The Emergence of the “Government of Christ”: This-Worldly Perfection and Judgment
In the last post we looked at eschatology in relation to eighteenth century Quaker antislavery proponent, John Woolman’s, conception of time: one foot in the eschaton and one foot in historical time, so that he viewed himself as someone who brought God’s will to bear on the world of human affairs.
Today we are going to look at Woolman’s perfectionism and his views of divine judgment.
A theology of perfection and a theology of divine judgment are two beliefs that make us twenty-first century folks squirm in our seats a bit. Why would concepts of perfection and judgment make us uneasy?
The concept of perfection brings with it fears of moral self-righteousness. It also makes us think of the infallibility that is associated with cults. When people claim perfection for themselves, they are usually abusing power in some way.
Similarly, theologies the feature divine judgment prominently are often little more than blaming others for their suffering. Moreover, retributive views of divine judgment strike us as arbitrary because people who rarely know God's specific will for their own lives claim to know God’s motivations in dealing with other people. When someone has a difficult time deciding where to go for lunch, but then claims to know God's mind when a tragedy strikes another person or group, it seems phony.
