#81: How Has Christianity Changed the World?

History is taught in American public secondary schools (is this still largely true?). It is also offered, but generally not required, at the collegiate level. I think it is safe to say, though, that there is little teaching concerning what was the biggest spiritual moral, social, and institutional “force” on Western culture: Christianity. 

Alvin Schmidt writes, “Most history texts commonly ignore the Christian influence even where it would be very pertinent to cite” [1] due to the non-Biblical worldviews that dominate modern educational institutions. So much of what we assume to be “normal” in Western society is rooted in Christian teaching — it is so deeply embedded into our culture that even secular people unknowingly inherit Christian ideas and ethics.

This month I highlight some of the ways Jesus’ ministry dramatically shaped our civilization. I offer a short video (~7.5-minutes) [2] followed by summaries of Christian cultural influence.

People Transformed
Jesus did not launch his movement with kings or scholars. His disciples came from simple, working-class backgrounds — fishermen, tax collectors, and others with humble jobs. Yet these ordinary people became bold world-changers, empowered not by status or education but by conviction and the Holy Spirit.

History is full of similar transformations. Missionaries, reformers, and ordinary believers — inspired by Christ — stood against corruption, cruelty, and injustice. They cared for the sick when others fled, protected the weak when others exploited, and proclaimed dignity where none was recognized. Christianity didn’t advance through conquest, but through changed lives that changed history.

Sanctity of Life
Modern people who view killing or mass violence as inherently wrong may not realize that this attitude largely comes from Christian teaching about the sanctity of human life. In the ancient world — whether Roman, Greek, or pagan — life was cheap. Unwanted infants were sacrificed or discarded. Slaves were treated as property. Gladiatorial shows glorified killing. The sick were abandoned.

Into that world came the radical Christian belief that every human being is made in the image of God (Gen 1:27) and therefore possesses equal value. This was not philosophical theory — it became social practice. Believers rescued abandoned children, treated slaves as brothers, and cared for the dying. Compassion was no longer optional — it followed from the compassion and sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Sexual Morality
Believers confronted pagan religious beliefs that placed little or no constraints on sensual pleasures. The Greco-Roman world was marked by exploitation — adultery was expected of men, prostitution was normalized, children were abused without consequence, and homosexuality, pederasty, group sex, and bestiality were common. Into that darkness, Christianity introduced sexual ethics and proclaimed that marriage was sacred, that the body was holy, and that sexuality was designed for a covenant between a man and woman, not consumption.

By resisting the sexual excesses of the culture, Christianity significantly raised moral standards across society. Faithfulness, purity, and self-control — once mocked as weakness — became virtues. The restraint our culture still expects today, even if not practiced consistently, is a distant echo of that Christian revolution.

Freedom & Dignity of Women
If anyone doubts Christianity’s impact on the status of women, they need only look at cultures where its influence is absent. In many modern Islamic nations, women remain restricted, silenced, treated as property, even abused. That was the norm across most ancient societies.

Yet Jesus broke those norms. He spoke with women, taught women, defended women, and dignified women in ways no other religious teacher of His time dared to do (John 4:5-29; Luke 10:38-42; Matt 28:10). Women loved, respected, and followed him (Mark 15:41; Luke 8:1-3). His coming marked a turning point in the history of women. The idea that wives should be cherished — not controlled, daughters valued — not discarded, and women educated — not excluded, all of it finds its roots in Christ’s example and the teachings of his followers.

Charity as a Way of Life
Western society’s reflex to care for the needy did not emerge from secular logic — it flowed from Christian compassion. Feeding the hungry, caring for the sick, sheltering the homeless, and visiting prisoners were not originally seen as duties but rather were considered inconveniences before Christ’s arrival. But followers of Jesus saw such acts as service to Jesus himself: “As you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did to me” (Matt 25:40).

Hospitals, orphanages, rescue missions — these didn’t begin as government programs. They were Christian inventions, born from the conviction that mercy should be active, organized, and persistent just as Jesus demonstrated (Matt 4:23) and taught his disciples (Luke 9:2; 10:9). For example, Christians housed the mentally disturbed in the 3rd century, established a hospital in Milan in the 8th century, nursed lepers in the 12th century, all leading to the building of hospitals during the 17th-19th centuries. In the 20th century there was a “large growth in general hospitals, most named in honor of Christian saints, leaders, [and] denominations.” [3]

Most humanitarian work today — whether acknowledged or not — echoes the generosity first modeled by the Church.

Science and Discovery
Some claim that Christianity opposes science, but history tells a different story. It was the belief in a rational God, that created a universe, based on laws of nature, that were discoverable and mathematically describable — because he endowed us with rational minds — that drove scientific investigation. God intended us to both care for his creation (Gen 1:28; 2:15) and to investigate it!

