with Christianity clouds covered it all, leading to the dark Middle Ages. Only with the Enlightenment was the light switched back on.”
Then, he -as historian of the ancient- world discovered how the ancient rulers boasted about the murder of a million people and how brutal and callous Roman men used to be to the weaker and less-privileged, including slaves and women. So, he was surprised that his own moral standards were radically different from the Romans, and that this was the result of the ministry of Jesus and his apostles. Paul’s letters now began to fascinate him as they proved to be the most influential, transformative documents ever written.
Although at first, Holland tried to keep the Christian message at arm’s length, he now admits to see it as positive and good; a key ingredient for the flourishing of human societies.
I see somewhat of a parable with Toronto psychology professor Jordan Peterson, who -after reading historical documentary books- could no longer believe in the myth that humans are intrinsically good and moral beings. Seeing the kinds of things that we have done and are doing to each other, he is surprised that we can actually believe in some sort of ‘human dignity’. Looking at much evidence, this is actually a crazy idea. Yet, when people read about ‘humans created in the image of God’, (Peterson acknowledges) this has a transformative impact, as they actually try to live up to it.
Peterson has wondered where such a radical idea (‘human dignity’) has come from, which shows that he has not yet been able to see behind the narrative the Creator-Provider God Himself, who made us (in some important ways) as his children, in his image. When challenged, Holland also dismisses God as the actual author of the Bible. He admits he loves the biblical narrative because he recognizes the positive effect (for human flourishing), while he claims that it is irrelevant for him whether or not it is historically true. This seems quite bizarre for a historian; if anybody should care about the historical truth, certainly it should be the historians! At least Peterson has begun to wrestle with the ‘crazy’ notion that the Jesus of the narrative seems to coincide with the historical Jesus, as if a man, who lived in human history could actually be the Creator of the universe.
Although I have only read about half of his 500+ pages book ‘Dominion’, I also listened to a number of Tom Holland’s interviews and speeches. 2
Biblical teachings that permeated and still persist
These are some of the biblical teachings that have dramatically changed our thinking in the western world:
a) All humans are created as ‘children of God’
b) Created in God’s image, we have a divine dignity and purpose
c) The first shall be last; the last shall be first
d) ‘There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female...’
e) There can be victory through suffering
f) Since Paradise, we are all born in sin, dependent on grace
These biblical ideas, Tom Holland argues, are fundamental to Western liberalism.
a) All humans are created as ‘children of God’
William Wilberforce, although he was raised in a nominal Christian family, did not grasp the Gospel until he in 1785, really listened to his friend, the mathematician, physicist, and theologian Isaac Milner. As soon as he was born again, he felt ashamed how he had squandered time and money for things without lasting value. Considering to withdraw from politics, it was the former slave trader John Newton, who convinced him to stay in politics and fight for the cause of abolition of the slave trade. When the movement finally gathered steam, an emblem was designed in 1778, showing a kneeling black man in loincloth and chains, pleading, “Am I not a man and a brother.” It took time for the British consciences to be awakened, but the reference to their biblical roots finally resulted in the power to change.
The Civil Rights movement in the southern States was inspired by the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. In 1957, he was elected president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization that supported the growing civil rights movement. King took his ideals for his work from biblical teaching and he learned from the experiences of ‘Mahatma’ Gandhi.
Gandhi had studied Law in Britain, and he was familiar with Christian teaching. After he had challenged the Apartheid policies in South Africa, he returned to his native India. He challenged British ‘rights’ in India and the imposed salt tax. Why could Indian people not extract salt from their own Indian Ocean? After he announced his intention to lead a peaceful raid on the government salt works at Dharasana, he was put in jail about two weeks before the planned event. By then, however, he had enough followers who were not intimidated by police brutality and vowed to follow Gandhi’s approach of non-violent resistance. So, in May, 1930, some 2,500 marchers ignored warnings from police and continued to advance on the Dharasana depot.
