I read your first paragraph and believe I've got the answer. Christianity without the baptism in the Holy Spirit as illustrated in the Book of Acts has been brushed aside and Christians have turned their eyes - not on Jesus - but on intellectual buffoonery. The Apostles battled with the wiles of the Devil back then, and so, what makes today any different? Christianity as a religion is no more transcendent than any other religion... and it seems to me ,religion is what your essay is all about.