[spirited irish]

“Arguably both men realized early on that the job of evangelism begins with a challenge to souls regarding their “certainties” about the structure of Reality and their place in it.”

Spirited: In other words, we must begin at the beginning and address the Ultimate questions: origins, what is man? why evil? and afterlife.

“What is that that hath been? that is now; and that that shall be, hath now been; for God requireth that which is past.” Ecclesiastes 3: 15

Just as all manner of travail (suffering) exists to humble man so too the return of that which has been of old exists to humble philosophers who desire to attain perfection of knowledge. Note that only a living, personal God can require travail and the return of that which has been of old.

When Buddha, Kant, Hegel, and Marx sought perfection of knowledge they did not turn to something that has never been but rather turned back to what has been of old:

1.monism-—the one-substance (the void, abyss, watery chaos, Darwin’s primordial pond scum, dialectical matter)

2.evolution-—metempsychosis, reincarnation

3. some form of Hermeticism, i.e., non-duality, continuity, oneness, connectivity, Hegel’s dialectic.

4. naturally-selected men as gods

Monism, evolution, Hermeticism, naturally-selected men as gods are the foundation stones of the immediate post-flood societies: Sumeria, Assyria, and Babylonia.

From the plains of Shinar these elements eventually traveled
into India and China and all around the world.

Paul contended against permutations of these key elements in his public disputations with Greek nature philosophers.

And we, in these many threads here in FR, are also contending against “what has been of old”-—monism, evolution, Hermeticism, man as god.

There is nothing new under the sun, said Solomon. For what is has already been of old.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thank you so very much for your informative and engaging essay-post, dear spirited irish!

I find your categories very interesting indeed as my husband and I have been watching the Babylon 5 television series (a birthday gift). Strangely, the creator of the series (Straczynski) calls himself an atheist and yet "seeking" is the common thread among the characters and plots. Indeed, the very act of seeking is revered in at least one episode.

If you are interested, I see your categories in the series as follows:

1. monism - the chief human doctor in the series calls himself atheist and his religion Foundationalism.

2. evolution (metempsychosis, reincarnation) - the theory of evolution is taken as a given throughout the series (no surprise there) and occasionally an alien or a piece of an alien (Vorlons) has the power to inhabit another. Some species achieve a sort of immortality by transferring from one host to another. But they are presented as parasites. And another species (Soul Hunters) make it a point to capture souls at the point of death because they believe otherwise the soul is lost altogether.

3. some form of Hermeticism - the writer gives his nod to this form of religion above all the others with the strongest spiritual leaders (Minbari) believing the universe is alive and evolution is all about its own self-discovery - very much like Eastern mysticism.

4. naturally-selected men as gods - interestingly, this is the area the writer reveals his own stumbling block in his seeking. On the one hand he pokes fun at the Centauri for their polytheism and believing emperors can become gods. But, on the other hand, he makes no joke of the very powerful millions/billions of years old beings (First Ones, Vorlons and Shadows) who reveal themselves to the younger races as "divine beings."

The stumbling block is that he can only imagine a "god" who is subject to space and especially, time. He superimposes his own limitations onto his imaginations.

Truly many people cannot imagine that space and time are part of the Creation and not properties of the Creator of it.

And so, the author's "gods" are simply very powerful beings and no more. They each had beginnings. I see the same "created god" thinking in both modern and ancient religions.

The author of Babylon 5 makes a few kind gestures to Judeo/Christian beliefs. He presents Judaism as ritualistic and faithful, Catholicism as wise and sedate and Baptists as preachy and enthused.

And he nods once to the concept of a Creator when his character Lorean, who is "the" First One says that this universe began with "a" word.

But, of course, all of his gods must be created themselves and so he misses the point entirely that The Word (Jesus) is The Creator-God.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. - John 1:1-3

Any hoot, I find your categories quite fascinating and I see them all in Straczynski's apparent "seeking" through his own story-telling. He calls himself atheist but I strongly suspect he is actually Hermetic underneath a veneer of Foundationalism.

It is refreshing though to see a SciFi series where religious and philosophical belief are given more than a simple hand wave.

As you reminded us, there is nothing new under the sun.

The thing that hath been, it [is that] which shall be; and that which is done [is] that which shall be done: and [there is] no new [thing] under the sun. - Eccl 1:9

God's Name is I AM!