The Relation of Religion to History in Early Christian Thought

THE RELATION OF RELIGION TO HISTORY IN EARLY CHRISTIAN THOUGHT T HE good tidings of the new and final Revelation, which proclaimed the arrival of the Savior and through Him the deliverance and redemption of mankind, mark for the early Christian the fulfillment of time and history. As the beginning of the final world-epoch, the coming of Christ, at the same time, also reveals the true meaning of the past, including that of creation and the fall of man. This insight, so far, had been partially hidden from man, leaving him without any real historical understanding. In addition, the New Testament also indicates clearly the means by which the faithful may attain to salvation and the life everlasting, thereby pointing to the true future through which the present as well as the past achieve their fullest significance. In this sense the coming of Christ integrates into one single and continuous meaning the whole of historical existence in its aspects of past, present and future. The result of such a realization was that the early Christian discovered the import of history in the actual manifestations of the manifold and continuous relations of God to man and man to God. This discovery was confirmed by the conviction that the all-pervading Divine Love was the decisive force throughout total history. It was fortified by the spiritual solidarity of mankind as the beloved children of God. It found additional support in the awareness of universal sinfulness, human weakness, and man's craving for salvation. It had its ultimate basis in the unshakable faith of a common deliverance and redemption. Thus this " God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son," became a conception of history of the first magnitude. The ultimate and true meaning of universal history, therefore , was to be recognized in that divinely ordained continuity 61 62 ANTON-HERMANN CHROUST which, as a religious (and ethical) conception of time and history, begins with creation and the original fall of man and his freedom to sin. Its highest overtones are reached in the redeeming message of the New Revelation and the atoning sacrifice of Christ. It concludes with the Last Judgment and the complete and irrevocable separation of good and evil, and the final victory of the good over evil. This conception of history makes Christ the vital center of universal history. For it is Christ Who forever decides the struggle between light and darkness, good and evil-the basic metaphysical problem of the :religious and moral interpretation of history advanced by the early Christians. Hence history, viewed from the depth of the irreversible Divine Resolve, is actually the unique stage of the single and continuous " world drama." In conforming to this conception of history the early Christians were able to achieve an identity of religion and history. At the same time they established that unity and continuity of time-events which constitutes the foundation of a metaphysics of history. Moreover, in an anticipatory mood, the early Christians considered the divine plan of revelation and salvation in its relation to time and time-sequence, the ultimate criterion of all history and historical actuality. These conceptions of the significance of time and history were greatly strengthened by the apocalyptic or eschatological expectations professed by the early Christians. These expectations or hopes were founded on Christ's own words that He would soon return in order to judge the world in righteousness. As a matter of fact, many people felt that the time of man's work had run out and, consequently, they not only saw the end of time as being imminent, but actually yearned for this final and conclusive event. The belief in t:Qe proximity of the final Kingdom of God as well as the realization that Christ's kingdom was not of this world, should also help to explain why some of the early Christians displayed an attitude of general indifference toward affairs and issues of a predominantly secular THE RELATION OF RELIGION TO HISTORY 63 nature. It should also serve to understand why some did not actively participate to any appreciable degree in the existing social, cultural, legal or political events of the day, except...