7 Day Workshop - Day 7

So, yes, this is the last day. It's been quite a journey for me. It's been a long time since I told a seven-day workshop, so I've been trying to edit the slides and put something together that's coherent. I've just got to go and rework everything I've done over the last seven days to try to get a more coherent kind of flow so it works better. Okay, so I'll share my screen with you. Yesterday, we were looking at God's providence from the time of Jacob, tracing it through some Old Testament Jewish history right up until the coming of Jesus. We saw how God had been waiting and working for thousands of years to create an environment where He would be able to send the Messiah to finally restore what had gone wrong at the Fall and to establish a world of peace and justice, but also a world in which people lived whose lineage was changed so they understood who they really were. People came to a deep realisation that they were sons and daughters of God and became connected to God as well. All those things God was trying to do, and we saw that, unfortunately, the foundation 2000 years ago for Jesus was very thin, but it was just like the last moment when God willed to use that foundation that was there. So, we'll have a look and see what happened from that time up until today.

This is what we looked at yesterday: the period of the Hebrews, the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. They left Egypt under the guidance of Moses and settled in Canaan under the judges. Then there was the period of the monarchy with the three great kings: Saul, David, and Solomon. Tragically, the kingdom split, and from that moment, it became so much weaker. God's foundation to receive the Messiah became so much weaker, and unfortunately, they weren't able to reunite. They went through a period of exile, continually being attacked and beaten down, but somehow continued to maintain their faith, to reform themselves, and to remain a living spiritual community. So, when Jesus did come, there was still a foundation to receive the Messiah, even though it was very thin. Largely because of the Roman occupation, things didn't work out the way they could have and should have, and so Jesus, as we saw yesterday, was put to death. We will trace what happened then in terms of God's providence after that time.

Jesus was killed, but then He had 12 apostles and 70 disciples, and they spread out through the Roman Empire. But not just the Roman Empire, which meant going west; they also went east as well into the Middle East and then further on into India and Asia. You can read about some of the things they did in the Acts of the Apostles and some of the letters of Saint Paul. There came about a conflict then between the Jews who believed in Jesus and the Jews who didn't believe in Jesus, which I talked about a little bit yesterday. Because Jesus had been crucified, most Jews said Jesus wasn't the Messiah because He was crucified, and the Messiah is not supposed to be crucified. But the Jews who did believe in Jesus believed in Him because He was resurrected, and through this encounter with the resurrected Jesus, their whole life was transformed and changed as they came to believe that Jesus was the Messiah, even though He had been crucified. Later on, there was a Jewish uprising against the Roman occupation, and this again made the difference between these two different groups of Jews more extreme.

Jesus did not preach violence; He preached turning the other cheek, going the extra mile, loving your enemy. The Jews who didn't believe in Jesus and the Jews who did believe in Him said, 'No, we shouldn't be trying to revolt and rebel against Roman occupation; it's going to be a complete disaster. That's not what Jesus taught.' So, they left Jerusalem and went to Pella. The Jews who didn't believe in Jesus, though, fought against the Romans and were devastated. As I said yesterday, Jerusalem was destroyed, the temple was destroyed, and all the ornaments and precious things from the temple were taken from Jerusalem to Rome. This is the Arch of Titus in Rome, showing these things to this day. They used this money and gold to build the Colosseum, where Christians were fed to the lions. The early church then, the Jews who believed in Jesus, started to develop their own sense of identity, and these two different groups of Jews began to think of themselves as different religions essentially.

The early church developed their own rituals: baptism, Eucharist, and the creed—things that they believed in order to separate themselves and distinguish themselves from the Jews who didn't believe in Jesus. Partly, there was then a period of intense persecution of Christians under the Roman Empire. Finally, Constantine, the emperor, converted and became a Christian. He issued the Edict of Milan, which gave religious freedom to all people living in the Roman Empire. On that basis, Constantine called church councils, and they formed a canon of what was in the Bible and what it was that they decided they believed—the Nicene Creed. About 80 years after that, Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire. This was actually a disaster because it meant that once Christianity became the official religion, if you didn't accept the Nicene Creed, if you didn't believe what the official church said you ought to believe, you were declared to be a heretic and had to leave the empire.

