Immanentize the eschaton

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

In

political theory and theology, to immanentize the eschaton is a generally pejorative phrase referring to attempts to bring about utopian conditions in the world, and to effectively create heaven on earth.[1] Theologically, the belief is akin to postmillennialism as reflected in the Social Gospel of the 1880–1930 era,[2] as well as Protestant reform movements during the Second Great Awakening in the 1830s and 1840s such as abolitionism.[3]

Origin

Modern usage of the phrase started with

William F. Buckley popularized Voegelin's phrase as "Don't immanentize the eschaton!". Buckley's version became a political slogan of Young Americans for Freedom during the 1960s and 1970s.[4]

Voegelin identified a number of similarities between ancient Gnosticism and the beliefs held by a number of modern political theories, particularly Communism and Nazism. He identified the root of the Gnostic impulse as belief in a lack of concord within society as a result of an inherent disorder, or even evil, of the world. He described this as having two effects:[citation needed]

  • The belief that the disorder of the world can be transcended by extraordinary insight, learning, or knowledge, called a Gnostic Speculation by Voegelin (the Gnostics themselves referred to this as gnosis).
  • The desire to implement a policy to actualize the speculation, or as Voegelin said, to Immanentize the Eschaton, to create a sort of heaven on earth within history. See Scientism.

One of the more oft-quoted passages from Voegelin's work on Gnosticism is that "The problem of an

hypostasis of the eschaton, however, is a theoretical fallacy."[5]

James H. Billington's 1980 book Fire in the Minds of Men explores the idea further.[6][7]

Christianity

At the end of the 12th century, Joachim of Fiore theorized the coming of an age of earthly bliss right before the end of time. Although not a full immanentization, Joachim has opened the way to an anticipation of the eschaton in the course of time. His ideas have influenced the thoughts on an immanentized eschaton.[8]

In contemporary terminology this process is sometimes described as "hastening the eschaton" or "hastening the apocalypse". In this sense it refers to a phenomenon related to millenarianism and the specific Christian form of millennialism which is based on a particular reading of the Christian Bible's Book of Revelation especially popular among evangelicals in the United States.[9]

See also

References

  1. ^ "To Immanentize the Eschaton - English definition and meaning". Lexico. Archived from the original on October 26, 2020. Retrieved 2022-03-05.
  2. ISBN 9780198042983
    .
  3. ISBN 9780815629245
    .
  4. ^ Jonah Goldberg (2002-01-16). "Immanent Corrections". National Review. Retrieved 2008-11-06.
  5. ISBN 978-0826212450
    .
  6. ^ "Paperbacks: New and Noteworthy". The New York Times. 1983-03-20. Retrieved 2008-11-06. At once erudite and dramatic, the book explores the roots of the modern belief that a just and beautiful new world will spring into being if only we can overthrow evil powers and institutions.
  7. ^ Fire in the Minds of Men, introduction
  8. ISBN 8883341872
    .
  9. ^ Landes, Richard Allen (2011). Heaven on Earth: The varieties of the Millennial experience. England: Oxford.

External links
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