Right from its very beginning, Christianity has always expressed itself in terms of what it isn't. In the New Testament this was through the Jewish religion, where Jesus was explained in terms of the Jewish concepts of Messiah, Redeemer, Suffering Servant, Atonement for Sin etc, except that these concepts were themselves altered to expressed the new reality of Jesus Christ. The Jewish idea of the Messiah was one who came to overthrow wickedness and establish the rule of God. In the End Time God would reveal himself to all the nations, there would be an outpouring of his Spirit on all men, the dead would be resurrected, the wicked punished and the righteous live in the New Earth (eg see Isaish 65:17-24). The Christian use of the Jewish concept of the Messiah was a "realised eschatology", where the Last Things have happened in Christ. Christ is God's final revelation (John 1:1,14), the glory of God is present on earth in him and men have seen it (John 1:14), those who have seen Christ have seen the Father (John 14:9), those united in Christ are in heaven (John 14:23), judgement occured when the world refused Christ (John 12:31) and continues to occur for every person (John 3:19), the resurrection and the life are in Christ (John 11:25), Christ is still present by his Spirit (John 14:16-18). The crucifixion is Christ's "exhaltation" when he made a bridge between heaven and earth (John 3:14,6:62,8:28,11:32,12:32,13:1), it was then Satan lost control of this world (John 12:31).

In the centuries following the early church, Christianity used Greek Philosophy to express its ideas, developing the theological basis of belief, with sophisticated formulas for the incarnation, the trinity, the sacraments, the Virgin etc. The new discovery of many of Aristotle's writings in the renaissance developed theology further with St Thomas Aquinas' work, and with the "enlightenment" of the 16th and 17th centuries Christianity again found new ways of expressing itself in terms of history, biology, psychology etc. In the 20th century the philosophy of existentialism and the political doctrine of socialism provided new concepts and ideas that were utilised by Christianity to express some of its oldest beliefs. Thus we see Christianity as being a vast storehouse of various moralities, beliefs, ideas, sagas, ideals and in each age they find new expressions through which Christians can better understand these old ideas. Christianity is a stomach forever seeking new nourishment, new ideas and beliefs to feed upon. Here is a bfief outline of two of these ideas, existentialism and socialism, and how they have been used by Christianity.

1. Existentialism

Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) is often called the first existentialist. He attacked the attacked the huge philosophical systems that explained everything but ignored the individual. For Kierkegaard the important thing was for the individual to make a "leap of faith" out of his old ways and commit himself unconditionality to service to Christ. Kierkegaard emphasised the uncertainity of thought, how we cannot by logical deduction or argument come to any certainty, and hence we must therefore ignore any arguments or reasons and simply "leap" into a life of commmitment and responsibility. Any attempt to rationalise or "prove" that this is correct ignores the fundamental freedom of the individual who has to choose, but with no reasons, no justifications, no explanations as to why one way is better than another. The decision is a "leap", not a careful calculation.

"The existing individual who chooses to persue the objective way enters upon the entire appooximation-process by which it is proposed to bring God to light objectively. But this is in all eternity impossible because God is a subject, and therefore exists only for subjectivity in inwardness".

Although Kierkegaard was a Christian there have been athiest existentialists (Nietzche, Jaspers and Sartre), Christian existentialists (Marcel), Jewish existentialists (Buber) and pagan existentialists (Heidegger). For each of them the important issue is human freedom and responsibility, we choose who we shall be and take responsibility for that free choice.

2. Christian existentialism

There have been a number of Christian theologians, but perhaps Rudolph Bultmann is the best known. He sees the stories of the New Testament about the parousia, Messiah, Spirit, resurrection as myths belonging to the world-view of that time. What must be done is the language of the first century should be stripped down and its "bare bones" re-covered with the language of modern man, for Bultmann this can best be done by expressing the message of Christianity in terms if existentialism. Thus for every individual "in each moment slumbers the possibility of being the eschatological moment, you must awaken it", "eschatological existence" means being a "new creature". "The radical dualism between the two ages was simply the occasion for grasping the absoluteness of man's choice: either the world or God's reign."

