Francis Berger
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As Then, The World Still Cannot Save Itself Now

4/10/2020

6 Comments

 
 - excerpted from The Everlasting Man, G.K Chesterton

All the great groups that stood about the Cross represent in one way or another the great historical truth of the time; that the world could not save itself. Man could do no more. Rome and Jerusalem and Athens and everything else were going down like a sea turned into a slow cataract. Externally indeed the ancient world was still at its strongest; it is always at that moment that the inmost weakness begins. But in order to understand that weakness we must repeat what has been said more than once; that it was not the weakness of a thing originally weak. It was emphatically the strength of the world that was turned to weakness and the wisdom of the world that was turned to folly.


In this story of Good Friday it is the best things in the world that are at their worst. That is what really shows us the world at its worst. It was, for instance, the priests of a true monotheism and the soldiers of an international civilisation. Rome, the legend, founded upon fallen Troy and triumphant over fallen Carthage, had stood for a heroism which was the nearest that any pagan ever came to chivalry. Rome had defended the household gods and the human decencies against the ogres of Africa and the hermaphrodite monstrosities of Greece. But in the lightning flash of this incident, we see great Rome, the imperial republic, going downward under her Lucretian doom. Scepticism has eaten away even the confident sanity of the conquerors of the world. He who is enthroned to say what is justice can only ask:

‘What is truth?’ So in that drama which decided the whole fate of antiquity, one of the central figures is fixed in what seems the reverse of his true role. Rome was almost another name for responsibility. Yet he stands for ever as a sort of rocking statue of the irresponsible. Man could do no more. Even the practical had become the impracticable. Standing between the pillars of his own judgement-seat, a Roman had washed his hands of the world.
6 Comments
bruce charlton
4/10/2020 09:27:52

Actually, I regard this general way of regarding Rome (which I think derives from Gibbon) as mistaken - not least because it leaves out the 1000 years of Constantinople and the Eastern Empire. It is a Rome-o-centric view. The fall of Rome was indeed a cataclysm for the West - e.g. for England. But in terms of the Roman Empire, it was not - it was a transformation but not an end.

And because the East is neglected, Chesterton and his like neglect the links with Constantinople that continued in England - through to the Norman conquest ('Celtic' Christianity is just a variant of Eastern Orthodoxy); after which about 10,000 Anglo-Saxons escaped to Constaninople by boat - to become the Emperor's guard and set up an English colony that lasted 100s of years.

Reply
Francis Berger
4/10/2020 11:38:26

@ Bruce - Yes, I remember you expressed this view in great detail in your most recent post on Dawson. I agree. Chesterson, Dawson, and other Roman Catholic writers and thinkers are quite dismissive of Byzantium (for obvious reasons). This is a major shortcoming.

However, I am not sure how relevant the eventual difference between the Eastern and Western Roman Empires is in this specific passage.

Chesterton points to the crucifixion as a turning point in human consciousness, a turning point Rome as it was at that exact moment had not made on its own and would not make for several centuries afterward.

In other words, the consciousness that had built Rome and made it great was fading. It's truth - the fuel that had allowed it to achieve its greatness had already been spent. It had gone as far as it could possibly go with that truth, at least at the level of consciousness. That is what makes Pilates 'What is truth?' question so revealing. At the time of Christ's crucifixion, Rome was already slipping into relativism and nihilism. It's own truth, which had propelled it when it was regarded as truth, was slowly being abandoned. Jerusalem and Athens likewise offered nothing.

Rome eventually lost its own truth and adopted the Truth before its collapse. The Eastern Roman Empire, on the other hand, built its entire society around the Truth Christ brought into the world. Hence, it was able to sustain itself in a cohesive and unified manner for a thousand years. If the Eastern Empire had not accepted the Truth, it would not have survived at all. As for the West, the Truth lived on in the formation of kingdoms, etc., after the collapse.

The main point here is that the truth of the ancient world was already spent when Christ was crucified. Outward appearances said otherwise, but Pilate's 'What is truth?' question reveals the inner weakness of a civilization that was slowly abandoning its truth. It could not save itself by that truth alone. It also shows the Empire's inability to accept the Truth at that place and time. Three centuries were needed for that to happen. Though the Western Empire collapsed, the Eastern Empire was saved, but only through its adherence to the Truth.