In that sense, there was no longer a foundation to receive the Messiah because we saw before that the foundation to receive the Messiah was a spiritual community living a life of worship, study, and prayer. When the Messiah comes, He is able to connect to them, but at the same time, there has to be a foundation of substance, which is freedom of religion and freedom of speech. If the Messiah comes along and has different ideas than the religious establishment, what is the religious establishment going to do? If there's no religious freedom, the religious establishment can persecute Him, call Him a heretic, and even put Him in prison or put Him to death, or at least expel Him and kick Him out of the Roman Empire. So, once Christianity became the official religion of Rome, there was no longer a foundation to receive the Messiah, and the Roman Empire served its purpose. This led, not long after this, to the fall of Rome and the gradual collapse and decline of the Roman Empire.

Now, it entered into a period of what we call the patriarchs. There were different patriarchs leading the different churches geographically. There were actually five in the Western church: Rome, Constantinople, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Alexandria. During this time, there was a continuous movement of tribes coming from Asia. The Huns pushed the Germanic tribes over, and they went to live in Britain. A lot of the other Germanic tribes, like the Vandals, moved into France and Spain and down into North Africa. The Huns settled in what's now Eastern Europe, Hungary. In 410, Rome was sacked, and the principle says God raised up the Germanic tribes as the new chosen people. Because Christianity became the official religion in Rome, God's providence could no longer develop in Rome anymore, so God's providence then moved to the Germanic tribes, the new chosen people. Why? I talked about that in a longer workshop. There's a very different kind of spirituality to Rome. Roman spirituality was the state organizing everything; the emperor was God and was essentially totalitarian, even before it became Christian, which became a Christian form of totalitarianism. Whereas the Germanic tribes were free people, fundamentally democratic in terms of their constitution and freedom-loving. So, God's providence moved to the Germanic tribes.

As I said, some of these Germanic tribes got squeezed over, so a lot of men got into boats and invaded Britain. They settled in Britain, and these are the Angles and Saxons. That's why that part of Britain became called England, the land of the Angles, the English. The English were Christianised, and then they sent missionaries back to Christianise the Germanic tribes much later. As I said, you had the invasion of these barbarians; Rome was sacked, and providence moved to the Germanic tribes. At the same time, the early church became influenced by paganism. One of the most fateful things was when Constantine became a Christian and called the Nicene Creed. Up until the time Constantine, the only people who were Christians were those who believed in Jesus, had a conversion experience, and went to church, even at the risk of their job, social status, and sometimes even their life because they were persecuted. All the people who went to church were sincere Christians.

When Constantine became a Christian, everybody thought, 'Oh, actually, the emperor is now a Christian; maybe I should start going to church.' They wanted to be seen in church if they wanted to advance in their career, social status, and everything else. So, a lot of people came to church who hadn't been through a rebirth experience, who hadn't gone through a change of heart and change of mind. They brought into the church their old ways of thinking, their pagan attitudes, and their pagan spirituality. There was a turning up of the church because that was the place to be, and a lot of these pagan ideas entered the church. Augustine, for example, was one of the greatest church fathers in the Western church. He came from a Manichaean background, a Gnostic background, but he brought a lot of these pagan Gnostic ideas into the Christian church. Increasingly, the Christian theology became a synthesis of Judaism and Hellenism.

As I mentioned before, the idea of fate, which comes from a Hellenistic tradition, was brought into the Christian church and renamed predestination. We also lost the doctrinal controversies about who Jesus is: the Trinity, is Jesus God, is Jesus a man, is He God and man? There was a huge emphasis here upon correct belief, not about correct behaviour. The main emphasis was correct belief; orthodoxy means correct belief. So, as long as you believe the right thing, it doesn't really matter how you behave. That's been a serious weakness within the Christian church. That was the Western church, but also Christianity went east. There was a huge patriarchate here in Baghdad, and geographically, the Nestorian or Eastern church is the largest church, much larger than any of the Western churches. Christianity spread down into Arabia, into India with Saint Thomas, spread along the Silk Road into Mongolia, down to China, into Tibet, and all the way around. There are suggestions that Nestorian Christianity was embraced by the Mongolians, and the Mongolians became Nestorian Christians before they became Muslims.

