Quote for the Day: Devolution
"It is a common belief of twenty-first century Americans than human society is progressing. Even U.S. biblical fundamentalists who will hear nothing of biological evolution still believe that the United States is the greatest society in the world and getting better and better. This belief in progress, in things getting better and better, is a belief in social evolution. People in antiquity, on the other hand...believed the world was running down. The prevailing view was one of devolution and gradual collapse of the cosmos in general and of society in particular. A Greek might call this 'kakoterology' (= worse-ology)." (Bruce Malina and John Pilch, Social Science Commentary on the Letters of Paul, p 352)
posted by Loren Rosson III @ 2/04/2006
4 Comments:
United what? Where? Oh I know - the place with too many bushes and not enough trees.
What do you think of that commentary? I saw it at a bookstore and almost purchased it.
Brandon, I started some discussion of the book on the Corpus Paulinum mailing list, here and here. I'll have a full review on the list and this blog within the next couple of weeks. Short answer: get the book!
I don't know anything about this commentary but the majority of US fundamentalists that I know, and I grew up amount a fundamentalist denomination, would disagree with that remark. Most of them would tend to believe that the world is going to get worse until the parousia of Christ. Then it will get better.
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