Mystery Play<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In his quirky little essay on Benedict XVI, The Mystery of Evil, Giorgio Agamben cites Odo Casel's finding that \u201cthe term mysterion indicates a praxis, an\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/06\/mystery-play\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mystery Play\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In his quirky little essay on Benedict XVI, The Mystery of Evil, Giorgio Agamben cites Odo Casel's finding that \u201cthe term mysterion indicates a praxis, an\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/06\/mystery-play\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Leithart\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Leithart\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-06-28T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Peter Leithart\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@PLeithart\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Peter Leithart\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/06\/mystery-play\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/06\/mystery-play\/\",\"name\":\"Mystery Play\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-06-28T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-06-28T00:00:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/6bb7113e4dd45fe26045622aa56f891d\"},\"description\":\"In his quirky little essay on Benedict XVI, The Mystery of Evil, Giorgio Agamben cites Odo Casel's finding that \u201cthe term mysterion indicates a praxis, an\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/06\/mystery-play\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/06\/mystery-play\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/06\/mystery-play\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Mystery Play\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/\",\"name\":\"Leithart\",\"description\":\"My blog is a public notebook, featuring essays, notes, and explorations on Scripture, theology, literature, politics, culture.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/6bb7113e4dd45fe26045622aa56f891d\",\"name\":\"Peter Leithart\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1033df9cd7263d2e0408cf9ee92ee4d?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1033df9cd7263d2e0408cf9ee92ee4d?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Peter Leithart\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Leithart\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PLeithart\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/author\/pleithart\/\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Mystery Play","description":"In his quirky little essay on Benedict XVI, The Mystery of Evil, Giorgio Agamben cites Odo Casel's finding that \u201cthe term mysterion indicates a praxis, an","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/06\/mystery-play\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Mystery Play","og_description":"In his quirky little essay on Benedict XVI, The Mystery of Evil, Giorgio Agamben cites Odo Casel's finding that \u201cthe term mysterion indicates a praxis, an","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/06\/mystery-play\/","og_site_name":"Leithart","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Leithart\/","article_published_time":"2017-06-28T00:00:00+00:00","author":"Peter Leithart","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@PLeithart","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Peter Leithart","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/06\/mystery-play\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/06\/mystery-play\/","name":"Mystery Play","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-06-28T00:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2017-06-28T00:00:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/6bb7113e4dd45fe26045622aa56f891d"},"description":"In his quirky little essay on Benedict XVI, The Mystery of Evil, Giorgio Agamben cites Odo Casel's finding that \u201cthe term mysterion indicates a praxis, an","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/06\/mystery-play\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/06\/mystery-play\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/06\/mystery-play\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Mystery Play"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/","name":"Leithart","description":"My blog is a public notebook, featuring essays, notes, and explorations on Scripture, theology, literature, politics, culture.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/6bb7113e4dd45fe26045622aa56f891d","name":"Peter Leithart","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1033df9cd7263d2e0408cf9ee92ee4d?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1033df9cd7263d2e0408cf9ee92ee4d?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","caption":"Peter Leithart"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Leithart\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/PLeithart"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/author\/pleithart\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3021"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18918"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18918\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":18918,"date":"2017-06-28T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-06-28T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leithart.level2d.com\/?p=641"},"modified":"2017-06-28T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-06-28T00:00:00","slug":"mystery-play","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/06\/mystery-play\/","title":{"rendered":"Mystery Play"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I<\/span>n his quirky little essay on Benedict XVI, The Mystery of Evil<\/em><\/a>, Giorgio Agamben cites Odo Casel\u2019s finding that \u201cthe term mysterion<\/em> indicates a praxis, an action or a drama in the theatrical sense of the term as well, that is, a set of gestures, acts, and words through which a divine action or passion is efficaciously actualized in the world and time for the salvation of those who participate in it\u201d (28).<\/p>\n

This, he argues, is what Paul means when he speaks of mystery.\u00a0For Paul, the mystery \u201cis not a secret\u201d but \u201csomething that is said and manifested.\u00a0It is not the wisdom of God, but that by means of which this wisdom is expressed and revealed, in such a way\u2014as happens in the mysteries\u2014the uninitiated do not comprehend it. . . . The wisdom of God is therefore expressed in the form of a mystery, which is nothing other than the historical drama of the passion, namely, an event that really happened, which the uninitiated do not understand and the faithful grasp for their salvation\u201d (29-30).<\/p>\n

This is also the significance of \u201cmystery\u201d in what Paul describes as the \u201cmystery of iniquity\u201d in 2 Thessalonians 2. It\u2019s an eschatological drama, involving a katechon<\/em>, a restrainer (\u201cidentified with the Empire . . . or with the the Church, in any case an \u00a0institution,\u201d 33), and the Messiah.\u00a0The man of lawlessness is \u201csituated\u201d between the two, and his revelation \u201ccoincides with the katechon<\/em>\u2018s exiting the scene,\u201d which precipitates a final battle.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Messiah and the anti-Messiah are strangely similar.\u00a0The Christ overcomes the law, and thus opens up a \u201czone of lawlessness that coincides with messianic time and in this way frees the anomos<\/em>, the outlaw\u201d (33).\u00a0While the restrainer is operative, the lawlessness of the church and of antichrist is concealed under the cover of \u201cjudicially constituted authority.\u201d The mystery play is unveiled and begins \u201cwith the manifestation of the inoperativity of the law and with the essential illegitimacy of every power in messianic time\u201d (34).\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a parenthetical comment, Agamben seems to imply that this time is upon us: \u201cthis is what is happening under our noses, when the powers of state act openly as outside the law. In this sense, the anomos<\/em> does not represent anything but the unveiling of the lawlessness that today defines every constituted power, within which the State and terrorism form a single system\u201d (34).\u00a0Throughout the essay, though, Agamben implies that the church is always the site of a double mystery, the mystery of the passion and the mystery of lawlessness.\u00a0For example, \u201cThe \u2018not yet\u2019 defines the action of the katechon<\/em>, of the force that restrains; the \u2018already\u2019 refers to the urgency of the decisive element\u201d (35). It\u2019s not clear that Agamben means this literally, but perhaps he does. Perhaps he thinks that we\u2019re at an eschatological moment, when the twin mysteries opened by the passion of Christ are heading toward a final conflict.\u00a0<\/p>\n

2 Thessalonians 2 is speaking, I think, about the first-century situation.\u00a0The man of lawlessness is a rebel high priest who will take up his seat in the temple of God; the restrainer is the Roman empire that, for a time, protected the church from the worst of Jewish persecution.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even though Agamben misconstrues the text, he is right the church has lost its soul because she doesn\u2019t take eschatological texts seriously. Instead of seeing the mystery of iniquity as an eschatological conflict, it has been\u00a0\u201ctransformed into an atemporal structure, which aims to give a theological jurisdiction to evil and, at the same time, to slow and \u2018hold back\u2019 the end of days\u201d (36). Kenotic theologians have rooted the mystery of iniquity in God Himself, \u201ca justification of evil through kenosis,\u201d and a position that turns \u201cthe drama of the end of days into an ontotheological structure.\u201d Agamben is right to call this \u201ca Gnostic gesture\u201d or \u201ca semi-Marcionite one\u201d (36). According to Christianity, mysteries are events, and in the end \u201cmystery and history correspond without remainder\u201d (30).<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"