“The death of earth is to become water, and the death of water is to become air, and the death of air is to become fire, and reversely.” - Heraclitus
Most of the basic beliefs of these evangelicals could be found in Puritanism: the sinfulness of man, the atoning death of Christ, the unmerited grace of God, the salvation of the true believer. But Puritanism was more concerned with politics and trying to create the holy commonwealth, the true Bible society, in England and America.
The evangelicals were not detached from politics as the Pietists were, but their controlling passion was to convert the lost. They were less concerned about the reform of churches and more intent on the preaching of the gospel to all—nominal Christians, scoffers, and heathen.
“Kötü bir anıyı unutmanın en iyi yolu güzel bir tanesiyle değişmektir.”
After Pascal’s death, the combined opposition of the Catholic Church and King Louis XIV succeeded in forcing Jansenism out of France. Port-Royal was destroyed and the movement forced to take refuge in Holland.
Kendini değiştirmek birçok durumda kendi üstüne yükselmek, kendi ötesine gelişmek anlamına gelir. Leo Tolstoy'un Ivan llyiç'in Ölümü * adlı romanındaki kadar çarpıcı bir açıklamayı başka hiç bir yerde bulamazsınız. Aynca Elisabeth Kübler-Ross'un, bu bağlamda son derece anlamlı olan Death, the Final Stage of Growth ("Ölüm: Gelişimin Son Evresi") başlıklı romanına dikkatlerinizi çekebilir miyim?
Ricci’s successor, Adam Schall, carried the scholarly work to an even higher level. He won the admiration of the Chinese scholar class by accurately predicting the time of an eclipse of the moon and became the director of the Imperial Astronomical Service. In 1650 Schall built a public church in Beijing and gained religious freedom for Christianity in the whole of the empire (1657). At Schall’s death there were almost 270,000 Christians in China.
Finally the Zurich council lost all patience. On March 7, 1526, it decided that anyone found rebaptizing would be put to death by drowning. Apparently their thought was, “If the heretics want water, let them have it.”
Many of the persecuted fled to Germany and Austria, but their prospects were no brighter there. In 1529 the imperial Diet of Speyer proclaimed Anabaptism a heresy, and every court in Christendom was obliged to condemn the heretics to death. During the Reformation years, between four and five thousand Anabaptists were executed by fire, water, and sword.