>Again, I'll cite the example I'm more familiar with. Early Christianity
>amongst the Franks seemed to be primarily an outward transformation--Clovis,
>for example, converts after God grants him a victory (parallels with
>Constantine), not after some inner revelation. Acceptance of Christianity
>does not usually equate with a change in behaviour as a result, a few holy
>men and women aside. Gradually, the people start to learn about the new
>faith, which can take quite a long time. The inner transformation came
>centuries later, once the outward practices had become Christianized, which
>is something that is perhaps alien to us--if someone in Western society
>converts to a new religion today, it's usually because of a shift in inner
>beliefs, and even those who convert because of marriage are expected to
>truly convert, not just to go through the motions.
The opposite process is prescribed by Gregory in his letter to Mellitus:
"Do not let them sacrifice animals to the devil, but let them slaughter
animals for their own food to the praise of God, and let them give thanks to
the Giver of all things for his bountiful provision. Thus while some
outward rejoicings are preserved, they will be able more easily to share in
inward rejoicings. It is doubtless impossible to cut out everything at once
from their stubborn minds: just as the man who is attempting to climb to
the highest place, rises by steps and degrees and not by leaps. Thus the
Lord made Himself known to the Israelites in Egypt; yet he preserved in his
own worship the forms of sacrifice which they were accustomed to offer to
the devil and commanded them to kill animals when sacrificing to him. So
with changed hearts, they were to put away one part of the sacrifice and
retain the other, even though they were the same animals as they were in the
habit of offering, yet since the people were offering them to the true God
and not to idols, they were not the same sacrifices . . ."
The strategy is to keep the familiar outward forms, the shrines, the
rituals, which are not the essentials, but to go from day one for a change
of heart, an inner transformation.
If "inner transformation" takes centuries, something has gone badly wrong.
This is certainly not the experience in England, where well within a century
of conversion the country is producing saints of the calibre of Oswald,
Wilfrid, Benedict Biscop, Bede.
Oriens.
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