American journalist Webb Miller was there, and he later described the scene. “Suddenly, at a word of command, scores of native police rushed upon the advancing marchers and rained blows on their heads… Not one of the marchers even raised an arm to fend off the blows. They went down like ten-pins.”
Miller’s account of the beatings received wide publicity in the international media, and was even read aloud in the U.S. Congress. Winston Churchill later admitted that the protest had “inflicted such humiliation and defiance as has not been known since the British first trod the soil of India.”
Yet, the reason that it worked for Gandhi was Britain’s biblical roots and her remaining moral compass. It could not have worked under Stalin’s regime, Syria, Afghanistan or Beijing! Neither would it have worked in ancient Rome or Greece. The protestors would simply have been massacred and there would be little or no compassion for the fools that had dared to challenge the Dragon.
b) Created in God’s image, we have a divine dignity and purpose
Objectively, ‘human rights’ don’t exist, says Holland; it is a construct, derived from Christian teaching. In ancient cultures, it seemed perfectly natural that the weak should be oppressed for the benefit of the strong; in this context ‘universal human rights’ would sound like a bizarre idea. Nietzsche predicted that ‘the death of God’ would result in ‘deeds of great horror’, and the Holocaust was indeed one example of its fruits. Holland claims that ‘When we demonize the Holocaust, we do so (whether consciously or not) from a biblical perspective.’
It’s nice among Westerners to suggest that we can all agree on rules of decency that are mutually beneficial for a safe and prosperous society, but when (presumed) danger or scarcity prevails, and panic dulls our reason, such rules are readily abandoned. so, the question for Holland and other thinkers like him is this: ‘Can we maintain the beautiful plant if we deprive it of its fertilizer?’ I would argue that ‘By cutting off the roots of Christianity by rejecting that Christ is the Truth, over time the western plant will continue to wither and die. Perhaps, soon its flower will fall and the people will yearn for the wonderful fruit that they despised’.’
Jordan Peterson rejected the myth of the innate goodness of humankind after he read books like ‘Ordinary Men’, 3 which describes how ordinary, middle-aged, working-class men were transformed into a willing killing machine, where only a small minority evaded active participation in the murderous acts of rounding up and brutally killing the Jews in Poland.
There are of course other books that provide ample evidence of the monster that lives within us. Exploring the Holocaust, the Cambodian Killing Fields, the Rwandan genocide, the Congo killings that followed it, the treatment of slaves in the Roman Empire, the Greek-Persian wars, the Communist leaders taking pride in the death of millions of their own people. How can anybody continue to insist that humankind is intrinsically good?
G.K. Chesterton would agree (as all Christians should), as he supposedly expressed in his famous short letter to The Times: “Dear Sirs, with regards to your question “What is wrong with the world”, I am. Sincerely yours, G.K. Chesterton. 4
So, Jordan Peterson, discovering the evil, even in himself, started to wonder why these atrocities, which are so common in human history, actually bother us. And then he noted this idea of ‘humankind made in the image of a holy God’, and though he wondered where this notion came from (!), he recognized its transformative power, because people responded to it, as if they were awakened to a noble past and purpose, and beginning to live up to its expectations.
c) ‘There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.’ 5
It should be clear that ‘in Christ Jesus’ is explained in the previous verses, ‘You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.’ So, this passage clearly precludes favoritism or discrimination in the church when it comes to ethnicity, (created) gender, or status on the social ladder. In this context we also understand Paul’s plea with Philemon: Now Onesimus has become a brother in Christ, he really should not have to live anymore under the burdens of slavery by a brother. 6
Although, occasionally Holland reminds us that the passage applies particularly to those who are (by faith) in Christ, he also notices how it has been adopted for more general applications.
