RSSDon’t! W.H. Chellis Regular readers of De Regno …
Don’t!
W.H. Chellis
Regular readers of De Regno are familiar with the name Eric Voegelin. Lee Cheek, Caleb Stegall, and Darryl Hart have peppered their posts with references to the great Political Science professor. A 20th Century conservative (at least anti-liberal) icon, Voegelin is remembered best for his attacks on the gnostic nature of modernism. In the 1960’s university campus conservatives associated with Young American’s for Freedom wore buttons bearing the Voegelin-ish slogan “Don’t Immanentize the Eschaton!”
This remains sound biblical advice for orthodox Christians. It is easy for Christians to fall prey to the fancifcul delussions of milleniarian expectations. We must ever be reminded that our hope is in “an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you (1 Peter 1:4)”.
That said, the ladies of my congregation thought it would be funny to provide me with the following list of prohibitions as a Christmas present. Enjoy:
DON’T
IMMANENTIZE THE ESCHATON
IMMORTALIZE THE ESKIMO
IMMACULATIZE THE S.P.C.A.
IMPERSONALIZE THE MOSQUITO
IMPERIALIZE THE ESCAPADE
IMMATERIALIZE THE ICE CAPADES
M & M TIZE THE HEXAGON
EMINENTIZE THE EGGS CARTON
ELEMENTIZE THE ESTROGEN
ELEPHANTIZE THE DISCOTHON
ALIMENTIZE THE ESCARGOT
ALLEMANDIZE THE ESCADRILLE
IMMUNIZE THE ESCALATOR
IMMIGRANTIZE THE ESCONDIDO
ARMAMENTIZE THE ESCAPEES
ORNAMENTIZE THE EX-CON-TOWN
IMMEDIATIZE THE EXIT STRATEGY
IMPROVISE THE ESPIONAGE
IMPEDIMENTIZE THE EXTROVERT
IMPLEMENTIZE THE ETCH-A-SKETCH
ALLEGORIZE THE ARAGORN
(I think that they might have been making fun of me… but I love them anyway!)
Nick Steffen
January 29th, 2007 at 5:36 pm
If we’d like to take a [reasonable] dive into Mr Voegelin’s work, where would you suggest that we start?
W.H. Chellis
January 29th, 2007 at 7:33 pm
ISI’s web site offers a number of articles about Voegelin but I thought this one might be a good intro:
http://www.mmisi.org/ir/40_01/hughes.pdf
Also, a good introduction might be the biography Eric Voegelin: The Restoration of Order by Michael Federici
http://www.isi.org/books/bookdetail.aspx?id=1f985100-5752-4c6d-b7eb-1832696f0baa
If you dig around De Regno you will find an article by Lee Cheek about Voegelin.
To jump into Voegelin himself I would suggest his book The New Science of Politics
Voegelin is a tough read but worth it. Readers should be warned that his views do not always easily fit into the categories of Reformed orthodoxy. His views on Scripture were overly influenced by liberal higher criticism and his opinion of Calvin is dreadful. Further, he confused conservative Puritanism with its most radical proto-leftest elements.
With all that in mind, he is certainly worth a good deal of consideration by anyone with an interest in the interaction between Christianity and politics.