55 lines
2.2 KiB
Markdown
55 lines
2.2 KiB
Markdown
Paul Kingsnorth recently gave
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the 2024 Erasmus Lecture,
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"Against Christian Civilization."
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Kingsnorth, as always,
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is quite persuasive.
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He argues that there is
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something quite mistaken
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about creating "civilization".
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Shortly after the fall, the
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desire for civilization appears.
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Cain was then building a city,
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and he named it after his son Enoch.
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There is something wrong with using religion as a tool to build culture, Kingsnorth argues. This desire is rampant today: many on the "religious right" fall into this trap either implicitly or explicitly; we need "to act as if God exists" in order to "save Western Civilization". It confuses a means with an end.
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I'm not certain that Kingsnorth is entirely right that we should eschew civilization altogether. But we do have to get our ends and means straightened out.
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The end is union with God. Theosis. The Beautific Vision. The New Jerusalem. The images and terms for this mystical end beyond our comprehension abound. But let us make no mistake - this is the end. It is not a 'motivator', like a treat given to a dog that behaved.
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It is the goal, it is the thing we are striving after.
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Civilization can be a tool to achieve this end. Guardrails. And perhaps even the dog-treat
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that we get occasionally to reassure us that
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we are on the right track. But the moment
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we raid the cookie jar instead of watching
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our master obediently, we fall into idolatry.
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We confuse the means for the end
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and we overdose on consolation.
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As God
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showed the
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Israelites
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over and over,
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what He desires
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is not "civilization".
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He desires love.
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'Had you desired sacrifices I would have offered them,
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but You are not satisfied with whole-burnt offerings.
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Sacrifice to God is a contrite spirit,
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a crushed and humbled heart God will not spurn.
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only after this change of heart, this realignment with him, this recognition of true ends, that:
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then will You be delighted
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with sacrifices
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and whole-burnt offerings.
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then shall they offer
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calves upon your altar.
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If we find that civilization is beneficial to this end, wonderful.
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If we find it detracting, so be it.
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We fix our eyes on the end of all things, and work towards it, and whatever blossoms forth from this
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- may it be blessed. - T. H. |