Abstract
This chapter makes a focus on in the 21st century. We start with a focus on the ideology that was Christendom, tracing its origins, rise, and decline, in order to appreciate the present context. We find that Christendom represented a political alliance between church and state that, in many ways, compromised the church, and represented a secular invasion into it. The persecutions of the early church were abated, although the influences of the Roman Empire and imperial court remain to this day in church buildings, in the distinction of clergy from laity, in the passive nature of worship, and in many other ways. In accordance with those theologians who find religion to be a “human construction,” Christianity in Christendom is, in many ways, the ultimate defiance, inhibiting both “faith” and God’s self-revelation.