Many pioneers of science — Kepler, Pascal, Newton, Faraday, Maxwell, Lemaitre — were not working despite their faith but because of it. Virtually all scientists during the Middle Ages until the 18th century were sincere Christians who knew and believed that the heavens declare the glory of God (Ps 19:1) [5]. It may be surprising that despite today's materialistic perspective, 80-90% of Nobel laureates during the 20th century were Christian or Jewish. [6]

Curiosity was worship. Discovery was devotion. To explore the universe was not to defy God, but to marvel at His handiwork.

Liberty and Justice
The very concepts of human rights and freedom under law are fundamentally Christian in origin. Key founders of modern liberty and justice built their ideas on Christian teachings concerning God-given rights. The belief that rulers should not be absolute, that laws should apply equally, that people should be free to worship — these principles didn’t emerge from paganism or atheism. They came from Scripture.

Natural law, while having roots among Greco-Roman philosophers, was augmented by the Christian belief that it, like the physical laws of nature, is part of God’s created order. Paul confirmed this in Rom 2:14-15 as did Martyr, Augustine, Chrysostom, Aquinas, Luther, and Locke.

As one historian observed, American society is built on Christian moral principles rooted in the Old Testament. [7] Even our legal language — “all men are created equal” and “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights” — is theological before it is political.

Slavery and Human Dignity
Critics sometimes point out that Christians owned slaves — which is sadly true — but what is often left unsaid is that Christianity also provided the moral foundation to end slavery. Movements to abolish it — from Wilberforce in England to the Civil Rights leaders in America — were not inventing new ethics. They were calling nations back to original Christian conviction: that people are not property because they bear the image of God.

In fact, early believers were already treating slaves as brothers and sisters long before any government demanded it. Paul’s letter to Philemon is a perfect example — he didn’t use political force, but gospel persuasion. Freedom began in the church before it reached the courts.

Art and Beauty
Even our sense of beauty has been shaped by Christ. Christian artists throughout history didn’t just decorate — they told the truth about the world. “Whether in Christianity’s early years, in the Middle Ages, in the Renaissance, or in the Reformation era, Christian art regularly shows human life scenes, which in the light and context of biblical history convey a cosmic awareness that God, . . . was always present.” [8] Their conviction was simple: if God is always there, then no moment is meaningless.

Gothic architecture, for example, wasn’t just a style — it was the visual expression of Christianity. One art historian described it as the “language” of Christian architecture. [9] Cathedrals in Mainz and Cologne (Germany), the Cathedral of Pisa and St. Peter’s Dome (Italy), St. Denis Cathedral (France), Cathedral of the Trinity (Russia), the Houses of Parliament (Great Britain), Capital building (US), and the Air Force Academy Chapel (US) display the divine idea that every arch, every pillar, every beam is pointed upward. [10] Art became a form of worship with the birth of Christianity.

Conclusion
The teachings of Jesus reshaped civilization in ways no other philosophy, religion, or social movement ever has. His message didn’t just form churches — it resulted in hospitals, schools, charities, governments, marriage laws, scientific exploration, and human rights. Even our language of love, justice, and equality is saturated with his influence (Matt 22:37-40).

Scriptural ideas shape nearly every aspect of Western life — beliefs, customs, assumptions — whether people recognize it or not. Christians and non-Christians alike live in the shade of a tree they did not plant.

We Christians should have a better understanding of the global impact of our faith, in all walks of life. I highly recommend Alvin Schmidt’s book, How Christianity Changed the World. It provides the details behind the claims above. It should be on every believer’s bookshelf.

In Christ, Doug

 AoM Co-Founder, Director of AoM-Military Outreach & Secretary, Board of Directors

     “Always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect . . .” 1 Peter 3:15

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[1] Alvin Schmidt, How Christianity Changed the World, 2004, p. 12. Excellent book. Much of the material in this note is taken from Schmidt’s book.
[2] “What Good is Christianity?”, Impact 360 Institute, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndFYFQ63LQc, 2017.
[3] Schmidt, p. 164.
[4] Donald Tewksbury, The Founding of American Colleges and Universities Before the Civil War, 1932, p. 82, cited in How Christianity Changed the World, p. 190.
[5] Dan Graves, Scientists of Faith: 48 Biographies of Historic Scientists and Their Christian Faith, 1996.
[6] Baruch A. Shalev, 100 Years of Nobel Prizes, 2003.
[7] Kevin Abrams, “Preface,” The Pink Swastika: Homosexuality in the Nazi Party, 1966, p. viii, cited in How Christianity Changed the World, p. 270.
[8] Schmidt, p. 312.
[9] Otto von Simson, The Gothic Cathedral, 1956, p. xxiii, cited in How Christianity Changed the World, p. 312.
[10] Schmidt, p. 310.