Existentialist Reformtation

It makes for an interesting exercise to compare existentialist philosophy 
with Reformation
thinking.

For Zwinglie certainty of belief did not guarantee that one was correct and 
 would be
saved. Under predestination we can never know whether we are members of the 
elect. Only
god knows those that are to be saved. Consequently no matter what the 
individual does he
can never be sure that he is to be saved. In short no matter how certain 
and committed the
individual is to her/his convictions there can be no guarantee that one's 
convictions are
correct and that commitment to those convictions is meaningful or make 
sense. Convictions,
then, can never guarantee success.

This reformation theology introduces the element of uncertainty into the 
world. It
introduces, if you like, anxiety into our lives. It, in many ways, marks 
the beginning of
the age of anxiety --Freud and all that. Indeed reformation theology was an 
expression of
the new kind of individualist anxiety establishing itself in Western 
culture --not
unconnected with the development of capitalism.

Under this theology the individual is forever striving to realise his/her 
convictions
while never being certain that these convictions are either realistic and 
capable of
achievement. Wo/man then is forever striving to get beyond himself without 
ever having a
guarantee of getting there. This is similar in ways to the existentialist 
outlook of
Sartre: wo/man is perpetually engaged in projecting himself beyond himself 
and yet never
fulfils himself, never acquires happiness and contentment, never achieves
being-for-itself.

Only god knows when man is saved. But since, in a sense, we can never 
really know what the
absolute is thinking because of our limitations it never amounts to more 
than Sartre's
being-in-itself --it is just there and that is all we can say about it. But 
for Sartre as
in Nausea, being-in-itself sticks its nose into our being from time to time 
which is
experienced by us as nausea or anxiety or whatever you want to call it.The 
tree trunk in
Nausea is just this being-in-itself. This manifestation of being-in-itself 
is a form of
mysticism --a mystical experience-- and akin to Reformation mysticism.

Indeed as France, as I understand it, never experienced the Reformation in 
the radical way
that Germany or Switzerland experienced one might say that the emergence of 
existentialism
in post-war France was France's belated and thereby surreal Reformation.

The above are some off the cuff quickies --food for thought for those who 
will continue to
tap away despite the bourgeois festival called Christmas.

Warm regards
George Pennefather

Be free to check out our Communist Think-Tank web site at
http://homepage.eircom.net/~beprepared/