Tom Holland, di British historian wey don write plenty books about ancient Greece and Rome, don yarn how one experience for northern Iraq city of Sinjar change im mind about Christianity. Na for July 2016, Holland reach Sinjar with BBC film crew about three months after ISIS don try to retake di town. Di jihadist group don massacre members of di Yazidis, one ancient religious and ethnic minority for Iraq.
Holland say di stench of death for Sinjar na so strong say e make am stop to dey talk for camera. As e pause to compose imself, camera pan to one wooden cross wey dey perch for top of rubble of one demolished church. Di cross still dey stand over Sinjar skyline. But camera no fit capture how dat cross go change Holland life.
Holland na atheist-turned-agnostic wey don reject Christian faith wey dem raise am with. E get small use for Bible or stories about miracles. When e reach Sinjar, e dey write book about Christianity from objective historian point of view. But somehow along di way, investigating Jesus crucifixion transform am plus possible brush with supernatural.
Chain of events force am to ask big question: Wetin if I dey wrong about Christianity? Today millions of Americans dey commemorate Easter, di holiest day of Christian calendar. Holiday dey come at troubling time for Christians. Church attendance dey plummet across America and churches dey close. Church leaders warn say US dey become secularized society wey dey follow path of Western Europe, with im soaring Gothic cathedrals and empty pews.
But Holland don emerge as unlikely evangelist from wetin some dey call “Godless Europe.” E write 2019 book about impact of Jesus death wey, according to one commentator, “land like bombshell … and continue to send shockwaves through academy and popular discourse.” For book, “Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World,” Holland say reports of Christianity death na greatly exaggerated.
E say plenty non-Christians, like atheists and agnostics, get Christian beliefs and dem no know am. Holland argue say Western secular values, like belief for importance of compassion, equality, and human rights, no be universal human instincts. Dem na products of Christianity. “To live for Western country na to live for society still utterly saturated by Christian concepts and assumptions,” Holland write for im book.
Di most revolutionary idea wey Christianity introduce to West dey reflect for im central symbol: di cross, Holland write. For Romans, to die for cross na di most agonizing and humiliating method of death imaginable. Dem reserve am only for slaves, criminals and political rebels. But Early Christians turn cross into “di most globally recognized symbol of god wey dey ever exist” and evoke am to declare say God identify with weak and powerless instead of strong, Holland write.
Holland later say e no appreciate how Christians don invert meaning of cross until e go Sinjar. ISIS remind am of Romans wey e write about for books like “Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic.” Romans worship power and dominance. Dem admire Julius Caesar, for example, wey enslave one million people and kill another million during im conquest of Gaul.
“To be for this place where people don crucify for exactly di reasons Roman crucify people to intimidate as statement of power open up this existential abyss for me,” Holland tell CNN for recent interview. “This na place wey don occupy by people wey see world as Romans see am.”
Holland, 58, na stylishly dressed man with “PBS Masterpiece” accent and self-deprecating sense of humor. E na celebrity for United Kingdom, where e co-host popular podcast, “The Rest is History,” with Dominic Sandbrook. Holland, passionate fan of cricket, live for London with im wife Sadie and their two daughters.
Im schedule dey packed: E don write plays, adapt Greek classics for BBC and produce several documentaries. For some circles Holland dey see as modern-day C.S. Lewis, di brilliant British author wey im defense of Christianity make am popular with American audiences. E don debate prominent atheists, humanists and skeptics. These debates often turn into YouTube segments and stories with headlines like, “Tom Holland dey take on secular humanists. And e dey win.”
One of those humanists say Holland belief say Western morality dey base on Christianity no only wrong but also dangerous. People fit lead ethical lives without belief for God or supernatural, said Fish Stark, executive director of American Humanist Association. “Di idea say we suppose love our neighbor and treat everyone with dignity Christianity never get monopoly on those ideas,” Stark say. “Those concepts exist for every religious tradition, and dem also don exist for every non-religious tradition.”
Stark point to scientific research wey say people dey born with instinctive desires to protect and care for others. For books like “Survival of the Friendliest,” scientists say humans dey hardwired to cooperate with others. “We dey deal everyday with people wey dem fire from their jobs or lose custody of their pikin because some folks for America think if you no be Christian, you na bad person,” Stark say.
Holland perspective on Christianity don make am admired figure among evangelicals for America. Rev. Albert Mohler Jr. of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary for Kentucky, say Holland premise about pervasiveness of Christianity influence on Western civilization na “fairly unassailable.” Mohler, author of “The Gathering Storm,” point to Christian language wey routinely appear for secular marriage ceremonies.
“Tom Holland point just so correct. Get basic Christian impulses, even explicit Christian language, wey dey show up for places wey modern Westerners think say na secular,” Mohler tell CNN, citing political debate over transgender issues. “Those places no nearly as secular as you think.”
