“Is there to be no development of religion in the Church of Christ? Certainly, there is to be development and on the largest scale.”
Do those words sound a little provocative to you? Well, they should—and they are! But, surprisingly, they’re from the writings of a 5th century Gallic monk-saint, Vincent of Lérins. (The Lérins, the site of his abbey, are islands near Cannes in the French Riviera.)
He cautioned, however that “Development means that each thing expands to be itself, while alteration means that a thing is changed from one thing into another.
“The understanding, knowledge and wisdom of one and all, of individuals as well as of the whole Church, ought then to make great and vigorous progress with the passing of the ages and the centuries, but only along its own line of development, that is, with the same doctrine, the same meaning and the same impact.”
Vincent went on to compare this kind of development with that of the body: “Though bodies develop and unfold their component parts with the passing of the years, they always remain what they were.”
This is a man of the 5th century speaking, and speaking with great optimism in a time of growing chaos: the time of the collapsing of Roman imperial authority in the West, of the “barbarian” invasions, of theological controversies such as Pelagianism.
Regarding the latter, Vincent tried to strike a balance between extreme views regarding free will versus the grace of God: that justification is something we achieve ourselves versus that we, of ourselves, can not achieve it at all.
The concept of development—in the sense of growth, change, maturation, and evolution, to use our modern vocabulary—offered a kind of middle way.
It’s interesting. Those ancient controversies still echo in our day, but with different concepts—e.g., nature vs. nurture.
After describing the growth and development of the human person and calling attention to the difference between maturation and alteration, Vincent wrote:
“…the doctrine of the Christian religion should properly follow these laws of development, that is, by becoming firmer over the years, more ample in the course of time, more exalted as it advances in age.
“…there should be no inconsistency between first and last, but we should reap true doctrine from the growth of true teaching, so that when, in the course of time, those first sowings yield an increase it may flourish and be tended in our day also.”
Do individuals change and develop? Of course! Do families change and develop? Of course? Do cultures change and develop? Of course! Do countries change and develop? Of course! Do religions change and develop? Of course!
But, can individuals, families, cultures, countries, and religions become other than what they started out to be? Can they change course, lose their way, mutate, and decline? Alas, of course!
Vincent warned, “If, however, the human form were to turn into some shape that did not belong to its own nature, or even if something were added to the sum of its members or subtracted from it, the whole body would necessarily perish or become grotesque or at least be enfeebled.”
Cancer is a kind of grotesque growth—an exaggeration of a normal growth or the development of a foreign growth.
If I have it, it’s no help if the doctor tells me I should go back to the healthy state I used to have. That’s history.
I want to know what I should change now!
29 November 2020