The story of Christianity even reached Korea, and that was the point where Pyongyang was known as the Jerusalem of the East long before this little thing happened with Protestantism recently. You can see there's a Nestorian church pagoda in China that was then made into a Confucianist place of worship. This is a Nestorian stele recounting how Christianity came to China, brought by a Persian cleric. It expanded for a long time, then China became very xenophobic under the Tang Dynasty. There was a lot of persecution, and so Christianity was exterminated in China during this time because it was regarded as a foreign religion. Buddhism also regarded as a foreign religion faced a lot of persecution. When the Mongolians, who were Nestorians, invaded and conquered China, Nestorian Christianity expanded again within China. But then when the Ming Dynasty came along, they were also incredibly xenophobic, and again they eradicated Christianity. Christianity didn't re-enter China until Western missionaries came in the 19th century. A similar fate befell Nestorian Christianity in Korea; it seemed to survive a little bit, but basically, for those nationalistic, xenophobic reasons, Christianity was exterminated there in the Far East.

Then you had the rise of Islam during this time, which is regarded as a reform movement in Christianity. A very simple belief system: believe Jesus is God, believe in the virgin birth, and believe Jesus will return at the second advent. Muhammad was born in Mecca, and during his lifetime, he was able to unite the Arab tribes. Islam expanded rapidly after his death, spreading along North Africa and all the way into Spain. All this land had already become Christian, so very easily and readily, Christians embraced Islam because they saw it as a reform movement within Christianity. You have this incredible high point of European civilisation; one of the great high points is in Spain, Muslim Spain, which was far more advanced culturally, economically, politically, architecturally, scientifically, and philosophically than anywhere else in Europe at that time. The extraordinarily beautiful buildings, like the mosque of Cordoba, were built a thousand years ago when Christians drove the Muslims out of Spain.

They didn't know what to do with this extraordinary building, so they built a church in the middle of it, which is not a very nice thing to do; it spoiled the architecture, to be honest. A lot of science, art, culture, architecture, philosophy, medicine, and astronomy entered Western Europe through Islam. Muslims learned about these subjects from Greece, picked up all this information and knowledge, translated it into Arabic, and spread it through North Africa into Spain. From there, it was translated into Latin and re-entered Western Europe, which was relatively tolerant of Jews and Christians at that time. I think there was a real possibility that the Messiah might have come at this point, as there was a spiritual community in Islam that was relatively tolerant of Jews and Christians, allowing for a degree of religious freedom. Personally, I think that might have been a possibility for the Messiah to come; it is quite possible that the Messiah was born at that time in Spain. We don't know; there's no record. Someone might have been born with that mission and potentiality, but perhaps he didn't want to take up the mission, or maybe he tried and it didn't work out. We simply don't know.

If you look at what was going on in Europe at that time, this period is sometimes called the European Dark Ages. Pope Leo III, who was sitting in Rome, saw the extraordinary expansion of Islam, which was like a pincer movement moving towards Rome. He felt very vulnerable, having been beaten up by the Romans a few times, and realised he needed a protector. So, he invited Charlemagne to come to Rome to settle some disputes he was having with the Romans, and then he crowned Charlemagne as the Emperor of the Romans. Essentially, Charlemagne was to protect the Pope from the local inhabitants in Rome. The source of authority that the Pope claimed to have in this situation raises the question: who is the Pope to decide that Charlemagne should be crowned? To justify this, the Pope produced what is called the Donation of Constantine. When Constantine moved the capital of the Roman Empire to Constantinople, he supposedly wrote a document transferring authority for the Western Empire to the Pope, the Patriarch of Rome. The Pope then claimed he had the authority to crown Charlemagne as the Emperor of the Romans based on this document.

