Man At the Crossroads IV: “Modern Man”

Last updated on: July 17, 2008 at 8:53 am by Henry Karlson

Man At the Crossroads IV: “Modern Man” 2008-07-17T08:53:56-05:00 Henry Karlson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Part I

Part II
Part III

Through modernism, humanity has done all it can to throw God away. His existence is seen as meaningless, and the world goes on. Humans continue to live and breathe, continue to succeed and fail at life, just as they did when they focused their attention on God. Such, it seems, makes God superfluous. The rise of humanity, where we take our place as master of the world, is to be our right. What seems like the ultimate human achievement, when looked closely, can be seen to be its ultimate failure. What a dark, bleak reality we have created for ourselves. Yes, we have our reason, and through the sciences, we are increasing our understanding of the world around us, but our understanding is the understanding of the vivisectionist. At the same time as our knowledge progresses, as our control over the world and its destiny continues, the dark underbelly of humanity makes itself that much more known. We destroy all that is around us, and we can’t recreate what we destroy. Endangered species, once they die out, are gone forever. Great mountain landscapes, once blown up, will never be seen again. Nothing is out of bounds; we manipulate all things, from the smallest of sub-atomic particles, human life, to the whole of the earth. The utility of our research justifies the wreck we leave in its wake. And yet what we produce, what we make, does not satisfy the human heart: all our rationalistic progress leaves the open existential question, indeed, makes it grow larger, as our sense of meaning becomes less and less.

By ejecting God from the cosmos, much of what was full of meaning has either died or become a source of dread. Just look the diverse ways time has been understood in different epochs of world history. Currently, time is just a unit of measure, telling us when to work, when to watch television, when to eat, when to sleep; ultimately, it is telling us when to do things, controlling us without spiritually nourishing us. Discontent is the outcome of such cyclical existence. Time has, for the most part, lost its sense of meaning, its ability to enrich our experience of life. Christian history, on the other hand, is history because it is about the incoming of God into time, filling it up with things of beauty which can point us back to God. The day, the week, the month, the year, can all be sanctified. They can all be filled with meaning. Time is an actual thing but it is an open, relative thing, allowing for the boundlessness of God’s grace to enter into creation. Time is dependent upon eternity, and eternity is what allows it to have meaning. Christians experience eternity through liturgy, making it a concrete reality. Time is shown to be meaningful because all time is united in the one eternal present.[1] The various parts of the day reflect the darkness we are born in and the light which entered the world through the incarnation; the days of the week, with their various feasts, reflect upon the deeds of the saints. But they do more than that. Allowing us to remember them, they allow us to experience them in communion, showing us how relative the boundaries of time which separate us from them can be. The changing seasons and months of the year can be seen as symbolic of the work of Christ, which is why we put in a whole year the celebration of his whole life. All throughout the year we are shown that our life is in Christ, not external to him, and our mode of existence in the world is elevated because of it.[2]

Pure human rationalism has nothing to do with this; it can’t see the way things relate together; it can never seem the forms, but only the parts contained within such forms. It can break things apart, but rarely can it put things back together. Division is much easier, establishing the individual constituents behind the forms, but the riddle of their relationship within the form is incapable of being overcome.[3]Life is understood as physical and chemical processes working themselves out. There is, there can be, nothing more to it. A holistic approach to life transcends such rational constructs, and so it must be rejected. The sense of beauty and wonder once given to us by the poets serves no function; their words are all so often incapable of being understood by those enthralled by siren of scientism. The world has for them become an ugly place filled with ugly people. That is the end product of the modernist enterprise. H.P. Lovecraft, a staunch believer in materialism, fought hard against it. In his personal writings, he would express such a view, and tell people there is nothing to worry about it.[4] He believed we should just accept the situation for it is, get beyond all delusions, and see the world without fear: “all of this need give worry to none.“[5] And yet his stories tell us something else: in them he shows the true end of such positivism; it is horror. Humanity has been thrust into a pitiless universe of natural forces which will always be greater than us. To truly understand the place of man in the cosmos is to go mad.[6]

Theologians, as we have seen, had a role in the development of the practical atheism of the modernist worldview. They provided “theological support” for it conclusions, despite the fact that they were believers in God, and desired to speak and for God, for the benefit of humanity. It is quite difficult to know how influential theological speculations have directly shaped the dominant worldview, but it is clear, theologians certainly didn’t prevent it. They fell for its traps like everyone else, and so they have at least indirectly influenced the current situation by giving material support for those traps. Indeed, even for those who try to hold out something for God find God evaporating before their eyes. All around us, more people turn to this practical atheism, if not outright atheism, the more our scientific advances seem to suggest humanity can live well enough on its own. Even those places in the world which are still religious find that religiosity compromised when confronted by the miraculous might of technology. “Whenever modern technological civilization penetrates areas that are still religious, it infuses a post-Christian, secular, atheistic consciousness as well. This comes not only through the human beings who make the machines but through the machines themselves; these new fetishes cast a previously unknown spell precisely because they are manipulable.“[7]

