Why is that today, we who call ourselves disciples of Christ, can sit so very still in church? Why is it that change is so hard to come by in the old mainstream churches, like the Presbyterian Church, USA? For the answer, I have turned to one of my favorite theologians, a Canadian named Douglas John Hall. In his excellent, new little book, WHY CHRISTIAN?, Hall writes that, slowly but surely, the New Testament church developed structure and structure slows things down. But, the big change in the form and function of Christian movement came in the fourth century of the common era 4th century, AD when under the Roman emperors Constantine the Great and Theodosius the Great, Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire.

Professor Hall reminds us that the Roman Empire was extremely well organized, and that it was only natural for the ruling elite to bestow its structure on the new religion of the realm. So, the church gets a pope to compliment the emperor, a hierarchy of bishops to relate to provincial governors, and lesser clergy, comparable to local officials. The church becomes part of the "establishment" by adapting both its message and its structure to the already-established patterns of its host culture.