Salvation is from the Jews

I am still slowly, slowly reading The Light of Christ by Thomas Joseph White, OP.  Many mornings I don't get to it.  Between the dog, little D who I often watch in the morning while V is driving, trying to make breakfast and lunch for R, my own often broken sleep at night that means I am often waking up later than I usually do, and the fact that I am always struggling with discipline to keep myself on track, I can go days without remembering to read.  But this week I did read the sub-chapter, at the end of Chapter 3, entitled Salvation is from the Jews; Prophecy and Judaism. 

This chapter really hit home because I've just finished reading The Ancient History of the World which really had a huge impact on my thinking.  It opened my eyes to how chaos and brutality are the default in human society and any step out of that gutter is a great accomplishment that needs to be guarded most diligently against falling back into the mire.  I think the western world doesn't appreciate enough how far we've come and how delicate our situation is.  We are pretty much spoiled brats demanding life be perfect, often.  Which is so unjust to those who are truly suffering.

Anyway, another thing that the History of the Ancient World opened my eyes to is the fact that the Jews really were different from the rest of the world.  At core, they really had a different moral sense and a different idea of what truth is.  They were always battling the influence of the other cultures who practiced really brutal customs.  Often those influences won out for a while and caused a lot of treachery and tragedy.  But underlying all this is a beautiful story of real love, of wisdom, of an overarching understanding of our reason for existence. It is really remarkable.  As a Christian, I came to believe even more that the Old Testament is revelation from a personal God.

So when I got to this section of The Light of Christ, White's analysis really stood out to me.  He is an excellent, clear, profound, thorough writer.  He says getting past all the complexities of the OT, there are 5 themes that come through:

1)  Monotheism - a belief in one God who made the world.  And this God made human beings in his own image and likeness.  This idea is what allowed the sciences to develop eventually!  Because as humans we see creation as being governed by discernible laws and humans are at the top of hierarchical primacy in the world.

2)  The Elevated Morality of the Ten Commandments - according to Christian tradition this embodies the natural law that is written on the human heart.

3)  Expectant Universalism - while Judaism seems largely to be about a tribe trying to find it's promised land, the language used is universal and meant for all men.  The prophets talk about 'all nations of the earth."

4)  Messianism and the Notion of Historical Progress - most ancient religions assumed a cyclical dynamic to the universe, but the OT talks in terms of history where God interacts in time.  Also through out the OT is the idea of a Messiah.

5)  Eschatological Hope in the Face of Injustice, Human Suffering and Death.  This is the idea that life is not meaningless suffering but there is hope that justice will be done, that God will have mercy on those who deserve it and will vindicate those who have been wronged. 

I wish I go into more depth about this book, but my thoughts are too scattered.  I wish I could take a class on it or was in a theological book club or something to discuss it.  I feel like I could read it in a loop fashion.  Just start over again once I've read the last page.  In this time of trial for the Church because of all the corruption, it is so good to have such a beautiful mind as Father White give a profound and clear summary of the Church's teachings.  This is what the Church is, and all the institutional evil will pass away.