Relocating To Elfland

In 1966, Douglas Hyde penned these immortal words:

“If [a person] has grown up in Christian circles he will know that Christianity, like Communism, demands the whole man and that Christians were intended, and are expected, to change the world. That they, too, should be active; that membership of a church is not like membership of a club. That in theory, at least, the Christian should be relating his Christianity to his whole life and to the world about him, all the time, everywhere. Yet in practice, although Christianity has taught him that total dedication is something to be admired and something to which one should aspire in one’s own life, a Communist may be the first totally dedicated person he has met. Or, if that is putting it too harshly, the Communist may be the first dedicated person he has met who is not wrapped up in his own salvation but is devoting himself to the transformation of society and to changing the world.” (Dedication and Leadership, p. 37)

Nearly a quarter century after the fall of the Iron Curtain, the world still awaits the ideological successor of Communism (could it be radical Islam?). But when, oh when, will the Christian church rise to Hyde’s challenge?