Indeed, this passage of Paul has been used to promote unity in the secular world, even unity of believers and unrepentant sinners in the deconstructing church. However, on this point the church is actually called to discern (discriminate!) who are of God and who are of the devil, and not to tolerate those who promote sinful living among believers. (1 John 3:10; Rev. 2: 20)
d) “So, the last will be first, and the first will be last.” 7
Already in the first Bible book we learn that God loves reversals. Lot choose the green valley of the southern Jordan, leaving the second best for his uncle Abraham. Yet, later Lot lives like a caveman with two daughters, while Abraham has become a man of great wealth. His son Isaac prefers his oldest son for his hunting skills and venison steaks. He wants to give him the better blessing, but God had decided that ‘Mom’s boy’, Jacob would get the better share. Jacob has to live as refugee with his greedy uncle Laban. Through Laban’s dirty trick he ends up marrying two of his daughters, but the pretty one, whom he loves the best (at first) cannot give him children, while her sister gives birth to many sons. When the chosen wife finally gives him a son, Joseph becomes father’s favorite, but his brothers sell him into slavery. After many years in miserable conditions, the despised and rejected brother becomes the ruler of Egypt, before whom the family bows in humble service. The family grows into a nation, but they are put under brutal slavery under the powerful ruler of the Egyptians. And yet, against all odds these miserable slaves are able to get their freedom by the powerful arm of God. For forty years, they survive the wilderness, conquer many nations and settle in the land that God had promised their forefather some 450 years earlier.
So, obviously God loves to turn things upside down, and this ‘narrative’ has given hope to many people, who respected the Bible, for ‘if God was on their side, nothing would prove to be impossible for them.’
This inspired oppressed people groups, given them hope for better times. Also, African slaves in the Americas found hope and courage in the Hebrews’ history. Just as God set the children of Abraham free from slavery in Egypt, he could work a mighty deliverance for them.
Nevertheless, the popular phrase follows a parable in which God’s justice was disputed and it does not suggest that late-comers deserve better, for the emphasis is on God’s mercy, his amazing grace. At any rate, the biblical pattern seems to be that those who think they deserve a happy ending will be disappointed. On the other hand, for those who realize they don’t deserve a happy ending, and therefore recognize the Good News for what it is, there will be a glorious future- but quite likely not in this life on earth.
e) There can be victory through suffering
The climax of God’s revolution must be found in the cross. In his Son, God humbled himself when he put on a human body. He was apparently born out of wedlock, placed in a cattle feed box, and became a refugee to Egypt. Meanwhile, some godly seniors, humble shepherds, and wealthy wise-men came to worship and honor him as king. Jesus became a wise rabbi, who could do incredible miracles, but after but a few years of ministry, he was brought to ‘justice’ in a kangaroo court.
The Roman judge declared him innocent and wanted to set him free, but Jesus did not seem to cooperate. So, the judge reminded him, that -as representative of the emperor of the Roman Empire- he had the power to give Jesus death or life. But, Jesus, who reportedly had told the Jews he was God’s own Son, reminded him that the judge had only power as far as it was decided by his Father. So, indeed, while Pilate sought to free Jesus, he could not accomplish this, and in the end, he committed injustice to have him crucified.
Now, just as radical it was that God would humble himself so deeply that he would embrace the world’s most humiliating torture and death, so radical was it that through these same events God caused the fall of the mighty Roman Empire while he secured the restoration of the Kingdom of God.
In the Western world, it became popular to ‘cast yourself as a victim in order to gain power’. As we have seen, this worked for Gandhi and for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
In fact, even though Critical Race Theory is essentially anti-Christian, it still follows the Christian narrative. Where or when else in history would masses of people voluntarily buy into a shame-and-guilt complex because of what non-related people that happened to have the same skin color have done? In America, there may be serious consideration to pay reparation to black people because of its slavery history. This may work for deconstructing ‘Christians’, who have cut the heart out of the Gospel while they are left with a form of moral compassion. As Thomas Sowell says (I paraphrase), “There has been a much longer tradition of North African Muslims, kidnapping and enslaving Europeans, but apparently nobody has ever suggested that North Africa should pay restitution to the South Europeans for such abuses in the past!”