3. Socialism

Ever since the beginning of history there has been poverty, hunger and misery caused by lack of housing, food and the basic necessities of life. Yet since the rise of capitalism man has been able to produce massive amounts of whatever he wants: food, houses, hospitals, clothes etc. So why does poverty and hunger still exist ? Not because it is impossible to provide these items, but because those in control of these means of production choose not to provide them. This is the starting point of socialism: that we have the ability to rid the world of many ills, yet those in control of society choose to destroy food rather than give it to the hungry, choose to build weapons, luxery yachts, huge mansions rather than provide for the poor and needy.

Under socialism the people control the means of production, and so there is not a conflict between what gets produced and what is needed. If people are hungry we produce more food, if they are homeless we build houses, if they are sick we provide doctors and hospitals, if they are ignorant we educate them.

Socialists argue that not only does capitalism not provide people with a basic, decent standard of living, it actually causes many social ills. The hopelessness felt by those "caught" in the system of spend, spend, spend when they have no money intices them to get into debt. The misery of living in poor housing with a dreary job leads people to "escape" into booze, drugs and vandalism. The isolation of modern life leads many to depression, mental breakdown, neurosis, addiction to tranquilisers and sleeping tablets. The loss of purpose in life, caused by living in a society interested only in making money and increasing profit, leads to violence, tribalism, corruption of the sex-drive, crime and a general decadance in society.

With the right to a basic, decent, standard of living and a feeling of being in control of society rather than being controlled by it, people will get back pride, dignity and self-respect. This in turn will remove the causes of the "symptoms" of the sickness of capitalism. The problem for socialists is not trying to remove the symptoms of capitalism, but remove the causes. We can give money to the poor, the NHS, the local school, the ill, the hungry all we want, but we can never begin to really help unless we remove the cause of the poverty, hunger, sickness and ignorance. Thus being a socialist means really wanting to change the whole of society, because only then can you really change the people in that society.

4. Christian Socialism

When Christianity had political power in the Middle-Ages it was a time marked by great poverty and corruption. The overthrow of the feudal kings and princes by the capitalist managers and bankers meant Christianity no longer controled society, rather in was run by the "enlightened" who were only concerned with making money. During most of its 2000 year history Christianity has not been concerned with evil in this world. There has been the attitude that because the world is fallen and under control of the devil it can never be made better, the only escape from poverty and sickness is in heaven. Hence Christianity has only seen "liberation of the captives" as a liberation from sin and hell, not a liberation from injustice, poverty and oppression.

The rise of socialism challanged Christianity to take seriously the challange of helping the poor and the oppressed. Clearly it was possible to rid the world of some evils: slavery had been abolished, with the rise of medicine many diseases could be cured, with the big increase in industry more food could be provided, more homes, schools and hospitals built. People should have the right to choose their leaders (the vote), should be entitled to sick pay when they couldn't work, child labour should be abolished, certain standards of health and safety should be enforced in factories and work places. In looking at the Bible, suddenly Christians saw God wasn't only interested in saving souls, but real practical help as well, God was on the side of the poor and oppressed:

"Your rulers are rebels, companions of thieves;
 they all love bribes and chase after gifts.
 They do not defend the cause of the fatherless;
 The widow's case does not come before them." (Isaiah 1:23)

"You trample on the poor and force him to give you corn...
 You oppress the righteous and take bribes and you deprive
 the poor of justice in the courts." (Amos 5:11,12)

"He has brought down rulers from their thrones
 but has lifted up the humble.
 He has filled the hungry with good things
 but he has sent the rich away empty." (Luke 1:52)

"Woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort.
 Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry." (Luke 6:24)

"Now listen you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that
 is coming upon you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths eaten your clothes... 
 Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are
 crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears
 of the Lord Almighty." (James 5:1-4)

Further Reading

Six Existentialist Thinkers, Blackham.
An Existentialist Theology, MacQuarrie.
Jesus Christ and Mythology, Bultmann.
Christian Hope and the Future of Man, Travis.
Concluding Unscientific Postscript, Kierkegaard.

Why You Should be a Socialist, Foot.
The Revoltuionary Road to Socialism, Callinicos.
Theology Encounters Revolution, Kirk.
The Political Christ, Richardson.
A Reader in Political Theology, Kee.