Appendix O: The Demonic Dialectic of Idolatrous Holiness

 

The Demonic Dialectic of Idolatrous Holiness

“Holiness cannot become actual except through holy 'objects.' But holy objects are not holy in and of themselves.”

--Paul Tillich, Systematic Theology," vol.1, p. 216

The emergence of a demonically distorted church is a slow process of masquerading as Christianity by appropriating the symbols and images of religion to achieve political power, and domination for wholly antidivine purposes. Paul Tillich defines the "demonic" as independent, autonomous, self-sustaining, dynamic, creative evil. And Tillich writes about "the new interpretation of the demonic in theology and literature have contributed to the understanding of these powers of being, which are not beings, but structures ("Systematic Theology," vol.1, p.  260; italics added)." How can the holy become demonic? 

"Such a concept of the holy opens large sections of the history of religion to theological understanding, by explaining the ambiguity of the concept of holiness at every religious level. Holiness cannot become actual except through holy 'objects.' But holy objects are not holy in and of themselves. They are holy only by negating themselves in pointing to the divine of which they are the mediums. If they establish themselves as holy, they become demonic. They still are 'holy,' but their holiness is antidivine. A nation which looks upon itself as holy is correct in so far as everything can become a vehicle of man’s ultimate concern, but the nation is incorrect in so far as it considers itself to be inherently holy.  Innumerable things, all things in a way, have the power of becoming holy in a mediate sense. They can point to something beyond themselves. But, if their holiness comes to be considered inherent, it becomes demonic. This happens continually in the actual life of most religions. The representations of man’s ultimate concern--holy objects--tend to become his ultimate concern. They are transformed into idols. Holiness provokes idolatry ("Systematic Theology," vol. 1, p. 216; bold added)."

This process of the holy becoming antidivine is a perfect example of the Hegelian dialectic. The old saw of "thesis, antithesis, synthesis" is taken from the German philosopher, Fichte, and is only a good introduction to the Hegelian concept. Hegel's understanding of the dialectic is much more subtle--there are not two separate elements that collide creating a third element, the synthesis. No, for Hegel, there is one element, or identity (for example a concept in science, philosophy, or religion) that goes through a process of metamorphosis in which concept A becomes its opposite, non-A, and then a third synthesis state which retains within itself its original state and its contradiction. Money is very dialectical. It is dependable, but sometimes scarce, yet at other times it is abundant, but unreliable. If a bank endlessly printed currency, eventually the flood of notes will cause inflation (more paper money chasing relatively less commodities). The act of printing of currency that in the beginning was profitable is now ruinous: the excessively printed bills are now in effect anti-money. 

The same demonic dialectic can enter into the concept of the holy in which the finite presents itself as the infinite, or unconditional. The Protestant Principle calls out to Christians to identify and criticize this desire of elevating the finite to the level of the infinite, i.e., idolatry is the claim of something conditioned to be unconditioned: 

"The Protestant principle is the expression of this relationship. It is the guardian against the attempts of the finite and conditioned to usurp the place of the unconditional in thinking and acting. It is the prophetic judgment against religious pride, ecclesiastical arrogance, and secular self-sufficiency and their destructive consequences. The Protestant principle in this sense is not strange to the situation of the proletariat in modern society. It is, on the contrary, the exact expression of its religious significance as an outstanding example of man's situation ("The Protestant Era," Tillich, 1948, Univ. Chicago, p. 163) (pdf.)."

We are entering what Tillich calls a “heterogeneous” political period when the attempt of a “religion to dominate autonomous cultural creativity from the outside.” In other words, heteronomy is rule of a religious dictatorship that is contrasted with an “autonomous” political period of self-complacent autonomy such as secular humanism. Both forms of culture can be dictatorial and demonic. (read more at, Tillich's “The Protestant Era”, p. XVI).

“Heteronomy imposes an alien law, religious or secular, on man's mind. It disregards the logos structure of mind and world. It destroys the honesty of truth and the dignity of the moral personality. It undermines creative freedom and the humanity of man. Its symbol is the 'terror' exercised by absolute churches or absolute states. Religion, if it acts heteronomously, has ceased to be the substance and life-blood of a culture and has itself become a section of it, which, for getting its theonomous greatness, betrays a mixture of arrogance and defeatism (Ibid., p. 46).”

An antidivine struggle is a serious situation. Paul Tillich witnessed the Nazis of the 1930s infiltrate the Christian church out of the desire for a "Muscular Christianity" in place of the weakling's, "Jesus is a woman with a beard" Christianity. Those Christians that did not agree with Christian Nationalism joined their families in the labor camps, death camps, and some faced the hangman's rope, and the guillotine. Tillich wrote these books to warn us of the dangers of Christian Nationalism. 

"Justice is the criterion which judges idolatrous holiness. The prophets attack demonic forms of holiness in the name of justice. The Greek philosophers criticize a demonically distorted cult in the name of Dike [δίκη: right as dependent on custom, law, right]. In the name of the justice which God gives, the Reformers destroy a system of sacred things and acts which has claimed holiness for itself. In the name of social justice, modern revolutionary movements challenge sacred institutions which protect social injustice. In all these cases it is demonic holiness, not holiness as such, which comes under attack. However, it must be said with regard to each of these cases that to the degree to which the antidemonic struggle was successful historically, the meaning of holiness was transformed. The holy became the righteous, the morally good, usually with ascetic connotations. The divine command to be holy as God is holy was interpreted as a requirement of moral perfection ("Systematic Theology," vol. 1, p. 216; link added)." 

And we are seeing a rerun of the same demonically distorted cult re-emerging as Christian Nationalism in America today financed by billionaires to disguise their hostile takeover of the American government. One example is Tim Whitaker from the New Evangelicals responsibly reporting how a crypto-Nazi and political operative Eric Metaxas is publishing false histories of the Christian theologian Bonhoeffer and the Nazi takeover of German Churches in the 1930s.  Charlie Kirk of Turning Point USA is another propagandist that has no imagination but is funded by Conservative political extremists not unlike the old John Birch Society. Both of these propagandists, Metaxas and Kirk, have no real political critiques--they just project and mimic the progressive left's arguments. The fascist right simply mimics the critique of Christian Fascism given by the antifascists and project it back at their adversaries. It's the cheapest (and fastest) propaganda an organization can spread since it only takes dimwits to disseminate.