Immanentize the Eschaton

Via Stephen Braunlich, I found Father James Schall on "Spe Salvi" (Part I).


After long studies in philosophy, language, scripture, history and theology, Voegelin concluded that the main motivating force behind modern philosophic movements was their effort literally to achieve the transcendent goals found in classical philosophy and Christianity, such as heaven, happiness, but within this world. He called these efforts at systems "ideologies." He explained that their effort was to "immanentize the eschaton."

A clear description of the revolutionary.

The Christian doctrine of the resurrection of the body, something that has intimations in Aristotle's notion of friendship, is the only real doctrine that addresses itself to the salvation of each individual in his own particular being, but within the notion of a community of love and friends, which is what we all want. What we hope for in the Christian sense is precisely that we see God "face to face." We already seek to know one another '"face to face." There is no guarantee that this condition can ever be realized outside of the hope that God exists and has saved us. We must include our sins and destiny.

So how, then, can the mindset of the Christian and the mindset of the revolutionary be in the same man? Can the humility of the Christian and the pride of the utopian coexist? What shall we build- The Kingdom of God, or the Tower of Babel?

(It's worth reading the whole article.)