Christianity, no doubt, was only able to conquer its catholicity by assimilating as much as it could of Greek thought. But when the Church dissipated its Mediterranean heritage, it placed the emphasis on history to the detriment of nature, caused the Gothic to triumph over the romance, and destroying a limit in itself, has made increasing claims to temporal power and historical dynamism. When nature ceases to be an object of contemplation and admiration, it can be nothing more than material for an action that aims at transforming it. These tendencies--and not the real strength of mediation, which would have compromised the real strength of Christianity--are triumphing, in modern times, to the detriment of Christianity itself, by inevitable turn of events. *If, as Camus would define it, the choice for this century was between history and nature, somehow we made a very bad bargain when we chose history because it appears history has come to an end. And we are very close to destroying nature.
- Vine Deloria, God is Red (Golden, Colorado: Fulcrum Publishing, 1994), 58
*Albert Camus, The Rebel (New York: Vintage Books, 1956), 299
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