Footnotes

[1] “In all true Christian worship the basic emphasis must always be on this eschatological element; on salvation history, yes, but as one indivisible, eternally present reality which is the Kingdom of God realized in the fulness of the Passover of Christ,” Robert F. Taft, “Towards a Theology of Vespers,” pages 161 – 186 in Beyond East and West: Problems in Liturgical Understanding (Rome: Pontificio Istituto Orientale, 2001; 2nd ed.): 183.
[2] “In this way we live in God. We remove our life from this visible world to that world which is not seen by exchanging, not the place, but the very life itself and its mode. It was not we ourselves who were moved towards God, not did we ascend to Him; but it was He who came and descended to us. It was not we who sought, but we were the object of His seeking. […] He did not remove us from here, but He made us heavenly while yet remaining on earth and imparted to us the heavenly life without leading us up to heaven, but by bending heaven to us and bringing it down,” Nicholas Cabasilas. The Life in Christ. trans. Carmino J. deCatanzaro (Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1998), 50.
[3] Thus, society is understood individualistically, people warring against one another, without any sense of unity behind the individuals.
[4] “The only cosmic reality is mindless, undeviating fate – automatic, unmoral, uncalculating inevitability,” H.P. Lovecraft, “Nietzscheism and Realism,” pages 172 – 175, Miscellaneous Writings. ed. S.T. Joshi (Sauk City, WI: Arkham House, 1995): 173. “Nothing matters – all that happens happens through the automatic and inflexible interacting of the electrons, atoms, and molecules of infinity according to the patterns which are co-existence with basic entity itself. The general idea is that of a kaleidoscope with its endless rearrangements – there is no object or purpose in ultimate creation, since all is a ceaseless repetitive cycle of transition from nothing back to nothing again,” H.P. Lovecraft, “The Materialist Today,” pages 176 – 178, Miscellaneous Writings. ed. S.T. Joshi (Sauk City, WI: Arkham House, 1995): 178.
[5] Ibid., 178.
[6]Perhaps one of the best expressions of this is at the beginning of his famous “The Call of Cthulhu”: “The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hithero harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of disassociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark age,” H.P.Lovecraft, “The Call of Cthulhu,” pages 135 – 154 of The Dunwich Horror and Others. ed. S.T. Joshi (Sauk City, WI: Arkham House, 1963; 11th, correct edition): 135.
[7]Hans Urs von Balthasar. Theo-Drama IV: The Action. Trans. Graham Harrison (San Francisco: Ignatius, 1994), 65.

Henry Karlson

Philosophy

Theology

Previous Post

July 17, 2008

An Argument Against Expanding Entitlements

Next Post

July 17, 2008 Recommended summer reads for Catholic women (and men too)

