Eschatology, cont'd

I had mentioned last week that John's eschatology and Jesus's eschatology were, although radically different in execution, near-identical in end goals. However, a comment Professor Silliman left on that post got me to think a bit further, which led me to the realization that the two movements are also different in terms of how they view those end goals. Apocalyptic eschatology spends all its energy waiting for the overturning of society. Since sapiential eschatology, however, uses its energy trying to bring about those changes, it doesn't matter if the change is never fully realized -- if the arbitrary power structures remain in place -- because the process of working towards those changes is just as, if not more, important than the goal itself.

Eschatology

In contrasting John's brand of world-negation with that of Jesus, I think it's important to avoid thinking of them as total opposites. I doubt those in power would see any significant differences between the ideals of apocalyptic eschatology and sapiential eschatology. In fact, since both philosophies have the same end goal -- completely overturning existing hierarchies for a society in which nobody has power over anyone else -- I would venture to say that, methods aside, the most significant difference is simply that sapiential eschatology is much harder for the powers that be to notice.

Divinity

Many of this week's posts have to do with the question of Jesus's alleged divinity, in connection with the concept of the virgin birth and whether it holds water in light of the historical details Crossan points out. So here is another question in that vein -- though it also runs back to Hinduism a bit: if we assume that God, who/whatever God is, is entirely beyond human comprehension (as any omnipotent eternal being rightly should be), then what does it mean to be divine?

The role of deity, or The Definition of God

I think we can all agree by now that the term "god" is used a bit more loosely in Hinduism than any other religions we are likely to encounter. There are countless gods, but all of them are aspects of one God, which is more of a principle than a being, and is present within everything that exists.

Hinduism, therefore, is a bit unique in this sense -- it is simultaneously polytheistic, monotheistic, atheistic, and pantheistic, depending upon one's perspective and definitions.