Holland background help am to identify with religious skeptics. E don be one for much of im life. Dem born am for Oxford and raise am for village outside Salisbury, medieval city no far from Stonehenge. Dem raise am by devout Christian mother and confirm am at Anglican church. Holland first crisis of faith start with dinosaur.
When e dey about seven, e attend Sunday School class and open children Bible. First page get illustration of brachiosaur wey dey share Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve. Non-avian dinosaurs don extinct about 65 million years before appearance of human beings. Young Tom challenge im Sunday School teachers. Holland tell CNN. “So I ask dem wetin dey happen here, and e obviously above their pay grade. Dem no want into get discussion about how dinosaurs fit into (book of) Genesis.”
Holland become atheist as adolescent before move toward wetin e call “mushy agnosticism.” When e start to write novels about Greeks and Romans, Biblical stories wey e grow up on seem even more dull. E say e like “rock-star glamour” of Spartan warriors wey make their last stand at battle of Thermopylae (“This na Sparta!”) and Roman legionaries wey cross Rubicon.
Yet at same time, other experiences for im life plant seeds of faith wey go later bloom. Get kindness and faithfulness wey im mother and devout godmother, “Aunty Deb,” show, or vicar for im boyhood church wey no talk down to am during sermons and lend am books wey feed im love of history.
By time e reach Sinjar, e don already dey question im assumptions about Christianity. Di more years e spend to study Greeks and Romans, di more alien their morality seem to be. Dem glorify violence and casually accept practices like infanticide, or to abandon unwanted babies. E na only natural, dem think, say strong suppose dominate.
“Di Romans think say dem na di most moral people dat na why gods don give dem world to rule,” e tell CNN. “But e no be my morality. And I find am frightening when I get close to am.” Holland start to think about im childhood faith and dey wonder where im values come from.
But na another experience wey also rekindle im faith. Holland still dey struggle to explain am. For December of 2021, dem diagnose am with bowel cancer. Doctors tell am say e go undergo serious operation wey fit leave am incontinent and infertile. Dem order more tests but warn am say im prognosis no look good.
While dey wait for results, Holland go midnight mass at one of London oldest churches on Christmas Eve. Church na St. Bartholomew the Great, reputedly site of appearance by Virgin Mary for 12th century. After service end, Holland do something wey e no do since e dey 10. E offer fervent prayer to God.
“No get atheists for foxholes,” Holland say, repeating aphorism about how people often turn to prayer when dem face death. Test results come back: Im cancer no spread. Today e clear of cancer. E receive miracle? Two years ago Holland cite more prosaic explanation: Im brother put am in touch with doctor wey specialize for type of cancer wey e get.
Wetin e think today? “E na coincidence, but I no want to 100 percent say e na coincidence,” e say. Since im health scare, Holland seem more open to talk about miracles wey dem record for New Testament. E believe say Jesus rise bodily from dead? E say Christianity no go exist unless early Christians believe say something “spectacularly odd” don happen for first Easter morning.
E na Christian? For past, such questions make am visibly uncomfortable. As recently as two years ago, e call imself “Protestant agnostic.” “I na Christian,” e say. As to wetin kind of Christian, Holland no cite doctrine. Instead e mention “The Answer,” poem by Welsh poet R.C. Thomas. Thomas poetry dem describe as “poet of di Cross, di unanswered prayer, di bleak trek through darkness.”
Holland say e like combination of “doubt” and “religious triumph” for Thomas poetry. “Get other ways to approach God,” e say. “Poetry go be one, or to surrender to symbolism or mystery.” Im mother, Janet Holland, 92, no hesitate when dem ask am whether she think say im son na Christian. “Yes, I do. But e never quite acknowledge am, e no do am?” CNN. “I think e kind of need am,” im mother say of im son faith.
Holland still dey struggle with belief for miracles wey attach to Christianity. “Get times where I fit feel say I believe am. Get times when I no feel am at all,” e say. “But I go like to fit believe am because, aside from anything else, e dey provide nutrients and sustenance to roots of my beliefs. E also make universe more interesting.”
Holland ambivalence no unusual. Another group of people share am: Jesus first disciples. Their encounters with Jesus for first Easter morning na some of di strangest stories for Bible. Some no initially recognize am. Others react not with joy but with terror. One Gospel account end abruptly with women wey dey flee from empty tomb.
Christians eventually call these stories “good news.” Dem say cross prove “last shall be first,” and dat “unarmed truth and unconditional love go get final word for reality.” Maybe e no suppose surprise say Holland still dey veer between faith and doubt. Apex predators still dey roam earth. Armies still dey march, and weak dey suffer wetin dem must.
Di type of atrocities wey Holland see for Sinjar persist today. But at least for some, still get di cross e dey point toward another way.
Do you have a news tip for NNN? Please email us at editor @ nnn.ng
