The Eschaton Has Been Immanentized: Against the Modern Gnostics

Last updated on: August 18, 2009 at 5:32 pm by Henry Karlson

The Eschaton Has Been Immanentized: Against the Modern Gnostics 2009-08-18T17:32:15-05:00 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.

Do not immanentize the eschaton. How many times do we find these words repeated, time and again, since Voegelin has suggested to do so is Gnostic? How ironic is this claim, when authentic Christian theology believes that the eschaton has been immanetized in Christ. Voegelin, and many of his followers like Buckley, became critical of anyone who would try to connect the supernatural with the natural in a way which understood the eschatological ramifications of Christ have any this-worldly implications.[1] But this is exactly what Christian theology proposes. God became man; the eschaton has been revealed; the world and all that is in it has been affected by the immanentizing of the eschaton that history can never be the same. Christians are called to live out their lives in and through Christ, bringing the eschatological implications of Pascha to the world itself. The world is meant to be transformed and brought to its perfection, and we are to be Christ’s workers in helping to bring this about; of course, our work is not on the same level of Christ’s, but, if we truly become one with Christ in his body, we must understand this is exactly what we are called to do.[2] Anything else is a rejection of the incarnation, anything else which tries to establish an absolute duality between the immanent and transcendent is what really qualifies as gnostic!

Gnosticism was dualistic in that it saw the transcendent eschaton could not be immanentized in this world; at best, a docetic presentation of the eschaton could be presented, but it would not be the eschaton itself – God did not become man, but only seemed to appear among humanity, because the eschaton must lie outside of history, outside of the immanent world of experience. Gnostics said that only those who have transcended the immanent reality and have experienced a gnosis which transcended the world of experience, the world of “evil,” can be saved, for only they have experienced the true God who can never enter the world.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). This Word, who is God, is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end – the eschaton.[3] The eschaton dwelt among us, the eschaton became flesh. “In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets; but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world” (Heb 1:1-2). The Word has come to us in these last days, the eschaton has been revealed – the kingdom of God has been established through the death and resurrection of Christ – this is what Paul means when he says, “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1Cor 15:21). It was this truth which made Christianity a scandal – the Greeks could understand an emanation of The One entering into the world, but not the One itself. No one has a problem with the immanence of an emanation, only the immanence of the eschaton. “He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation; for in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities — all things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the first-born from the dead, that in everything he might be pre-eminent. For in him all the fulness of God was pleased to dwell” (Col 1:15 – 19). The Gnostics denied it; they said, like the Greeks, this could not happen – the eschaton might appear to be with us, might appear to be in the flesh, but this was only an illusion, something unreal. John said otherwise – this, he said, was the position of the antichrist. “By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit which confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit which does not confess Jesus is not of God. This is the spirit of antichrist, of which you heard that it was coming, and now it is in the world already” (1John 4:2-3). The eschaton has become immanent with creation, the eschaton has immanentized, and all of creation rejoices, for “creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God. (Rom 8:21). The world is to be transformed, not abandoned. Since the eschaton has been immanentized, we cannot ignore the world, we cannot dualistic seek only things of the spirit and reject the physical world and all its needs; we must seek the eschaton not apart from the world, but in it – for the Logos, the eschaton, has set up his camp and now dwells among us.

Gnostics rejected any attempt to help heal the world – because the world was outside of the scope of their understanding of the eschaton. While some forms of Gnosticism were highly ascetic and demanded austere practices (if one was attracted to the things of the world, one could not transcend it),[4] many others became so indifferent to the world, that anything in it became meaningless. There was no responsibility to anyone, there was indeed, more morality – the world is not real, and so what happens in it is irrelevant. While this might show why Gnosticism is difficult to present, because its principles lead in diverse directions, we can see that both tendencies nonetheless continue to influence those who follow the Gnostic rejection of the eschaton entering the world, and often converge together. For example, we can find it with many modern-day Gnostics as they combine an extreme puritan-like stand in sexuality with an indifference to the fate of the world itself.[5]

Of course, Christian morality also expects holiness in the body. It is because the body itself is holy and is have a share in eternity that must seek to live our lives in purity. Salvation is of the body and of the soul, and expects purity in both. “And since man is an animal made up of soul and body, that [salvation] must come about through the instrumentality of both of them, there is both bodily holiness, the safeguard of abstinence from all shameful things and all wicked deeds, and holiness of soul, the preservation of its integrity of faith in God, adding nothing and subtracting nothing from it.”[6] Our spiritual life cannot be had outside of the body. We must not view the flesh as evil and our sexuality as a thing to be rejected, but rather, both must be seen as good and capable as working for God’s greater glory in creation (and not apart from it).

