Christian acquiescence in this fate can be measured in any number of
ways: by the extent to which the Church renounces her inherent «platonism,» thinking and speaking in the language of psychology, sociology, economics, and politics rather than philosophy (metaphysics) and theology; by the tendency to view the Church not first as sacrament transcending political order, but as a mere mediating institution within that order; by the «political» or «clerical» temptation to equate true ecclesial reform with institutional or
curial reform.