Charlemagne himself was not too pleased with this arrangement, as it led to conflict with the Eastern Emperor. However, the Donation of Constantine was later exposed as a forgery, which led to a significant struggle over church-state relations in Western Europe for a thousand years. You can still hear echoes of this struggle today. The Church wanted to use the power of the state, claiming authority to appoint emperors and kings, which also meant they had the authority to dismiss them. The Pope asserted that he had this authority because he was the Vicar of Christ, based on the Donation of Constantine, to decide who would be the king or emperor in all European countries. The Church sought to use the power of the state to establish and maintain a monopoly, while at the same time, the state wanted to use the Church to control people. This created a complex relationship between church and state.

The principle states that after crowning an emperor, the Pope was to obey him as one of his subjects in temporal matters, while the emperor was to lift up and further the spiritual work of the papacy in his realm. In reality, however, the Pope dominated the emperor and kings, refusing to respect their authority in temporal matters. This has been a significant problem right up until the 20th century. The struggle between church and state continued, with Charlemagne expanding his Germanic territory as the Emperor of the Romans. He forced the Saxons to convert to Christianity, and any Saxons who refused were put to death; thousands were slaughtered at Verden because they refused to accept Christianity. Thus, Christianity spread under Charlemagne using the sword, contrary to the common belief that it was primarily Islam that spread through violence during this period.

There was a Carolingian Renaissance, which Charlemagne sponsored, focusing on art, religion, education, and culture—a sort of rebirth compared to what was going on in Spain, which was incredibly primitive. Many of the people behind this renaissance were figures like Boniface, who came from England. When Charlemagne died, his kingdom was divided among his descendants, leading to civil wars. His empire started off strong but gradually fragmented. The Huns were moving in from the east, and the Franks were not doing a very good job defending the eastern part of the empire. Consequently, the Germans decided to elect Henry I and crowned him King of the Germans. This reflects the fundamentally democratic nature of Germanic political culture and tradition, where the king was always partially elected.

Otto I was crowned Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in 962, and Hugh Capet became the King of France, marking the end of the Carolingian line of kings. This created a split between the Germanic kings, who were no longer Franks, and Hugh Capet, who established a new dynasty that lasted for many centuries. The French monarchy was based on primogeniture, while the Germanic tradition retained a democratic element, allowing for the election of kings. When the principle talks about the East Franks and the West Franks, I would argue that this is partly due to the nature of their political economies. The Christian Church itself then split in what is known as the Great Schism of 1054, dividing into the Roman Catholic Church under the control of the papacy in Rome and the Eastern Orthodox Churches, which were national churches, including the Russian Orthodox Church, Bulgarian Orthodox Church, and Greek Orthodox Church.

One of the main differences between the two was language; in the West, Latin was the common language, while in the East, it was Greek. As the empire divided, fewer people could speak Latin and Greek, leading to a drift apart. Additionally, the Western Church introduced a new clause into the creed, the Filioque clause, stating that the Holy Spirit proceeds from both the Father and the Son. The Eastern Church objected, arguing that this addition was not permissible. There was also a disagreement regarding the authority of the Pope in Rome; the Eastern Orthodox Church believed that the Pope was the first among equals, not the supreme head of all Christians. Consequently, they decided to excommunicate each other in 1054, not realising the gravity of their actions due to their inability to translate each other's documents of excommunication.

This led to the Investiture Controversy, which revolved around the question of who had the authority to appoint bishops—the Pope or the king? The Church was incredibly wealthy, owning vast amounts of land, which was a source of power. Kings wanted bishops loyal to them controlling the Church's land in their countries, while the Pope insisted that bishops were part of the Church and should be appointed by him. Kings were concerned that the Pope would appoint bishops who were hostile to them. Until then, the Pope had been appointed by the Holy Roman Emperor, and the Emperor had appointed the Pope. However, when a Pope died while the Holy Roman Emperor was very young, the cardinals seized the opportunity to elect the Pope themselves. Since then, the Pope has been elected by the College of Cardinals, not appointed by the Holy Roman Emperor, allowing the Church to gain control over the bishops.

