Thursday, February 21, 2013
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.
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I would agree, the methods seem like the biggest difference, with a similar end result. The idea that the two are not opposites would also lend itself to the fact that Jesus originally seemed ok/supported John, before emerging after his death with a different approach.
ReplyDeleteGood point, JonDavid -- from the point of view of the Romans or the Jewish aristocracy, there's little to choose between them. However, they are profoundly different both theologically and pragmatically. Apocalypticism anticipates and calls for the dramatic, sudden, and violent intervention of the divine to rectify the world; Jesus' sapiential rule of God enacts God's justice and respect in our own words and deeds here and now.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was really interesting to find out that Jesus and John had a connection. I really do believe that Jesus took on some of John's beliefs and ideals and that John did have a significant effect on Jesus
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