Under Christendom the church became the dominant force in society. Indeed by the 12^th century the church was able to exercise power over countries and their rulers in Western Europe. ‘No secular ruler could rival papal wealth or authority,’ says Stuart Murray in Post-Christendom as he paints a picture of a totalitarian church in the late medieval period (page 110). Dissent was not welcomed at all by this time and in 1229 a synod at Toulouse created the Inquisition to look into accusations of heresy. ‘The logic of the Christendom shift led inexorably to totalitarian control and the Inquisition’ (112).

One significant example of the shift was to be seen in Christian attitudes towards war. Up until 170AD Murray claims that the church was ‘predominantly pacifist’ (114) for a number of reasons: they took to heart the teachings of Jesus on loving ones neighbour; but also very few soldiers were being converted to the faith and so the question of taking up arms was not faced. However, as more soldiers joined the church and as being a Christian became more acceptable within the ruling classes between 170 and 313 a shift can be detected. From the fourth century onwards, however, the church’s views towards war changed very significantly with the ‘just war theory’ being first thought up by Augustine and then refined by Thomas Aquinas.

The Old Testament was of particular value to these theologians as they grappled with this question, while the NT was more problematic. And so we have another example of how Christendom affected the church – the Bible was interpreted differently, with the OT taking precedence over the New. This was inevitable as theologians were trying to defend the Christendom status quo with the church now no longer marginal. ‘The view from the centre differs from the view from the margins' (119). With an emphasis on the nation and divinely appointed kings, the OT became indispensable as a tool to defend the shift.

One major effect of this, of course, was that the life and message of Jesus were marginalised. Issues such as loving ones enemies, living simply, and justice for the poor came to seen as ideals that could only be achieved in the next age. That Jesus was crucified under the orders of a Roman governor became an embarrassment as the cross became a symbol not of submission but of soldiers going to war. Part of the theological answer to this problem was to cast Jesus as a ‘celestial figure’ and giving less emphasis to his humanity and the life he lived while on this earth (122). ‘Fourth-century writers used the life of Christ devotionally rather than ethically’ (123). The creeds reflect this with their emphasis on his birth, death and resurrection and almost nothing about his life and message.

Jesus was pushed to the margins as the church moved to the centre. But there was more change in church life than just this shift: the clergy became a professional class; congregations came to have less and less to do in terms of worship services; monologue preaching became the norm with less room for learning through discussion; and communion, once a central aspect of community life, became a performance by a hidden priest, with the bread only being received by the people.