Our own conflicts in identity

In practical terms, how do we seek God’s righteousness and justice? We treat all people with respect and dignity, even and especially those who are most helpless and defenseless. We make sure our practices and policies reflect God’s revealed values, even when we operate in “the world.” We use the power and opportunity given to us to be people of biblical justice. We don’t turn the other way when we see injustice, but invest our energies so that God’s justice and righteousness might take form in and ultimately transform our world.

Christians have often (but not always) perceived Islam as a political, economic and theological threat, and have painted Islam in negative hue, in contrast to their own positive self-image. Many Muslims, likewise, have been inclined to regard Christianity and Christendom - often identified with each other and with the West - as engaged in an ongoing crusade against the Muslim world. The mass media continue with few exceptions, to perpetuate such images.

C.S. Lewis’ view of paganism and Christianity is much less dualistic in its perspective than that of the majority of mainstream Christianity. While Lewis had certain misgivings and concerns about paganism, he saw it as essentially related to Christianity at its most fundamental level. It was this relatedness that gave Lewis the passion to articulate a dynamic dialogue in his fiction and non-fiction alike between paganism and Christianity. The question before us, then, is: what conclusions and implications does this leave us as Christians? Many object to the idea that paganism and Christianity are related and view Lewis’ conceptions as radical, if not dangerous or heretical. Is Lewis alone in his assertions? Anglican theologian and priest A.G. Hebert writes --

Yet many of the early Fathers, and the best Christian theologians generally, have been ready to allow a measure of truth in pagan religions. More than this, we have before our eyes the Prologue of St. John’s Gospel, which was almost certainly written in Ephesus, in the midst of the splendour [sic] of Greek civilization, and speaks of the Divine Word as the source of all that was good and true in the pagan world.