{"id":75714,"date":"2018-11-30T16:30:25","date_gmt":"2018-11-30T21:30:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=75714"},"modified":"2018-11-30T18:06:14","modified_gmt":"2018-11-30T23:06:14","slug":"a-fleming-rutledge-sermon-on-mark-13-the-synoptic-apocalypse-for-pre-advent-and-the-first-sunday-of-advent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=75714","title":{"rendered":"A Fleming Rutledge Sermon on Mark 13 (the Synoptic Apocalypse) for Pre-Advent and the First Sunday of Advent"},"content":{"rendered":"

Let me illustrate this sequence by quoting from the memoirs\u00a0\u00a0of Mr. Andrew Carnegie, the famous Scottish-born tycoon who made his fortune in America.[2]<\/a>\u00a0Raised as a Presbyterian, he became suspicious of religion. When he read Darwin\u2019s theories of evolution, the great philanthropist received what he thought was a revelation.[3]<\/a>\u00a0In his memoirs he wrote (this was during the Gilded Age, before the world wars):<\/p>\n

\u2026I remember that light came as in a flood and all was clear. Not only had I got rid of theology and the supernatural, but I had found the truth\u2026\u201cAll is well since all grows better,\u201d became my motto, my true source of comfort. Man\u2026has risen to the higher forms [and there can be no] conceivable end to [man\u2019s] march to perfection.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t believe anyone can read that with a straight face today. And indeed, as it happens, those were not the last words from Mr. Carnegie. The last paragraph of his autobiography was written as World War I broke out. He reread what he had written earlier, and here\u2019s how he responded to it:<\/p>\n

As I read this [what he had previously written] today what a change! The world convulsed by war as never before! Men slaying each other like wild beasts! I dare not relinquish all hope.<\/p>\n

The manuscript breaks off abruptly.[4]<\/a>\u00a0He never finished the autobiography.<\/p>\n

In a certain way, this illustrates the turn in biblical interpretation that I\u2019m describing. The horrors of the two World Wars caused a widespread change in the way that serious people understood history. For biblical interpreters, it caused a change in the way the apocalyptic passages in the Bible were read. It was noted that Jesus said, \u201cBehold, I have told you all things beforehand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Apocalyptic writing came out of a catastrophe. The Hebrew people\u2014the Israelites\u2014were the people of blessing. They were the people favored by God, who had promised them a future of safety and prosperity. But then they were overwhelmed and conquered and forced into exile in the far distant, pagan Babylonian empire.<\/p>\n

Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

Some of you wanted to hear more about the sermon that begins, "Why is Jesus talking like this?"
I posted it on my website in my Ruminations, along with other Advent material.https:\/\/t.co\/x1ZrLFkocL<\/a><\/p>\n

— Fleming Rutledge (@flemingrut) November 30, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n