Umm... Platt? What was that whole "Quality is both transcendant AND immanent" about then?
On Sun, Apr 25, 2010 at 6:18 AM, <[email protected]> wrote: > Interesting. I'm sure it hasn't escaped you, Jon, that many today revert to > ancient beliefs of God-in-Nature, .i.e., pantheism. Environmentalism is > now the "new" religion, especially in academe, with Al Gore, a radical left > politician, the new pope. > > Platt > > > On 25 Apr 2010 at 0:38, Jon Bennett wrote: > > > All, > > > > The following is an short excerpt from Moscati's "The Face of the Ancient > > Orient", which you can read most of on Google Books. Just do a search if > you > > are interested. > > > > Here is exhibit A making the case for the uniqueness of the > Judaeo-Christian > > tradition. This brief quote explains a crucial difference > > between Judaeo-Christianity and all the other religious traditions in the > > Ancient world. > > > > After this I will send a quote that is a bit longer from "The End of the > > Modern World", by Guirdani. > > > > Together these two quotes begin to show why this religion, and the > philosopy > > and culture, that flowed from them, are unique in the history of the > world. > > > > Thanks, > > Jon > > > > "The 102nd Psalm praises the Lord in the following terms: > > > > Of old thou laid the foundations of the earth, > > And the heavens are the work of thy hands, > > They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: > > Yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; > > As a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed; > > But thou art the same, > > And thy years shall have no end. > > > > These words express a fundamentally new idea. We recall the conception of > > the universe shared by the other peoples of the ancient Orient: all > without > > exception regard the earth as a divinity, and the sky as a divinity; the > > gods are immanent in nature and render it divine. > > > > The psalmist´s conception is diametrically contrary: there is only one > God, > > and this God is outside and above all nature, which He himself created. > > Nature is subordinate and of short life in relation to its Creator. If it > > has any function of its own, it is to express the glory of God. The > position > > of man is completely analogous: he draws his origin and destiny from God. > > > > Thus we are faced with a change in the old values and the advent of a new > > conception of the universe. Here we have a crisis in the forces of > > nature, the divine is withdrawn from them and retires into transcendence. > > But the God of Israel is not only transcendent rather than immanent: he > is > > one instead of many, so the cosmos is under a single direction. And he is > > just and merciful rather than animated by the human type of passions; and > so > > there is no doubt as to the morality of that direction, there is freedom > > from fear, and the genesis of a confident submission. > > > > Although it is God who created the cosmic order, this does not imply that > he > > does not alter it and renew it in accordance with his inscrutable > judgement. > > God alone is active force: the rest, nature and man, have their existence > > only as a reflection of him. > > Moq_Discuss mailing list > Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. > http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org > Archives: > http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ > http://moq.org/md/archives.html > Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org/md/archives.html
