.
Introduction
.
A transforming energy animates those forms of Christianity which are effective in locally establishing the hope of their creed, and culturally shaping the disposition required for the acceptance of human liberty. We begin to see this with the early rise of Christianity in Rome, ending the bloody Coliseum games; we see this later on in South America where the widespread conversion of the Aztecs brought the all too common practice of human sacrifice to a halt; and we see this with the advent of the great United States Constitutional experiment declared in 1776: numerous instances could be added to these more immediate examples.
It is a sad fact of history, on the other hand, that, at various times, injustices and atrocities were committed in the name of Christianity on all the fronts just mentioned. The essential point of relevance, however, is how those wrongs were anathema to the Christian spirit which acted so heroically for the cause of human dignity. For this spirit is at the heart of an experiential Gospel--an existential Gospel, it is the very lifeblood of the Perennial Christian, and it�s full meaning (which will underlie and intertwine as the two major themes of this work) is the true expression of the two great Commandments: To love God with all of your heart, soul and mind and your neighbor as yourself.
The full Unitive Gospel acknowledges degrees of personal contact with the living God through love-knowledge, it gives primacy to the I-Thou relationship with the directness and intensity of, for instance, the philosophy of Martin Buber, and it sees the end and goal of Earthly life as the way of Mary: contemplative prayer--union with God. It only then adds to this life the way of Martha: action--the love of neighbor.
In Oriental practice primacy was traditionally given to religious experience, to an inner, meditative focus and tranquil self denial. In the tradition taken into the West stress was given, rather, to the naturally virtuous and active life. Both routes can justify themselves with an increasing personal peace. But it is only the close union of the two which guarantees a fullness of life, on the natural level, for the person as well as society, and only a Personal God can grant this fullness through the unifying virtue of Hope, and the transcendent promise of Eternal Joy. Belief in a Personal God of this type necessarily raises the definition of a full life beyond a natural level, for hope in the attainment of Eternal Joy is conditioned upon humility, purity, and love, which go far beyond the requirements of the natural law. For anyone making a serious attempt at virtue, even at just the natural level�let alone the virtues just mentioned on the supernatural level�the impossibility of doing so perfectly becomes increasingly discouraging.
The unifying strength of the Gospel is therefore found in the promise that man�s relationship with God has somehow been restored through the God-Man, Jesus Christ. Yet all too often this news remains a dim and far off hope with no relation to the present.
Experiential participation in the Fullness of Being, a Joyous Bliss, and a Loving-Awareness is seen not for the here and now, but for some virtually unimaginable future existence after death. But this is not the way of traditional Christianity, which, though it did rightly envision man�s final end in the Beatific Vision only after death, still positively found stages of participation along the journey, culminating in a union of Earthly beatitude. In an age of rotting dreams, crumbling hope, powerless wills and confused doctrine, Christian unity is an urgent necessity. But there can be no unity without the restoration of purpose: the restoration of The Unitive Gospel.
Copyright 2006