The world, the flesh, and the workings of both, can be and should be seen as good, and worthy of preservation. God so loves the world that he seeks to save it, not destroy it, and the Christian must seek to have it saved by the means God has chosen – through the incarnation, through the eschaton immanentized.[7] “Action, then, is preserved by faith, because unless you believe, says Isaias, you shall not continue; and faith is given by truth, since faith rests upon reality: for we shall believe what really is, as it is, and believing what really is, as it is for ever, keep a firm hold of our assent to it.”[8] One who lacks faith will not act for the betterment of the world, because they will not believe the world is real and worth preserving; the one who has faith knows it is real, created by the good God, knows it is worthy of being saved and preserved from corruption, and will follow the example of their God by working with God’s grace to its benefit. The incarnation expects earthly glory; Gnosticism rejects it; one’s belief about the eschaton explains the way one will deal with the world. Christian belief is incarnational; unbelief attempts to remove the eschaton from the world, as Ireaneus says: “And others again despise the coming of the Son of God and the dispensation of His incarnation, which the apostles have transmitted to us, and which the prophets foretold would be the summing-up of humanity, as we have shown you in brief. And such people too should be counted among the unbelievers.”[9]

The dispensation of the incarnation is for the world, for its transformation and transfiguration, while those who reject the immanentized eschaton in Christ find all kinds of excuses to reject the world and excuse disinterest in its wellbeing. Such faith without works is dead, because it is not a faith in the incarnate One, but in the disincarnate eschaton which rejects the world. Life, however, is a thing of the world. “Irenaeus, with great perspicacity, understood this, and showed it [Gnosticism] up for what it was. For him Christianity is about the divine and spiritual Word becoming flesh and body. The redemption depends on the real Incarnation, the real suffering on the Cross, and the real resurrection of the flesh. All three of these are a real scandal for Gnosticism.”[10] All three reveal not only that the eschaton has become immanent, but what the eschaton has done in that immanent activity – it is a scandal to believe the eschaton can be immanentized, it is worse to believe that immanentized eschaton suffered – how can the transcendent suffer? And yet the answer to this, as it always should be, is that God is love, and the incarnation is the revelation of this love. God loves the world, and so gives himself over to the world – the eschaton emptied itself to give us the gift of himself, the gift of love. A rejection of the immanentized eschaton is a rejection of God’s love, for it seeks to keep God separate from us. But for the Christian, this can never be believed, for we have witnessed the love of God for us, and we have encountered God on the cross: “Have this mind among yourselves, which was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross” (Phil 2: 5- 8). This is the Christian message, and our life in faith requires us to follow through and follow his example, of self-giving love for the betterment of the world. Either we believe in Christ incarnate or we do not; but we must never let it be said, like the Gnostics, we believe in Christ unincarnate, the eschaton non-immanentized: this must always be seen as the ideal of antichrist, for it teaches a God who does not love.

Footnotes

[1] Lubac’s understanding about the divide between the natural and supernatural in Western thought proves itself valid here: because the supernatural is transcendent, Gnostic speculation says it is incapable of being seen in the natural world and any attempt to see the two working together is rejected. Grace no longer works to perfect nature, but one seeks to overcome nature and the world through it, so that the world is of no real importance. In extreme forms this becomes Manichaean dualism, which rejects the world as evil and sees anyone who seeks to preserve and protect the world as evil as well. It is no wonder that the crusading spirit of this modern Gnosticism looks like the Gnostics of old – they “know” they are right, and those who oppose them are wrong; they know their rightness makes them as those who support all that which is good, and those who they oppose as pure evil, an evil which must be destroyed. They have no ability to see evil for what it is: a wound which needs to be healed, to be overcome by love, not annihilation.

[2] Thus the Church is, as Balthasar points out, the continued presence of Christ in the world, in history, and through the institution of the Church, Christ continues to work in history. “The institution of the Church, which from within is the presence of Christ and a liberating sphere, acts as a scandal to the world. And this very scandal is indispensable to prevent the Incarnation of God, and even his crucifixion, from dissolving into idealistic vapor and shallow morality,” Hans Urs von Balthasar, New Elucidations. trans. Sister Mary Theresidle Skerry (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1986).Therefore, one can say with the continued incarnation of Christ’s presence in the world the eschaton continues to be immanentized.

[3] “’I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty” (Rev 1:1).

[4] Many Gnostics, including later forms of Gnosticims like the Cathars, saw sexual reproduction as evil, entrapping more and more sparks of the divine through reproduction.

[5] But it is also true, many are indifferent when it comes to sexual morality, but most who say “do not immanentize the eschaton” say such words whenever anyone works for a better world, revealing full well their rejection of the world and an uncaring response to its needs.

[6] St Irenaeus, Proof of the Apostolic Teaching. Trans. Joseph P. Smith, S.J (New York: Newman Press, 1952), 48.

[7] John 3:16.

[8] Irenaeus, Proof of the Apostolic Teaching, 49.

[9] Irenaeus, Proof of the Apostolic Teaching, 108.

[10] Hans Urs von Balthasar, The Scandal of the Incarnation: Irenaeus Against the Heresies. Trans. John Saward (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1990), 3.

Gnosticism

Henry Karlson

Previous Post

August 18, 2009

SCOTUS denies challenge to lethal injection as cruel and unusual punishment

Next Post

August 19, 2009 Vox Nova with the African-American Spiritual: Nobody Knows, Paul Robeson

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

Which New Testament book is written as a sermon?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Acts Hebrews James Galatians