Western Values Are Expanding

Civilizations rise and civilizations fall. But the greatest and most enduring civilizations can also adapt. Western civilization and Western values are not in decline as much as they are adapting to the irreversible move toward globalization.

When the city of Rome crumbled, the city of God took its place. Christianity blossomed in the Middle Ages, and by the Renaissance, the popes saw themselves and the Church as the heirs to the greatness that was Rome. There was a unique cultural chemistry that brought about the extraordinary rise and proliferation of Christianity. Non-Christian religions in the ancient world were static religions of magic and myth that failed to keep pace with advances in dynamic philosophy and human mobility. Meanwhile, the thinkers of Greece and Rome admired the religious genius of Judaism. These philosophers recognized the brilliance of monotheism and the contribution Judaism brought in linking morality to religion.

The writers of the New Testament and the early Christian fathers were able to synthesize the monotheism and morality of Judaism with the insights of the philosophers. Importantly, in the expansive, transient, multi-ethnic era of the Roman Empire, Christianity was socially, culturally, and ethnically flexible while still providing a clear doctrinal and moral framework. And it was a revolutionary and practical religion in that it taught personal choice, hence calling for personal responsibility.

The triumph of Christianity in ancient Rome became the foundation for what we now call Western civilization and its coinciding values. But for modern Western civilization to survive, we must first acknowledge and then return to valuing these Judeo-Christian roots. It is impossible to maintain Western values that emanate from a biblical foundation while denying the truth and reality of that foundation. If the foundation crumbles, then the resultant freedoms we enjoy will eventually fall.

While we reflect on the changing dynamics of Western civilization, does history require a return to historical beliefs as the only way forward? I don’t believe it does. Certainly, there have been religious revivals. The Great Awakening in the United States and the Evangelical and Anglo-Catholic renewals in the United Kingdom are good examples. But these examples are renewals from a time when the remnants of Christianity were still vital within the culture. The vocabulary and underlying cultural beliefs were still there.

But can a culture that has become too anti-Christian ever fully return to value the faith that is its own foundation? Or is Western civilization as we have known it metamorphosizing? Perhaps a new iteration of Western civilization, tied to a new expression of Christianity, is springing forth in the 21 century as it did in the first.

A studious look at global demographics and their practical impact on Christianity highlights one of the most important and interesting trends. Numerically, global Christianity now is dominated by the people of the developing world. There are more Christians in Latin America, Africa, and Asia than there are in America and Europe. Furthermore, birthrates and conversion trajectories indicate that by the middle of this century this global trend will be an undisputed reality.

While Latin American Christians have assimilated into Western culture for the last 500 years, the conversion of African and Asian peoples has been more recent. Most Christians in the developing world have been converted directly from more regional belief systems. These new believers have not been tainted by the intellectual legacy of materialism and post-modern thought that has diluted Christianity for the last 500 years. With a vital belief in the supernatural, African and Asian Christians ascribe to the historic Christian faith without the burdens of modernism and skepticism.

This new expression of Christianity will be uploaded with an energetic, youthful spirit which preempts many modern, secular conflicts. Much like the Judeo-Christian teachings of the first century were assimilated into Roman culture, Christians of the Global South whose numbers are overtaking those of America and Europe are blending the best of American and European thought and religion with elements of African and Asian culture, resulting in a new and different form of Christian expression.

This new expression of the ancient faith is gathering up what is beautiful, good, and true from African and Asian cultures, while retaining what was enlightening and true from rationalism and science just as the Apostle Paul and the early church fathers adapted what was true from the philosophical systems of Greece and Rome. This synthesis would be impossible without including all that is eternally revealed and held in trust by the caretakers of Christianity. We are not witnessing the death of Western civilization and Western values. We are witnessing its fascinating reinvention and global expansion.

Timothy Head is executive director of the Faith & Freedom Coalition.

The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own.