Recycled OT Assignment

In his book, The Everlasting Man, G. K. Chesterton argues that a review of history, especially ancient history, reveals four basic religious tendencies: God, the gods, the demons, and the philosophers. He describes “the gods” or mythology as “an attempt to reach the divine reality through the imagination alone.” This paganism is “a great deal of good nonsense” and has a “certain superficiality and even insincerity” to it. The demons are a desperate impulse that emerges during rationalistic ages that drives men “to the darker powers when dealing with practical problems.” The slaughter of children is a prominent mark of these advanced cultures, and Carthage is Chesterton’s prime example. The philosophers are the number mystics, skeptics, and court magicians. They concern themselves with the acquisition of knowledge and wisdom. Ancient history has something to say to us because these tendencies of the ancients remain with us today, but more importantly because it shows that two thousand years ago we saw something entirely new in history. The tumultuous record of Israel’s life among other ancient peoples ought to give us an appreciation of that Church which successfully fused the ancient tendencies of popular piety and rational inquiry with faith in the one God.