During this time, there was also a lot of corruption within the Church and a significant internal reformation. Many saints and monastic scholars emerged, including extraordinary figures worth reading about, such as Julian of Norwich, a mystic; Saint Hildegard, who was a mystic and composer, and the founder of Germanic science; and Francis of Assisi, who is well-known. Thomas Aquinas was a brilliant philosopher and theologian, while Bernard of Clairvaux founded about 300 monasteries and inspired towns to build them. William of Ockham was another brilliant philosopher. To give you a taste of the music from this period, here is a little musical interlude featuring Saint Hildegard of Bingen. She was a brilliant scientist and composer, developing many things that I am not qualified to discuss. She was one of the most amazing women in European culture, founding her own convent and contributing to various fields.

There was a lot of controversy and corruption within the Church, as many struggles were over power. People sought power to create a Christian kingdom, but with power comes the possibility of corruption, with individuals using that power for their own purposes. This situation was very similar to what happened in Old Testament Judaism. Additionally, there was a conflict with the rise of Islam, which I mentioned earlier. Christianity came into conflict with the Muslim world during the period of the Crusades. The Crusades were military campaigns instigated and sanctioned by the Pope. Islam expanded through Northern Africa into Spain, and Muslim armies invaded France, where they were defeated by Charlemagne's grandfather, Charles Martel. After their defeat, they retreated south of the Pyrenees, while the Christian kingdoms gradually tried to push the Muslims out over about 500 years. Finally, in the late 15th century, Muslims were expelled from Spain, which became a Christian kingdom again.

During this time, Muslim armies had conquered Jerusalem and were expanding into Christian territories. The Muslim armies threatened the pilgrim routes to Jerusalem, which many pilgrims used to visit the Holy Sepulchre. In 1009, a particularly extreme Muslim dynasty, the Fatimid dynasty, destroyed the Holy Sepulchre and many churches throughout the Holy Land. They also threatened the pilgrim routes, prompting the Emperor in Constantinople and the Patriarch to seek help. They requested assistance from the Seljuk Turks, who came from Central Asia and eventually reached as far as Vienna. The Pope received this request and preached a crusade, inviting all sincere Christians to reclaim Jerusalem and protect the pilgrim routes. A great army set off, and on their way, they encountered many Jewish communities, attacking them in pogroms due to an anti-Semitic view that blamed the Jews for the death of Jesus. As a result, many Jews felt unsafe and moved north, settling in Poland.

There were about eight Crusades, most of which were unsuccessful. Eventually, they did manage to capture Jerusalem, but when the Crusaders entered, they slaughtered everyone present—Jews, Christians, and Muslims alike. One of the social effects of the Crusades in Europe was the breakdown of autocratic feudalism. Many knights and important figures went on these Crusades, and many were killed, leading to disillusionment with the Catholic Church. People began to question why, if the Pope blessed these Crusades, they were often unsuccessful.

The Crusades prompted significant questioning of the authority of the papacy. Many began to wonder if there was something corrupt within Rome, particularly given the unsuccessful outcomes and the terrible events associated with these campaigns. This led to a decline in the autocratic feudalism that had dominated Western Europe, which was further exacerbated by the vast sums of money spent on the Crusades. For instance, Malta became phenomenally wealthy due to the investments made there by the Knights after their return from Jerusalem. Upon encountering Muslim civilization, the Crusaders realised that its culture, science, and technology were far more advanced than their own, leading to the importation of new ideas and architectural styles back into Europe.

One significant issue during this period was the ongoing controversy between church and state. A notable conflict arose when one pope argued with the King of France, stripping him of privileges granted by previous popes. The king was understandably displeased and questioned the pope's authority to do so. In response, the pope demanded that the king come to Rome to answer these charges. However, the King of France, Philip, refused and convened the Estates General, effectively the first parliament in France, where he and his aristocrats declared the pope a heretic and accused him of various crimes. This conflict culminated in violence, leading to the pope's death shortly thereafter.

