A Laodicean perspective on modern-day Western life with reference to its human rights culture

Authors

  • Izak Oosthuizen Research Fellow, Edu-HRight Research Focus Area, North-West University, South Africa
  • Hannes van der Walt Research Fellow, Edu-HRight Research Focus Area, North-West University, South Africa

Keywords:

Laodicea, Revelation, human rights, neoliberalism, secularism, humanism

Abstract

The ‘lukewarmness’ for which the church in the Western Asia Minor city of Laodicea was blamed was due to the neglect of their faith in the triune God and to succumbing to the temptations of the city’s riches. The prophetic nature of the letters to the seven churches in Revelation 3 allows one to look back at the situation prevailing in church life in Laodicea, and to look forward to the current situation in the Western world. The latter reveals that the Western World has also since the 16th century gradually succumbed to “religious lukewarmness” in the form of secular humanism, a new religious commitment that has found expression in phenomena such as a human rights culture without emphasis on personal responsibilities, declining church membership, and a neoliberal approach to life in general, and to economics in particular.

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Published

2026-03-20

How to Cite

Oosthuizen, I. J., & van der Walt, J. (2026). A Laodicean perspective on modern-day Western life with reference to its human rights culture. Tydskrif Vir Christelike Wetenskap | Journal for Christian Scholarship, 61(3&4), 111–123. Retrieved from https://pubs.ufs.ac.za/index.php/tcw/article/view/2555

Issue

Vol. 61 No. 3&4 (2025): Tydskrif vir Christelike wetenskap/Journal for Christian scholarship

Section

Artikels | Articles

License

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