Soulfood

I have been meaning to read this book, published under the name of Tom Holland, since it first came out in 2019. It was all the buzz in the sorts of intellectual circles I hover about. Not being a scholar myself, but having an amateur interest in theology, philosophy, and the like this book is just the sort of pop historical survey that is worth my time to read.

And it was! The book is a whirlwind tour of the history of European Christianity, ably demonstrating how Christendom rose to dominance and now, in spite of postmodernity’s disposal of all its key truths, remains the underpinnings of even the most anti-Christian thought systems.

From the concept of individual rights, to the equality of all humanity, and in the idea that history is linear and progressive, Christian ideas hold the commanding heights of the current world order. By unflinchingly recounting the condition of pre-Christian cultures and contrasting them with the Christian culture that subsumed them, /Dominion/ delightfully explodes the anti-Christian myths that have been promulgated since the Enlightenment and gives Christendom its rightful due.

I question the authorship, though most scholars do not. While the book is attributed solely to Holland, there are sections where the author contradicts other passages in the book. Clearly some editors worked to make the book coherent and palatable to modern sensibilities. I think I can identify at least two voices, we’ll call them Holland and Holland’.

Holland’ often adopts a hostile view of the Bible, asserting as truth tenets of higher criticism that have long since been shown to be malicious and spurious. This is most evident in the Jerusalem section, wherein the author placidly notes that ancient Israel was not monotheistic and that claims of YHWH to be their sole deity were added by later editors (of course, all this is speculative, with no evidence in the manuscripts themselves). Any honest reading of Scripture will not in the least object to stating that the Hebrews were polytheists. They worshiped a golden calf at Sinai, participated in ritual orgies worshiping the Baals at Peor, and had to rid themselves of their Asherim before key battles – all before they even entered Canaan. There is nothing of this hidden or obscured by the texts. What there is instead is a clear, persistent, and unchanging call for them to forsake idols made by human hands and worship and serve YHWH alone. That they manifestly did not is not evidence that YHWH was created by later editors as a synthesis of earlier gods, as Holland’ argues.

Holland’ also calls into question Pauline authorship of certain passages he finds unpalatable, ascribing them instead to later followers of Paul (again, without evidence). He specifically calls out parts of 2 Corinthians regarding the role of women in the church. But later, the voice of Holland takes over and Pauline authorship of 2 Corinthians is affirmed.

There is perhaps a 3rd Holland, who wrote with his own hand rather than relying on scribes. This Holland (Holland’’) speaks of his Aunty Deb, to whom the book is dedicated. One might be able to discern here an author with deep sympathies towards individual Christians not shared by either Holland or Holland’.

For all its flaws and questionable authorship, it remains a worthwhile read. While maintaining a respectful distance from outright asserting the social good (especially for the weak and vulnerable – women and children) of traditional marriage – which Christianity alone among worldviews of all ages and flavors has championed as the ideal – he nonetheless clearly demonstrates how Christian marriage and its attitude towards childbearing transformed cultures everywhere in positive ways. Likewise the book makes a fine case (as have many others) that science as it has most successfully been practiced (in terms of technological progress), far from being impeded by power-hungry, ignorant clerics, was rather both inspired and supported by the Church even to the current age. Without a belief in an ordered and observable universe – a belief unique to Christianity even beyond Judaism and Islam – there could not be such as thing as what we call science.

Holland also doesn’t ignore the direct link between the rise of neopaganism (in Germany and Italy) as well as naturalism and the brutal horrors of wars in the 20th century and beyond. Freed from the strictures of Christian morality, nations seeking to replace it with a new world order acted without the slightest restraint. Thus always with tyrants.

In closing, /Dominion/ is essential for the amateur philosopher who wished to understand how we arrived at this current age, and where we might be going if the reversion to paganism continues. It is both an elegy for an age that has passed and a clarion call to hold fast to those ideals which brought us here. Enjoy!