Autor: Walsh, David

Buch: The Third Millenium

Titel: The Third Millenium

Stichwort: Christus als Maß der Vernunft; Welt als Welt

Kurzinhalt: Christ as the Limit of Reason; Foremost among such parameters is the recognition of this world as a world;

Textausschnitt: 129a The reason why we live in a Christian worldview, despite all appearances to the contrary, is that it has become impossible to think beyond the limits of its differentiation. Nothing remains untouched by the illumination emanating from the discovery of the transcendent openness of being for Being. The tensional pull is already there before the limiting outburst, but the radiance could not reach as far or as clearly in the absence of the epiphany of Christ. However strange it may be to confess that reason is thus dependent on such irruptions of transcendent luminosity, the limiting revelation of Christ makes the structure unmistakable. Illumination can only come from the Beyond. Once it occurs, we recognize the degree to which all being is constituted by its receptivity toward a Love that is far beyond its immanent capacity. Since the revelation of Christ marks the limit of that openness-the fullness of divine reality present within time-the differentiation of reality has correspondingly reached its limit. The fullness of God's self-disclosure is simultaneously the limiting illumination of finite reality. This is why the Christian differentiation of the order of being exercises its authority even over those who do not explicitly subscribe to its source. Irrespective of personal inclinations or faith, it is impossible to think outside of the categories defined by the revelation of Christ. Departure from them can only be made by becoming less rational. They are the spiritual equivalents of the laws of identity and noncontradiction. (Fs) (notabene)

130a Foremost among such parameters is the recognition of this world as a world. It is only the light of transcendent perfection glimpsed momentarily that reveals the finitude and imperfection of everything else. We see reality as it is, without illusion or false expectation. This is why Christians can be the most hard-bitten realists. No one, for example, is more unblinking in his contemplation of the shortcomings of this world and life within it than St. Augustine1. Through the heightened participation in the higher transcendent life, existence in this world is beheld in all its vicissitudes and inconclusiveness. Without the burden of supporting the unlimited aspirations of the human heart, the mundane order is free to disclose itself as it is, without construction or addition. The degree to which we suffer from illusory anticipations in the modern era is a barometer of the decline of Christian experience. It is only with difficulty that we can exert the will to strip away the illusions with which we are inclined to gild our view of reality. The harshness and unsatisfactoriness of all finite reality are inescapable dimensions of the existence we know, yet we pull away from the full rational acknowledgment of the consequences. How is it possible to live in a world without illusion? The possibility has been opened up by the Christian differentiation, but we sense our grasp of it slipping as the illuminative experience recedes. (Fs)

130b Only Christians, it seems, can be fully secure in their acceptance of the unsatisfactoriness of existence. St. Augustine even approaches cynicism in his realism. But cynicism is, rather, what is left when the transcendent light has withdrawn. Instead, Augustine's attitude is more rational still; it is without the tone of resentment that attaches to the cynic. The Christian acceptance of finitude and death remains the most positive because it views this immanent reality in its highest possibility. The world is the temporary vehicle for the transcendent presence. As such, its incompleteness can be fully acknowledged without disvaluing it in the slightest. By pointing toward the higher fulfillment it is incapable of attaining, this world achieves its highest purpose. We begin to see finite existence as it is and in relation to its highest possibility. The Incarnation is the deepest affirmation of the mystery of created reality and at the same time, the unmistakable identification of its provisionality. Without bearing the significance of ultimate reality, immanent being nevertheless plays its role in the larger drama of transcendent Being entering time to redeem it for itself. Paradoxical as it may appear, it is only the differentiation that recognizes the full finitude of existence that can affirm most profoundly its full transcendence of itself.1 (Fs)