Social Intolerability of the Christian Revelation: A Comparative Perspective on the Works of Jacques Ellul and Peter L. Berger

Abstract

During the twentieth century, the Christian Church became increasingly aware of a new social milieu and tried to make its message relevant in a progressively secularized culture. The social approach became dominant, with the result that, in the words of one critic, “we have come to see just how the terms ‘social’ and ‘society’ have so insinuated themselves that we never question the assumption that while ‘religious’ is problematic, the ‘social’ is obvious. The idea that the former should be referred to the latter appears like an innocent, genial inspiration” (Milbank 1993: 102).