From: Alex Ferguson (alex@dcs.gla.ac.uk)
Date: Fri 06 May 1994 - 01:17:39 EEST
Prince Martin Crim of Pavis, King of Dragon Pass, Holay, and Saird has typed:
> Alex opines:
> "It's very unclear what you mean by "Ancient" Christianty here:
> your answers (mostly deleted herein) don't seem consistent for
> any one period."
> I meant roughly A.D. 300 to 500, during the period covered by the
> "Credo!" card game.
The article isn't to hand, but broadly I'd say the "non-statist" comments apply to an earlier period (and the church elsewhere, subsequently), while other particulars, such as the sacraments, the dating (and possibly existance) of the festivals, doctrines such as the trinity, and dietary customs, are all later.
> Alex states the truth:
> "Christianity has been a `state' religion (off and on) since its
> adoption by the Roman Empire."
> Yes, but there has been separation between the ecclesiastical
> powers and the temporal powers, as a result of the way
> Christianity BECAME a state religion.
What do you mean when you say "has been"? Not always, and everywhere, certainly. Frex, the Queen being Supreme Governor of the Church of England, bishops sitting in the House of Lords, to name but one Sturch. The Vatican, after all, is a state. Throughout the middle ages, the clergy exercised powers indistinguishable from that of "secular" persons of comparable rank.
> In Islam, there was never this separation.
There certainly there is in most modern Islamic states.
> "Hmm. Another candidate for the Americanisation Test,
> Inquisitor. }B-)"
> What?
I was referring to Joerg's (Americani(s|z)ed) use of the word "regular".
> BTW, it's immanent, not imminent. But I doubt Alex thought I was
> saying Aldrya was likely to occur at any moment or threateningly
> or menacingly near or at hand.
Only for the purposes of (alleged) humour. (And due to being terrorised by (other) pedants after making the converse typo...)
Alex.
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