(194) S9E37: The Necessity of the Resurrection for Christian Anarchism




The Fourth Way show

Summary: My conversation with Dr. Christoyannopoulos moved me to work out something I've been thinking about for a long time in regard to morality and purpose. Something clicked for me in our conversation and I thought I'd share it in an episode. These are nascent thoughts and there's a lot to work through, but hopefully it's a good start. The basic thesis is that all current moral systems proposed are inherently arbitrary in their grounding, and all moral systems currently proposed undercut commonsense notions of altruism. Moral systems are groundless and fail to account for other/community. In this episode, I propose a system which gives us purpose/grounding, and which embraces meaningful altruism. This is vital for Christian anarchists to understand, as a moral system which is arbitrary and non-altruistic undercuts the rationale for anarchists to avoid the consequentialist/pragmatic morality that justifies the actions they so vehemently despise. 0:00 - Introduction 7:45 - Incoherence of Current Moral Theories 8:20 - Virtue Ethics & Arbitrariness 9:25 - Consequentialism & Arbitrariness 10:15 - Deontological & Arbitrariness 12:45 - Virtue Ethics & Egoism 19:20 - Deontology & Egoism 21:30 - Consequentialism & Egoism 26:05 - How does the resurrection fix arbitrariness and egoism? 27:40 - Purpose and existence in creation 30:40 - Separation from purpose and existence 33:45 - What the resurrection gets us - theosis 40:40 - Existence and pure nature are required for purpose and morality 46:20 - Privation theory of evil 51:20 - Isn't hope in resurrection a self-centered hope? 1:00:05 - Resurrection prevents the sacrifice of other 1:10:15 - Means are concomitant with their ends 1:11:50 - Conclusion 1:14:15 - Implications on Christian Anarchism and Othering