Following this turmoil, the papacy moved to Avignon, France, where it remained for about seventy years. This period mirrored the Jewish exile in Babylon, where purification and reform were expected. However, instead of reflecting on the reasons for their corruption, the popes in Avignon became increasingly focused on luxury and political power, seeking to centralise authority and amass wealth for grand building projects. The papacy became even more corrupt during this time, with popes living lavishly and becoming embroiled in European politics.

Eventually, Pope Gregory XI decided to return the papacy to Rome, but he died shortly after. His successor was not universally accepted, leading to the election of another pope in Avignon. This resulted in a situation where there were two popes, each claiming to be the true pope, which caused a significant spiritual crisis across Europe. This schism, known as the Papal Schism, created immense confusion regarding spiritual authority, with half of Europe supporting one pope and the other half supporting the other. The situation became intolerable, prompting a council at Pisa in 1409 to resolve the issue by deposing both popes and electing a new one. However, the two deposed popes refused to step down, leading to a scenario where there were now three popes, further complicating the matter.

In response to the rampant corruption within the church, reform movements began to emerge. One notable figure was John Wycliffe, a professor of theology and Bible studies who translated the Bible into English. His ideas inspired many who sought reform. At the Council of Constance, which followed the earlier council, the Holy Roman Emperor invited Jan Hus, a reformer critical of the Catholic Church's corruption, to share his views. Despite the emperor's guarantee of safety, Hus was ultimately tried for heresy and executed by burning at the stake. This tragic event highlighted the church's resistance to reform and the dangers faced by those who sought to challenge its authority.

Throughout history, God has sought to create a space within Christian Europe where freedom of religion could flourish, allowing the Messiah to come and share His ideas without fear of persecution. However, the medieval church obstructed this divine plan, leading to a repressive environment where the original mind was stifled. The feudal system further entrenched social stratification, limiting economic mobility and reinforcing the church's corrupt practices. The church's wealth, derived from tithes, allowed priests and bishops to live in luxury, perpetuating a system where spiritual authority was intertwined with financial gain.

Despite these barriers, the human heart's desire for the three blessings—freedom of religion, justice, and the ability to pursue one's creativity—remained irrepressible. This desire ultimately contributed to the breakdown of the oppressive structures of feudal society. The Renaissance emerged as a significant movement during this period, beginning in Florence in the 14th century, where a love for freedom and creativity flourished. The Medici family played a crucial role as patrons of the arts, fostering an environment where artists could pursue beauty, truth, and goodness. This cultural flowering laid the groundwork for the subsequent Reformation, as the desire for reform and spiritual renewal continued to grow in response to the church's corruption.

The New Testament and much literature had not been noticed or seen in Western Europe for a long time. The Italians and the city-states were amazed by Greek and Roman thought and culture; they wanted to imitate it, inherit their art forms, linguistic forms, and cultural forms, and then build upon that. This drive to improve things became the driving force behind the modern world, up until today. Prior to this, things had been quite stagnant. This is expressed in the arts; Michelangelo lived at that time and was inspired by Greek sculpture, creating extraordinary works like David. Similarly, Leonardo da Vinci, influenced by Greek art forms, painted remarkable pieces. Before this, the traditional form was more akin to icons.

Renaissance humanists did not reject Christianity, which is crucial to understand. Many of the Renaissance's greatest works were devoted to it, and the Church patronised Renaissance art. Thus, all Renaissance art, architecture, paintings, and music expressed spiritual values, reflecting Christian spirituality. This is why the standard of these works is so incredibly high; it represents the synthesis and unity of the Hebraic and Hellenistic traditions. All these Hellenistic forms of sculpture and art were infused with Christian spirituality and values, contributing to their lasting significance. Additionally, the rebirth of science during this period saw scientists who were strong Christians, such as Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, and Francis Bacon, who developed the scientific method.

The development of literature and politics also flourished during this time. Figures like Machiavelli shattered the medieval synthesis, while Shakespeare's plays were infused with a deep understanding of human nature, both its best and worst aspects, all underpinned by Christian spirituality. John Milton, who wrote Paradise Lost, also drew heavily from the Bible, which served as the main source of ideas and stories for these writers. They translated biblical themes into various forms, contributing to the rich tapestry of Renaissance thought.

