/lit/ - Literature

>>12445798
Christianity is the single largest vessel of human evolution yet to grace recorded history, at least until the last 75 years or so. This is not your pastors Christianity.
indeed it is not, but that is precisely what makes it appealing. the fact is, i am actually okay with being offended by a slightly stronger dose of Christianity than the one even Peterson is offering. that's the thing about the Grand Inquisitor, for instance: the fact is, he isn't really all that good at his job. if he was, he wouldn't be so angry at Christ. what the GI suffers from is arrogance, of having contempt for his own flock. he's not supposed to get angry at Christ for sacrificing himself for people worse than he is, he is supposed to realize what a burden this puts on him, and the enormity of that gift.

the 20C totalitarian state, in all its forms - Fascism, Stalinism, Chinese Communism, and now whatever the fuck it is that is happening in California - always functions because it purportedly resolves the contradictions that lie within the human psyche. it 'solves' desires, but mostly - as Girard recognized - by providing the scapegoat. the Protestant reformation is a profoundly consequential event in human history, because salvation by works really is something other than salvation by grace. a lot of postmodern utopia-crafting tries to lay out the software for a world in which we either solve these problems, or prevent them from arising. but it can't be done. it never has been done, and i'm not sure it ever will be.

i'm not worried about being *offended* by a priest, in a sense. if he looks at me and says - 'look, don't take this personally, but you fucking suck,' i'm not going to get mad. i *want* to be offended, because i still have the capacity to distinguish between right and wrong, and i want to be reminded to work on myself rather than work on the state. that's actually where the problems are. it is a lot to expect of anyone, in real life, because we know that none of us are angels. even Confucius didn't really go around shaking his finger at the Dukes, he knew he couldn't tell them what to do. but he *did* know that they really wanted his approval. as as such they worked out a compromise: the humane, benevolent scholar-gentleman.

not a terrible proposition, really; but there are also other ideals, there are *other virtues.*