Theology of the Body Extended Part II: The Parts of the Human Fingers and the Sacraments
Preterism's Limitations: We Need to Move on to the Spiritual Ages
Photo By: Flickr/Roman Hobler
The problem is, all positive stuff, sugar, and no horror. The Catholic preterist is great for the beautiful elements of Apocalypse: the Lamb, the Banquet, the Heavenly Jerusalem, the Holy, Holy, Holy, the 144,000, the great multitude, the incense, the saints, the 24 elders.
Good, But what about the burning mountain cast into the sea, the bitterness of Wormwood, the scary, locust, scorpion creatures that torture, the serpent, sulfur creatures that kill, the beast, the dragon, the false prophet, the kings of the east, the harlot, or the kings delineated? When given these things, the preterist just shuffles us back to the first century.
One will retort, oh, so you are fundamentalist futurist who thinks this is it. No, I didn't say that. I am rather saying that the real meaning of God's Plan is not only not contingent on WWIII geo-political war scenarios, or Jews being saved from helicopters, or China bombing away, or the European Union's cardinal nature, but also that it is neither heavily contingent on how long it took Jerusalem to fall, that the fall of Jerusalem was like 200 million demons assaulting it, that the Roman Empire is the only form of darkness that really matters, that the two branches of apostate Judaism are the best they can do with two horns, that the meaning of the dragon is most ultimately seen as Herod, or that seven Roman Emperors reigned in the first one hundred years.
I am saying that salvation history is a story of epic spiritual proportions that moves through the ages, not petty details of the first or last centuries of the Church age. One will retort that historicism, even if spiritual in nature, is the pet of anti-Catholic Protestants. That may be true, but who are they to tell anybody anything? What voice have they before heaven and earth? Who speaks for God? Luther, Calvin, Ellen White? Sorry, the Church does. In fact, for a long time, Fathers and Saints have seen historical epochs in Apocalypse. Now, admittedly, as a good Catholic preterist I know rightly noted, most of these views were not rigorous, not to mention that what lied ahead for Church history was not known.
OK, but look here. We have two outlooks for apocalypse: The first is Augustine, which is mainly idealism, This doesn't tell us much. It just says we are like a mixed field, and toward the end, it'll become mostly weeds and then it will end. With this view, there really isn't a definitive linear trajectory, but just a cyclic pattern. And there is nothing wrong with this. There is a certain cyclic nature to human history. This then exhausts all but one layer of apocalypse, the one we are aiming at. That is, we have covered preterrism, futurism, and idealism.
BUT! There is also a linear process. Augustine also says five are the ages of the old law, the sixth is the Church, and the seventh is the eschaton. There is a beginning, a middle, and an end. Hence, it is not unwarranted to pursue a trajectory. But then the Church must have subages, and not just one vague cyclic tendency. Not only that, but if we are to work it, we need to know what lies ahead in terms of the ages.
Here, EWTN helps us with their scholarship. If most mystics are right, two or three phases of Church history remain, that is it.
They are:
Minor Tribulation [conditional]
Age of Peace [unconditional]
Great Apostasy [unconditional]
There is also the question of WHY the ages of the world and Church are what they are. That is obviously the most meaningful thing to ask. You need my book for that. So later on that. For now, we can make a pretty good analysis below:
The story goes like this, at least with regards to the truth, which is the first great element of total meaning for man and God, the other being grace.
The Age of the Martyrs
The Age of the Trinitarian and Christological Heresies [we don't need God as Triune and Incarnate]
The Age of the Great Schism [ We don't need > Supreme Apostolic Successor]
The Middle Ages
The Age of Protestantism [we don't need > General Apostolic Succession or the Oral Word of God]
The Age of Supernatural Death [we don't need > the Written Word of God or any of it, just Reason]
The Age of the Minor Secular Apostasy [we don't need > Reason (we don't need any of it at all)]
The Age of the Minor Tribulation [Lord have mercy on us, we need it all!]
The Age of the Reunion of Christians and of Peace [with everything, there will be love and peace]
The Age of the Great Apostasy [we don't need any of it, DEFINITIVELY] (Cassius! Hurry! | He's dead! | Make sure!!)
That is:
Trinity and Incarnation > [is greater than]
Supreme Apostolic Successor >
General Apostolic Succession and Sacred Tradition >
Written Tradition >
Reason
These are the great portion of the things that matter for the Mystery of God's Fallen and Redeemed World in the New Covenant, not the petty fodder of the first and last centuries!
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About the Author
I found that every human creature is priceless when I was about 24 years old, when I was enduring a lot of ridicule.
From there, knowing that every person has immeasurable worth, I could go forward with confidence in the Lord that I am not junk.
I began to listen to Catholic pulpits and so called literature, but it was so liberal and pathetic, I became a Protestant. I thought I knew it all.
Then I realized the Bible has to be interpreted and how do I know what it means; how do I know what I have to do to get to heaven.
Eventually I learned that the Catholic Church possesses the history of succession and can give these interpretations so that I do not have to work out the gospel myself.
This greatly relieved me and now I ponder Catholic theology; you can read my articles on my site if you so wish:
Website: http://www.theologyoftheages.org