f) Since Paradise, we are all born in sin, dependent on grace
Since the 1960s, Western (post-modern) culture and the deconstructing church abandoned this unpopular idea, accepting the teaching of Pelagius, that we could actually establish moral perfection through our own persistent efforts. Yet, Holland sees the natural depravity of all humans as ‘the great equalizer’ that prevents anybody from boasting, for it implies that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”8 and “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us”.9 On the other hand, if we could actually achieve perfection, this would make the top achievers proud, which could make them look down on their ‘miserable neighbors’ and oppressing them, as has happened throughout human history.
Contrary to Critical Race Theory’s strong conviction that white people are inherently oppressive, while colored people always were oppressed, all people are born in sin, and when they have the right set of opportunities through power or wealth, their natural inclination will be to use it for their own (group’s) advantage. Throughout history, people groups would either be the head or the tail, and over time these patterns often changed.
Who will be ‘the head’ and who will be ‘the tail’? In biblical teaching, there are ultimately two kinds of people in the world: Those who seek God and submit to his just and blessed rule will ‘at the end of time be living in glory. Meanwhile, those who refuse to seek and submit to him, which head to their own damnation. In Marxism, however, we find a different dichotomy between those who feel oppressed and those who have enjoyed their privilege. The first are thought to have the right to take the power and wealth from their oppressors. And in CRT, white people (and perhaps all others, who have embraced ‘whiteness’) are per definition the bad guys for whom there is no redemption until they have lost all white privilege. In the past, such thinking would be called ‘racism’ and the outcome may well be another form of cruel oppression and loss of freedom. And, learning from history, we can safely predict that the very people who felt oppressed will see their hopes dashed; they are just used to bring about the revolution, which brings in a new, even more oppressive, regime.
God’s ape 10
Holland recognizes Christian teachings and terminology throughout western history and contemporary culture. Only Nazi Germany really tried to abandon this. In fascism, there is no room for the weak to win or for their victory through suffering. Aiming for a new Roman-like Empire, they believed the strong must get stronger and the weak must die out for human flourishing to persevere. In this, they followed Nietzsche and Social Darwinism, and it is a stark reminder that even a modern, industrialized, and Christianized nation can jump on the bandwagon of pride, by which dissenters are seen as despicable and should be damned. Beware, for “history repeats itself. It has to, for nobody listens!” 11
Holland argues that the Enlightenment, (Radical) Feminism, The Gay-rights movement, and Wokeism (CRT) also continue(d) to use biblical teachings and terminology. Nevertheless, they reject and despise Christianity for its moral code that feels restrictive for those who worship their personal freedoms. So, they hijack the biblical narratives and use them for a radically different purpose. In that sense they function like a virus that reprograms ‘the body’ for its own destruction.
Especially since WWII, a post-modern mindset has deconstructed truth. For two thousand years, the church agreed on almost all that the Bible was teaching.12 Of course, there have always been some things that were hard to understand, and there always were ‘ignorant and unstable people which distorted these to their own destruction’.13 But, in the post-modern West, even church leaders have been led to believe and teach that ‘the Bible is a very difficult book to understand’. The Reformers had argued that common Christian folk could read and understand the Bible for themselves; where this is no longer acknowledged today, we can witness Deformation of the church; just wait and see.
Post-modern Christianity
Although Holland sees the church’s return to Pelagius’ positive view of human morality as a negative trend that opens the door to pride and oppression, he seems to see little problem with the secularized versions of the biblical narrative. Apparently, when Holland talks about ‘the church today’, he looks at the deconstructing mainstream church, which readily re-interprets the apostolic teaching to align it with the popular morality of our secular society. Indeed, he suggests that the church has the authority to modify the biblical teachings as it is ‘enlightened by the Spirit’. So, the abolition of slavery, radical feminism, and embracing of homosexual and transgender people in the church are now viewed as its ongoing ‘reformation’.
