We believe that the next great renewal of Christianity requires active, dedicated participation of the laity. It requires believers who are willing to do the hard work of worldview renewal—taking every thought captive, renewing the foundations of what we believe, and applying the Lordship of Christ to every aspect of our lives.
Christian truth remains constant, while the Church’s understanding and application of that truth develops. Throughout history, the Church has navigated the tension between holding fast to eternal truth and engaging an ever-changing world. Periodically, this demanded a substantial renewal of the Christian worldview; at other times, it required a sharp course correction.
Renewal in history
If we look at the arc of Church history, a rhythm of renewal emerges—great inflection points where the faith was systematized and expanded to meet the challenges of the age.
By the fifth century, the core doctrines of the Trinity and Christology had largely been established through the ecumenical councils, and the Church accomplished a monumental task: assimilating significant elements of the Platonic tradition. This synthesis gave the faith its initial intellectual architecture. Roughly 400 years later, the Carolingian Renaissance brought another renewal. While the early Church had clarified doctrine, the Carolingian era focused on education, literacy, governance, and the cultivation of a distinctly Christian culture. It helped translate theological vision into a new social reality, laying foundations that would shape medieval Christendom for centuries.
Then, in the thirteenth century, another massive renewal arrived. The recovery and translation of ancient texts prompted a seismic shift. Thomas Aquinas and his contemporaries incorporated Aristotelianism into the Christian worldview, spawning the grand scholastic tradition. This wasn’t just a minor tweak; it was a comprehensive philosophical renewal that equipped the Church to answer new questions with rigorous logic.
Later, the Protestant Reformation served as a profound ecclesiastical and theological course correction—a return to examining the foundations of belief, authority, and salvation summarized for Protestants today in the Five Solas.
The early Church clarified doctrine. The Carolingian Renaissance strengthened Christian culture and institutions. The scholastics refined the intellectual framework of the faith. The Reformation corrected significant theological and ecclesiastical errors. Each renewal preserved continuity with the past while addressing the challenges of its own age.
Renewal in our generation
The same task confronts Christians today. We need not fear new discoveries, new questions, or new information. Instead, we must evaluate them through the lens of Scripture, retaining what is true, rejecting what is false, and integrating what is valuable into a renewed and distinctly biblical understanding of reality. Today, we are overdue for another great renewal.
Over the last four centuries, and accelerating rapidly post-Darwin, humanity has experienced an explosion of information and a radical shift in the prevailing worldview. For too long, the Christian response to this shift has been largely defensive—either retreating into a privatized faith or making small, reactive course corrections while ceding the intellectual and cultural high ground.
We believe several contemporary movements indicate a broader process has begun. We are witnessing the early stages of a large-scale, comprehensive renewal that draws from both the Old and New Testaments. Movements like Creationism and Christian Reconstructionism are examples of Christians attempting to rebuild a comprehensive biblical worldview. These should not be mistaken for reactionary subcultures; they are trinitarian creedal movements asking fundamental questions about what we believe and how those beliefs apply to all of reality. They are looking to renew the foundations and expand the scope of the Christian worldview, demonstrating that the Bible speaks authoritatively to origins, biology, economics, law, and history just as clearly as it does to the soul.
This is an essential task of our era. Just as the early Church assimilated Plato, and the medievals assimilated Aristotle, the modern Church must comprehensively assimilate the massive changes in information of the last four centuries into a distinctly biblical framework. We must move beyond small-scale tweaks and build a cohesive, systematic worldview that can stand against the prevailing tides of materialism and secularism.
Rechristianize.com exists to contribute to this process. We believe that this next great renewal will not be handed down solely from the academy or the pulpit; it requires active, dedicated participation of the laity. It requires believers who are willing to do the hard work of worldview renewal—taking every thought captive, renewing the foundations of what we believe, and applying the Lordship of Christ to every aspect of our lives.
Welcome to the renewal. Welcome to Rechristianize.