It makes for an interesting exercise to compare existentialist philosophy with Reformation
thinking.
For Zwinglie certainty of belief did not guarantee that one was correct and would be
saved. Under predestination we can never know whether we are members of the elect. Only
god knows those that are to be saved. Consequently no matter what the individual does he
can never be sure that he is to be saved. In short no matter how certain and committed the
individual is to her/his convictions there can be no guarantee that one's convictions are
correct and that commitment to those convictions is meaningful or make sense. Convictions,
then, can never guarantee success.
This reformation theology introduces the element of uncertainty into the world. It
introduces, if you like, anxiety into our lives. It, in many ways, marks the beginning of
the age of anxiety --Freud and all that. Indeed reformation theology was an expression of
the new kind of individualist anxiety establishing itself in Western culture --not
unconnected with the development of capitalism.
Under this theology the individual is forever striving to realise his/her convictions
while never being certain that these convictions are either realistic and capable of
achievement. Wo/man then is forever striving to get beyond himself without ever having a
guarantee of getting there. This is similar in ways to the existentialist outlook of
Sartre: wo/man is perpetually engaged in projecting himself beyond himself and yet never
fulfils himself, never acquires happiness and contentment, never achieves
being-for-itself.
Only god knows when man is saved. But since, in a sense, we can never really know what the
absolute is thinking because of our limitations it never amounts to more than Sartre's
being-in-itself --it is just there and that is all we can say about it. But for Sartre as
in Nausea, being-in-itself sticks its nose into our being from time to time which is
experienced by us as nausea or anxiety or whatever you want to call it.The tree trunk in
Nausea is just this being-in-itself. This manifestation of being-in-itself is a form of
mysticism --a mystical experience-- and akin to Reformation mysticism.
Indeed as France, as I understand it, never experienced the Reformation in the radical way
that Germany or Switzerland experienced one might say that the emergence of existentialism
in post-war France was France's belated and thereby surreal Reformation.
The above are some off the cuff quickies --food for thought for those who will continue to
tap away despite the bourgeois festival called Christmas.
Warm regards
George Pennefather
Be free to check out our Communist Think-Tank web site at
http://homepage.eircom.net/~beprepared/
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