XPost: rec.arts.books.tolkien, alt.religion.christian.east-orthodox   
   From: alexander.arnakis@verizon.net   
      
   On Tue, 04 Nov 2003 02:37:10 GMT, hayesmstw@hotmail.com (Steve Hayes)   
   wrote:   
   >   
   >Christianity has its source in the idea that death is an enemy that has been   
   >overcome.   
   >   
   >As one Chrisdtian writer put it:   
   >   
   >"Neither the doctrine of the immortality of the soul, based on the opposition   
   >between spiritual and material, nor that of death as liberation, nor that of   
   >death as punishment, are in fact Christian doctrines. And their integration   
   >into the Christian worldview vitiated rather than clarified Christian theology   
   >and piety. They 'worked' as long as Christianity lived in a religious (i.e.   
   >death-centered) world. But they cease to work as soon as the world outgrows   
   >this old death-centered religion and becomes 'secular'. Yet the world has   
   >become secular not because it has become 'irreligious', 'materialistic',   
   >'superficial', not because it has 'lost religion' -- as so many Christians   
   >still think -- but because the old explanations do not really explain."   
   >   
   >(from Alexander Schmemann, _The world as sacrament_).   
   >   
   What Christianity did was redefine death from being an end to being a   
   transition. Thus, death changed (in the Christian world view) from   
   being an enemy to being a friend.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)