Clarification
I wrote:For me, at least, it means that Christianity is a divinely founded religion in a way that other religions are not; though they may, in some way, be said to be divinely founded.
Let me elaborate on the second half of that sentence. Imagine, if you will, a man somewhere in Asia around 6000 years ago. This man has a yearning within him to understand the world and his place within it. He's not intellectual like the Greeks but he's spiritual, so he practises meditation on regular basis. God sees this from heaven, and though this man is not one of his 'chosen people' according to the Judeo-Christian understanding, he rewards the man's persistence by allowing him the briefest glimpse of his glory. For this man it's a 'eureka moment' and he tells his friends about it and they copy his methods so that they too might receive such revelations, and some of them do occasionally.
-In such a situation God doesn't impart the secrets of the universe, what matters most is that people treat each other well, so, the 'golden rule' might be central. Whatever cosmologies the people had before are probably elaborated and woven into the religion and so a complex of beliefs is formed.
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These people might never be called Christians, and and a significant part of their religion is just the common belief of their culture, but at it's core is a divine revelation and so it may be said to be divinely founded.
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I've never tried to formulate this sort of thing before, it's just been vague thoughts in the back of my mind, so forgive any nuttiness. And it isn't meant to explain any known religion necessarily, and it obviously wouldn't work for all religions.
posted by Rowland @ Saturday, May 06, 2006
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