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bruce charlton
4/10/2020 14:54:05

Good points - pagan virtues were spent.

But I am not happy about that interpretation of Pilate's meaning - since he then seems to indicate that he believes in the 'true' innocence of Jesus - thus John 18:

38 Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all. 39 But ye have a custom, that I should release unto you one at the passover: will ye therefore that I release unto you the King of the Jews? etc

This indicates to me that Pilate was not expressing moral relativism at this point - but meant something else.

Francis Berger
4/10/2020 20:15:14

@ Bruce - @ Bruce - What is truth could very well be applied to the truth about Pilate as a historical and scriptural figure. He is and has always been controversial. One personal problem I encounter when contemplating Pilate is I often blur the scriptural depictions of him with Bulgakov's fictionalization of Pilate in The Master and Margarita.

In my mind, Pilate basically imparts two things when he asks Jesus 'What is truth?'. On the one hand, he doesn't understand the truth to which Jesus refers - at all. Though he seems intrigued by Jesus, the Truth Christ speaks of does not penetrate Pilate. On the other hand, Pilate struggles to remain committed to Roman virtues and Roman law (the moral relativism you mention).

Pilate may not have found Jesus innocent, but it seems he also did not consider Jesus guilty. This waffling and hesitancy demonstrate Rome was already crumbling from within. If Rome's virtues were still strong on that day, Pilate would have simply dismissed the accusers and set Jesus free for purely legalistic reasons. Instead, fearing possible political instability or insurrection, Pilate eventually bends to the will of Jesus' accusers. Pilate demonstrates a real failure of motivation. He appears to have considered Jesus innocent within the framework of Roman law, but entertained the notion that Jesus was guilty under Jewish law. In the end, Pilate undermines Rome's authority to appease the accusers. In other words, he accepts Jesus is ultimately guilty of something albeit not under Roman law. But that guilt in Jewish law should not have superseded Pilate's own authority and the authority of Roman law; hence Pilate condemns Roman law at the same time he condemns Christ. Pilate has essentially rejected Roman truth and the Truth. Pilate also strikes me as the quintessential 'I wish I were somewhere else' character. He doesn't welcome the responsibility that is thrust upon him and tries to get out it of any way he can. Again, the crumbling of pagan virtues.

I'm not sure if I addressed the issue you raised. I hope I did. Anyway, it's interesting to note that the handwashing scene occurs only in Matthew. John makes no mention of it (if memory serves me correctly).

Reply
bruce charlton
4/11/2020 09:06:07

@Francis - I would say that Pilate is one of many areas where there is a fundamental contradiction between teachings of the Fourth and the Synoptic Gospels - in the Fourth, Pilate is one of the Good Guys:

https://charltonteaching.blogspot.com/2018/05/was-pilate-saved.html

Reply
Francis Berger
4/11/2020 12:24:12

@ Bruce - Ah yes, I remember that post. You are right, there is a real contradiction between the Synoptic Gospels and John. So, Pilate from the Fourth Gospel understood the Truth and believed it. That's fascinating. I find John 19:7,8 interesting in this respect:

"The Jews answered him, 'We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.'
When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was more afraid;

After this, Jesus speaks his "Thou couldest have no power at all against me . . .

The line in which Pilate is afraid certainly intones something deeper.

So, Pilate understands the Truth is higher than Roman law and the law of the accusers. Not only does he understand it, but he believes on Jesus. Despite this, he is unable to save Jesus, but this inability does not prevent him from being saved.

On a side note, Bulgakov presents Pilate as a sympathetic character as well - so much so that Pilate wishes to seek revenge on Judas. He then spends the rest of his life reflecting on his encounter with Yeshua Ha Nozri.

It appears Chesterton drew more from Matthew or the other Synoptic Gospels when he wrote the passage above. Regardless, Pilate aside, I think the point Chesterton makes about pagan virtues being spent when the crucifixion occurs is an accurate observation/inference.


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