Have you read Assumptions That Affect Our Lives by Christian Overman? He has a chapter that I found fascinating. The chapter entitled “Why the Hebrews Were Poor Philosophers.” The whole book compares different worldviews against the backdrop of Hebrew and Greek thought. In this chapter, Overman outlines how Greek philosophy has become engrained in Christian philosophy through the efforts of Thomas Aquinas.

It is interesting to read and trace the thoughts of Plato, Aristotle and Aquinas right to the forefront of the problems with the church today. Aquinas, in order to accomodate Greek thought and with the support of the church, divided reality into two spheres. The upper sphere, God’s realm, contains all things supernatural including God, angels, prayer and worship. The lower realm, matter, was considered man’s domain and is the temporal or physical realm.

While this seems to be an innocuous separation, in fact, it has proven to be deadly. The church has gone through cycles where we focus on the eternal and value it above all ~ ignoring people’s physical needs. In rebellion, the “evangelical” church (of which I am a member), focuses on physical needs and ignore sound doctrine. The truth is that the church cannot survive either of these two extremes.

Why? Because it is based on a false assumption. Man was created by God to have dominion over the temporal and physical earth, but it is not man’s domain. According to Psalms 24:1, “The earth is the LORD’S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.” In truth everything is in the Lord’s domain. What the church should be concentrating on, in my opinion, is how are we to live in both the spiritual and temporal world? How do we line up our lives (in business, school, the arts, etc.) so that we are in harmony with God’s design.

Currently in America, a land that was founded on the ideal that the upper realm, the conscience or the spiritual side of man, belongs to God and as such should not be legislated by man’s laws, we see the results of this division. Historically, the pilgrims and early settlers valued and invested a lot of energy in the spiritual side of life. Early schools were devoted to teaching the “science” of Theology. The “lower” sphere was largely ignored. The church remained silent (or actively participated in) while human atrocities such as the Salem Witch Trials, slavery, child labor, poverty, etc were practiced. The pendulum has swung. Current church leaders teach a watered theology while trying to meet the needs of people. They are doing a poor job of it too! And, the spiritual realm… has been squeezed into a comfortable space — only on Sunday, never while engaged in secular work and certainly not in a public arena.

I am enjoying reading this article. It is a great fit for my current mood and thoughts.

Blessings ~

(note…this was moved over from my other blog)