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 2019 A Consistent Ethic of Life Aaron Weldon Abortion absurdity Abuse Scandal Academics Adoption Advent Africa agreement/disagreement with Church teaching Alexander Schmemann Alexham Alterity America Amnesty International Anarchism angels Anglicanism Animals Annual Statistics Anthony Anxietas Apocalyptic Apophatic Appalachia Aquinas Art Atheism Atonement Augustine Authority Baptism Beauty Bible biblical criticism biblical scholarship Bioethics Bishops Black Catholics Black Theology Blackadder Blogs Books Breastfeeding Brett Salkeld Buddhism Bush administration Byzantine Catholic Calvinism Canada Canon Law Capital Punishment Capitalism Caryll Houselander Catholic Blog Awards Catholic Blogging Catholic League Catholic Social Teaching Catholic Worker Movement Catholicity CFL Charity Children Chris West Christ and Culture Christian Democracy Christian Unity Christmas Christology Church Church Doctrine Church History Climate Change Cohabitation Colbert Collegiality Communion Communism Comparative Theology Competition Conferences conscience conscience rights Consequentialism Consistent Life Ethics Consumerism Contraception Contrition Conversion Converts Coptic COVID-19 Creation Critical Thinking Cross Cuba Culture Culture of Death Culture of Life Darfur David Cruz-Uribe David Wheeler-Reed Death Death Penalty Democracy Demons Desert Fathers Devil Dialogue dignity Disability Disarmament discernment Discipleship discrimination Dissent Distributism Division Doctrine Domestic Church Dorothy Day Double Effect Doubt Down syndrome Driving Early Church Easter Eastern Churches Ecclesiology Economics Economy Ecumenism Education El Salvador Election Election 2020 Ellul Embryonic Stem Cell Research Empire Energy Enlighenment Environmentalism Ephraim Radner Episcopal Church epistemology Equality Eschatology Ethics Eucharist Europe Euthanasia Evangelization Evil Evolution Excommunication F.X. Durrwell Facism Facts Fair Trade Faith Family Fashion Feddie Feminism Feminist theology Fertility Fetal Rights Fiction Film Finances First Things flags Folk Religion Food Foreign Affairs Forgiveness Frank Sheed Free Speech Freedom gay & lesbian persons Genocide George W. Bush George Weigel Gerald L. Campbell Girard/Mimetic Theory Global Warming Globalization Gnosticism Good Friday Grace Gratitude Greed Grey Cup 2009 Guadalupe Guest Post Guest Posts Gun Control Gustave Martelet Habitat for Humanity Hans Urs von Balthasar Harry Potter Hate Speech Health Health Care Healthcare Heather King Hebrew Bible Henri de Lubac Henry Karlson Herbert McCabe Heresy HHS Mandate Controversy History Holidays Holiness Holy Spirit Homiletics Homily Homosexuality Hope Hospitality How Far Can We Go? How Far Can We Go? Human Person Human Rights Humanae Vitae Humility Humor Hunger Hunting Identity Idolatry Ignacio Ellacuría Imagination Immigration In Memoriam Income Inequality Inculturation Indigenous People Individualism Inklings Intellect Interdependence Internet Interpretation Interviews Introduction Iraq War Islam Israel Jain James Alison James Martin Jazz Jesus Christ Jews Joe Biden Joe Hargrave Johann Baptist Metz John Allen John Henry Newman John Paul II John the Baptist John XXIII Jonathan Josef Pieper Joseph (the husband of Mary) Joseph Bernardin Joseph Ratzinger Josh Brumfield Journals Joy Judgment Just War Justice Kari Lundgren Karl Rahner Katerina Ivanovna Kenya Keynes Kingdom of God Kyle R. Cupp Labor Language Latin America Law Leanne Ogasawara Legion of Christ Leisure Lent Liberalism Liberation Theology Libertarianism Libya Lies Life life & dignity & responsibility of the human person Literature Little Way Liturgical music Liturgical Year Liturgy Living Simply Living Wage Local Church Lombard Lord of the Rings Louis Dupre Love M.Z. Magic Magisterium Mark DeFrancisis Mark Gordon Marriage Martin Luther Martin Luther King Jr. Martyrdom Marxism Mary Masculinity Matt Talbot Matthew Fish Matthew Levering McCain Media Memorial Day Mennonites Mental Illness mercy Michael Iafrate Middle East militarism Miroslav Volf Mitt Romney Modesty Moral Theology Morality Mormonism Morning's Minion Mother Teresa Music Muslims Natalie Nate Wildermuth Nationalism Native Americans Nature Nazis Neuhaus New Evangelization New York City News NFP nihilism Nonviolence Not Abortion Nova's Ordo Nuclear weapons Nuns Obama Occult Old Age Opus Dei Ordination ordination of women original sin Orthodoxy Oscar Romero Other Voices Pacifism Palestine Palin Papacy Papal Peace Messages Papal Social Encyclicals Particular Affections Partisanship Patriotism Paul Paul Ryan Paul VI Peace Pentimento persecution Personalism Phantastes Philosophy PKD Planned Parenthood Pluralism Poetry Policraticus Politcal Apathy Politics Poll Pope Benedict XVI Pope Francis Pope John Paul II Pope Leo XIV Population Postcolonialsim Poverty Power Prayer Preaching Predictions Predictions for 2012 President Barack Obama priestly formation & discernment Pro-Life Progress Prophetic Witness Proportionalism Public Diplomacy Public Policy Question Quotes Rachel Maddow Racism Radical Catholic Mom Radical Catholicism Raymund Schwager Real Catholic TV Real Presence Reconciliation Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange Religion religious freedom Responsibility Ressourcement Resurrection Rick Garnett Ridiculous Crap You Never Thought You'd See Robert Barron Roe v. Wade Roman Curia Rome Russia Sacraments Saints Salvation History Sam Harris Sam Rocha Same-sex Marriage Saskatchewan Roughriders Satire School of the Americas Science Scripture Seamless Garment Second Vatican Council Seeing Sex sexual violence Sexuality Sia Sin social justice Social Security Socialism Society of Jesus Sofia Loves Wisdom Solidarity Sophia soteriology Soutenus Spirituality Sports St. Dismas St. Joseph Stanley Hauerwas Statistics Stimulus Suffering Sunday Reflections Supernatural Supreme Court Symbolism Syria Taxing Technology Terrorism The State The Tea Party The Trump Administration Theological Anthropology Theology Theotokos Thomas Merton Throwaway Culture Tim Muldoon Tim Riley Tim Tebow Time Titian Tolkien Torture Toys Trade Traditionalism Transgender Transportation Transubstantiation Trinity Truth TV U.S. Affairs Uncategorized Unions unity among people who disagree US Catholicism USCCB Usury Utilitarianism Utopia Valentine's Day Vatican Vatican II Veterans Vicarious Suffering Video Violence Virgin Mary Vocations Voluntary Associations Voluntary Poverty Voting Vox Nova vox nova blog war War and Peace War Strategy Wealth Weirdness Welfare state Women Women Priests Work Woundedness Youth

Select a Month June 2026 May 2025 February 2025 January 2025 July 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 July 2023 March 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 November 2021 September 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news and proclaim what?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Salvation Victory Deliverance Peace