[lbo-talk] Handwriting on the wall ( Re: Max Horkheimer on Theism and Atheism)

andie nachgeborenen andie_nachgeborenen at yahoo.com
Sun Jul 8 18:40:23 PDT 2007


How does all this Christianity as the source of revolution stuff square the high incidence of Jews among revolutionaries? Not just starting with old' Chuck, either, but him too. I've heard people argue that the prophetic impulse was important for Chuck; his family was rabbinal and his mother never really converted, so he woulda probably got the whole megilla. He knew his Old Testament too and there is a sort of prophetic feel to his writings.

The handwriting on the wall and all that. åôøñéï ,ú÷ì ,îðà ,îðà, , -- or for you goyim, Mene mene tarkel uparshin! Daniel translates/interprets it thus for Nebuchadnezzar: God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end; you have been weighed on the scales and found wanting; your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians. Daniel 25-28. (Somehow that last bit seems unusually apt again.)

--- Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:


>
> On Jul 8, 2007, at 2:39 PM, Mr. WD wrote:
>
> > On 7/8/07, Yoshie Furuhashi
> <critical.montages at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >> Max Horkheimer 1963
> >> Source: Critique of Instrumental Reason. Max
> Horkheimer. Published by
> >> Continuum 1974
> >>
> >> opposite of religion. Those who professed
> themselves to be
> >> atheists at
> >> a time when religion was still in power tended to
> identify themselves
> >> more deeply with the theistic commandment to love
> one's neighbor and
> >> indeed all created things than most adherents and
> fellow-travelers of
> >> the various denominations. Such selflessness,
> such a sublimation of
> >> self-love into love of others had its origin in
> Europe in the
> >> Judaeo-Christian idea that truth, love and
> justice were one, an idea
> >> which found expression in the teachings of the
> Messiah. The necessary
> >
> >
> > This appears to be the sentiment echoed by
> Habermas in his essay "A
> > Time of Transition":
> >
> > "Christianity, and nothing else, is the ultimate
> foundation of
> > liberty, conscience, human rights, and democracy,
> the benchmarks of
> > Western civilization. To this day, we have no
> other options [than
> > Christianity]. We continue to nourish ourselves
> from this source.
> > Everything else is postmodern chatter."
>
> Yeah, and Slavoj Zizek was arguing a few years ago
> that through its
> emphasis on redemption, rather than acceptance of
> fate, Christianity
> is our primal source of the revolutionary impulse.
> And there's the
> heart of a heartless world argument, too. Fine.
> That's one thing.
> It's quite another to argue that we have to become
> religious, or
> defer to the religious. With Yoshie telling us we
> have to embrace the
> Islamists and the establishment liberals all getting
> into line to
> blow Jim Wallis, I think I'll pass.
>
> Doug
> ___________________________________
>
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>

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