In contrast to this view, Holland is urging the church to be bold and to remain weird. He has been disappointed during the Covid crisis that the church has not given answers to what was happening. The church should be able to make sense of what is going and to offer comfort, he argues.
Yet, the deconstructing church, ‘holding to a form of godliness while lacking its power’14 will no longer have real answers to offer us. The ‘contemporary church’ has a serious blind spot when they read the Bible, for every time it offers hope and the promise of a good ending, this is accompanied by a serious warning for a coming judgment. Yet, ‘the contemporary church’ will not talk about this. It will preach that we are no longer under the law but under the Spirit, but it fails to warn us that we must test the spirits (and our dreams, ideas, and convictions) with the apostolic teaching as the ultimate criterion.
On the other hand, the faithful church must continue to preach the unadulterated and controversial Word of God. If the western world proceeds to hijack the appealing narratives of the Bible, while rejecting the Good News of salvation -received only by true faith and obedience in Jesus Christ- our only hope for delayed judgment lies in God’s mercy through Real Reformation and Revival. This would bring the population to their knees- in repentance and in prayer. This is also the message of Vishal Mangalwadi: It looks like the sun is setting on the West, but it does not need to happen! If our countries seek Revival and Reformation, we may again share in the blessings of the Bible.
Dominion
The cover of the British edition of Holland’s book was not allowed to carry any reference to Christ, Christian, or crucifixion. The publisher was too afraid that it would turn off most potential readers and buyers. It is remarkable, in a time we hear much about homophobia and Islamophobia, that we hear so little about Christophobia, although this seems to be quite common in the Post-modern Western world. When we, some years ago around Christmas time, were flying with a Chinese airline from Guangzhou to Beijing, we heard a lot of Christmas songs, while (some) American Airlines were instructing their staff not to say or tolerate “Merry Christmas” greetings on their flights.
On the American book cover, we see the crucifixion painted by surrealist artist Salvador Dali. Surrealism can be seen as an early form of deconstruction. Our art teacher in teachers’ college used to say: Artists are usually the first in all cultural paradigm shifts”.
Well, a surreal crucifixion seems fitting for Tom Holland and the deconstructing church. Whether or not the recorded history of Christ’s death and resurrection is real; ultimately that does not seem to matter for the Post-modern mind- until it is transformed by the Spirit of the Living God.
Let us pray for revival!
YouTube videos viewed
Triggernometry: Tom Holland on the Great Awokening
Unbelievable? NT Wright & Tom Holland • How St Paul changed the world
RESET: Tom Holland | How Christianity Gained Dominion | A Secular Historian Loses His Faith (In Liberalism)
De Balie: Tom Holland on his bestseller Dominion
Speak Life: How Christianity Gained Dominion — An Interview With Tom Holland
Footnotes:
2. Although I listed the URL links to the YouTube sites above, I have not given detailed references in this article.
3. Christopher R. Browning. Ordinary Men- Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland. New York, 1993, 2017.
4. It is not absolutely certain that this letter was sent and published. Nevertheless, it is in the style of his convictions and style. G.K. Chesterton. What’s Wrong with the World? New York, 1920, 2007.
5. Galatians 3: 26b-29 (NIV): So, in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
6. Paul’s letter to Philemon: 15, 16
7. Matthew 20:15, 16 (NIV): Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ “So, the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
8. Romans 3:23
9. 1 John 1:8
10. John Gaule: God's ape is the devil; ‘one that feigns to imitate him, though in contrary ways.’
11. quote from the British poet Steve Turner
12. In “Mere Christianity”, C.S. Lewis sought to explain and defend the beliefs that have been the common heritage to nearly all Christians at all times.
13. 2 Peter 3: 16b
14. 2 Timothy 3:5
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