At 11:54 PM 12/24/00 EST, you wrote:
>In a message dated 12/24/00 8:55:40 PM Eastern Standard Time,
>[log in to unmask] writes:
>
>> Are all monotheistic religions eschatological? And can there be monotheism
>> without eschatologism? And if so why? And if so, what does this say about
>> the relationship of eschatological characteristics and existing
>> monotheistic religions in the period?
>
>Br. Alexis,
>
>I'd like to suggest a somewhat different perspective on your issue(s) here.
>The two unanswerable questions are where the world came from, and what
>happens after we die (or after the present world comes to an end, if it will
>come to an end). Most, if not all, religions offer answers to these two
>questions, and the answers (which can't be "proved") can only be accepted on
>faith by the followers of any given religion. There can be, of course, much
>variation in style and content. The OT gives a fairly detailed account of
how
>the world was created, but a less detailed account of "the world to come,"or
>of what it means to rest after death in the bosom of Abraham.
Well I think you can answer where the world came from, in a scientific
sense, without recourse to religion; but if you consider the ultimate
principle from which all being depends, then it can clearly be answered by
religion, by recourse to revelation or mythology, and philosophy, by an
examination of causality.
>
>If, by "eschatology" you mean an account of what happens at the end ("last
>things"), I'd expect some kind of account to be found in just about any
>religion, and I see no foundation for your assumption that an eschatology
>would be found only in monotheistic religions, or that some kind of link
>exists between following a monotheistic religion and having an eschatology.
Actually I see no intrinsic reason for religion to be concerned with
eschatology. Eschatology necessitates a conception of time as limited; and
it is certainly possible for one to conceive the world as eternal (this was
St. Thomas' opinion], even if our human frailty recognizes that its
personall alotment is quite limited. Eschatology as a term taken in its
proper sense deals with the chronology of the cosmos, not the individual.
It seems obvious to me that the monotheistic religions are eschatological
for a historical reason; namely that the OT and NT speak of the end of the
world / the end of time. But not for philosophical or pyschological reasons.
Sincerely in Christ,
Br. Alexis Bugnolo
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