The reform movement led to a transformation in art, politics, and science, and it also sparked discussions about the reform of the Church. Byzantine scholars brought many Greek texts of the New Testament to Italy, which differed from the Latin version that had been widely read in Western Europe. This prompted people to return to the original texts and aspire to revive the spirit of early Christianity, which was markedly different in terms of spirituality, way of life, and values compared to the medieval Christian Church. The Renaissance thus led to significant turmoil within theology, with figures like Erasmus, a great Christian humanist, and others like Zwingli in Switzerland, Calvin in France, and Martin Luther in Germany emerging as influential figures.

Martin Luther was particularly significant. Almost a century after the death of Jan Hus, he encountered a Catholic fundraiser raising money for St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Luther found the fundraising technique dishonest and wrote a series of theses critiquing the Catholic Church's theology, particularly the practice of indulgences. When he posted these theses on the cathedral door, it shocked the Pope, who was concerned about the impact on his fundraising efforts. The Pope invited Luther to Rome for a discussion, but Luther, recalling the fate of the last person who accepted such an invitation, politely declined. This refusal angered the Pope, who demanded that the German princes hand Luther over for trial.

The German princes, however, were intrigued by Luther's ideas, particularly his views on church-state relations. Luther argued that the Pope should not have authority over princes and kings, suggesting that bishops and priests should acknowledge the authority of the king in temporal matters. This perspective resonated with the German princes, especially in the north, who refused to send Luther to Rome and instead supported and protected him. Luther then articulated the concept of justification by faith, asserting that one cannot be justified by paying money but only through faith in Jesus, rebirth, and the forgiveness of sins. He declared that the Bible was the sole source of authority, stating that he would accept anything from the Pope's representatives only if they could provide biblical support for it.

Luther translated the Bible into German, which became a foundational document for the German language. He also advocated for the closure of monasteries and convents, encouraging monks and nuns to marry. Eventually, he proposed to a nun who had not received any marriage proposals, and they married, forming a faithful partnership. This synthesis of Renaissance and Reformation traditions led to significant conflict. The tragedy of the Reformation was that the Catholic Church was not reformed; instead, it became divided between Protestantism and Catholicism, both of which became ossified and weakened.

The Reformation also led to the Enlightenment. Following the Reformation, intense religious wars erupted as Catholic countries attempted to impose Catholicism on Protestant states. These wars lasted for 140 years, leading many intellectuals to become sceptical about religion, associating it with conflict. They sought alternative bases for morality, ethics, and philosophy outside of religion, leading to the rise of rationalism and empiricism. This shift resulted in a breakdown of the medieval synthesis, which had been primarily established by Thomas Aquinas, and prompted questioning of all values, traditions, and doctrines. Many began to doubt the logic of beliefs such as the Trinity, asking why they should adhere to doctrines that seemed illogical or outdated.

The Enlightenment saw some streams invaded by materialism and atheism. One of the earliest developments occurred in England with the rise of Deism, where philosophers, influenced by Martin Luther's emphasis on studying the Bible, began to identify contradictions within it. The critical study of the Bible, alongside the Enlightenment's focus on reason, led to the questioning of miraculous events and scientific validity. Deists sought to develop a theology based solely on reason, believing in God but advocating for a rational approach to faith. Some intellectuals within the Church of England, such as William Law and Bishop Butler, engaged with Deists but were ultimately defeated in intellectual debates. However, the potential for the Enlightenment in England to become atheistic was thwarted, allowing for a synthesis of Hebraic and Hellenistic traditions to persist.

Up until the 1960s, English society and culture remained permeated by the Christian spirit. Even socialists in England were often Christians. The English Revolution in the 1640s and the Glorious Revolution later were religious liberal democratic movements aimed at preserving freedom of religion, the rule of law, free trade, and property rights. During this period, many spiritual groups emerged following the Reformation, including the Puritans, who emigrated to America on the Mayflower in 1620. Figures like George Fox, the founder of the Quakers, and John Wesley, the founder of the Methodists, contributed to a rich tapestry of religious pluralism in England, alongside the Church of England and the Catholic Church, resulting in a diverse array of Protestant sects.

