{"id":18936,"date":"2017-07-07T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-07-07T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leithart.level2d.com\/?p=659"},"modified":"2017-07-07T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-07-07T00:00:00","slug":"perfect-fear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/07\/perfect-fear\/","title":{"rendered":"Perfect Fear"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

M<\/span>ichael Oakeshott (Hobbes on Civil Association<\/em><\/a>, 38-39) states Hobbes\u2019s solution to the dilemma of human violence in evangelical terms. Human existence is plagued by the fear of death, and for Hobbes the only salvation lies in greater fear.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The saviour is not a visitor from another\u00a0world, nor is it some godlike power of Reason come to\u00a0create order out of chaos; there is no break either in the situation\u00a0or in the argument. The remedy of the disease is homeopathic. \u00a0The precondition of the deliverance is the recognition of the\u00a0predicament. Just as, in Christian theory, the repentance of the\u00a0sinner is the first indispensable step towards forgiveness and salvation,\u00a0so here, mankind must first purge itself of the illusion\u00a0called pride. So long as a man is in the grip of this illusion he will\u00a0<\/span>hope to succeed tomorrow where he failed today; and the hope\u00a0<\/span>is vain. The purging emotion (for it is to emotion that we go\u00a0<\/span>to find the beginning of deliverance) is fear of death. This fear\u00a0<\/span>illuminates prudence; man is a creature civilized by fear of\u00a0<\/span>death.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

John the Apostle to the contrary, perfect fear, not perfect love, casts out fear.<\/p>\n

But this fear cannot come be fear of the hell or the final judgment. Polities collapse when fear is divvied out between God and the sovereign. Christians ought to rethink what the Scripture means by \u201cLife Eternall and Torment Eternall\u201d and modify Christian\u00a0fear-mongering to leave Leviathan as the great purveyor of fear.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Liberal theology opens space for the sovereign to scare people into civilized conduct.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michael Oakeshott (Hobbes on Civil Association, 38-39) states Hobbes\u2019s solution to the dilemma of human violence in evangelical terms. Human existence is plagued by the fear of death, and for Hobbes the only salvation lies in greater fear.\u00a0 The saviour is not a visitor from another\u00a0world, nor is it some godlike power of Reason come […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3021,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1534],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hobbes"],"yoast_head":"\nPerfect Fear<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Michael Oakeshott (Hobbes on Civil Association, 38-39) states Hobbes's solution to the dilemma of human violence in evangelical terms. 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