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Early church solutions to current problems

Like our world today, Roman citizens were bombarded with new cultures, new commerce, new foods, and new ideas, as well as new philosophies, cults, and religions; theirs was an era of massive disorientation, and at the same time, it was exactly the right environment for Christianity to emerge and thrive, according to Christine Chakoian in her book Cryptomnesia: How a Forgotten Memory Could Save the Church.

The author’s thesis is that the church today could work out how to respond to the current difficult times of change and crisis if only we could recover our memory of how the early church managed to thrive.

  • Technology is causing massive disruptions today, just as the new Roman roads and technologies were causing disruptions in the ancient world.
  • The shrinking world has brought religious pluralism, just as the Roman roads led to a melting pot of many foreign religions.
  • The early church had to decide which parts of the faith were essential and which parts were not, and we have to deal with similar questions today.
  • The early church had to struggle with finding authority in community, and we face similar struggles in today’s authority-questioning environment.
  • The early church had to find ways to reach out to a non-Christian culture, and we face a similar task.

There are plenty of interesting ideas in this fairly short book. Most readers will probably find something to disagree with, but in my view this book does a provide a helpful context for the thoughtful consideration of a number of important and controversial issues.