With a deep understanding of human nature, Haines argued for free market humanism and liberal democracy. One of his friends was Adam Smith, another great humanist. Both recognised, despite not being religious, the value and significance of religion. Adam Smith developed the concept of prosperity and explored how nations could become prosperous through a free market economy and the importance of private property. His main work, 'The Theory of Moral Sentiments', offers a profound analysis of human nature and moral philosophy. Scottish philosophers primarily focused on moral transformation rather than political change, emphasising the moral values of individuals that shape the quality of society.

Robert Burns, a humanist poet of that era, and Dr Thomas Reid contributed to the development of Presbyterianism in Scotland. This form of governance within the church allowed for democracy, as ministers were not appointed by bishops but elected by elders chosen from the congregation. This system fostered habits and principles of democracy, respect for rules, and gradually expanded into the political realm. In Britain, the synthesis of Hebraic and Hellenistic traditions laid the foundation for democracy, the rule of law, property ownership, and the free market. The Divine Principle states that God's providence over two thousand years prepared a democratic social and legal environment to protect Christ at the Second Advent, which developed in the United Kingdom and later expanded to the United States and the British Empire.

The rationalist tradition saw Descartes, a profound Christian, develop beliefs that proved the existence of God. However, when Enlightenment ideas arrived in France from England, the French Catholic Church struggled to engage with them, leading to a predominantly atheistic and materialistic intellectual class. This shift allowed for the rise of figures like Rousseau, who advocated for democratic totalitarianism, and the Encyclopédistes, who were largely atheistic materialists. The French Revolution, marked by its atheistic and bloody nature, resulted in dictatorship and the rise of Napoleon, imposing French Enlightenment values across Europe and leading to dogmatic universalism.

In Germany, the Enlightenment had religious beginnings, with figures like Spener, a Pietist who influenced John Wesley and the development of Methodism. However, the Enlightenment in Germany evolved outside the church and into universities, where figures like Kant emerged. Although Kant believed in God, he did not adhere to Christianity in a profound sense. Goethe, another significant thinker, produced extraordinary literature that lacked Christian values, leading many young German intellectuals to despair. The rise of romanticism, emphasising emotion over reason, reacted against French rationalism, promoting pluralism instead of universalism. This shift allowed for the emergence of nationalism, anti-Semitism, and authoritarianism within German philosophy, particularly through Hegel, who, despite being a profound intellectual, did not operate within a Christian framework.

The influence of French atheism on Hegel's followers led to the rise of left-wing Hegelians, significantly impacting Marx and Freud, and contributing to the development of atheistic materialism. This trajectory ultimately led to communism, fascism, and Nazism, with a tragic lack of a foundation for the Messiah in Germany. The Enlightenment's divergence resulted in some parts leading to communism while others synthesised with the Reformation, feeding into the liberal democratic tradition. Observing these historical patterns reveals parallels between Jewish history from Abraham to Jesus and the struggles within Christian history to establish a foundation for the Messiah across Europe.

The last 400 years, particularly from Martin Luther's birth in 1517, saw Protestantism travel westward, influencing Britain and eventually spreading to America through the British Empire. Alongside Protestantism came liberal democracy and the free market. After World War II, liberal democracy began to arrive in Japan with the Meiji Restoration and later in Korea, connecting to God's providence. In contrast, Germany saw the rise of Marxism and Nazism, leading to the horrors of the Second World War. The division of Germany post-war reflected the conflict between Judeo-Christian liberal democracy in the West and communism in the East, while Korea faced a similar fate, with the south avoiding communism due to American intervention.

The culmination of God's providence appears to converge in Korea, where the founders of the movement, Sun Myung Moon and Hak Ja Han, were born. This region represents a meeting point of divine and satanic providence, presenting a significant challenge: which side will prevail, the communist ideology or the Judeo-Christian liberal democratic society? This ongoing conflict reflects a larger struggle in the world today.