Post-Progressivism: A New Way Forward?
The Myth of Progress: First, it will be necessary for me to state the original meaning of the word apocalypse, since I will be using this word frequently throughout this blog post and I need to disentangle it from its most commonly understood definition, i.e., as a catastrophic event that leaves immense death and destruction in its wake. An apocalypse is a concept specific to monotheism, and it means the “uncovering” of God’s glorious plan to humankind (Greek: apo – “un” + kalyptein – “to cover” = apocalypse – “to uncover”). An apocalypse, in other words, is divine revelation, in which the mysteries of God’s special purpose for humankind are made manifest. For an Elect, the coming of an apocalypse means not catastrophe but salvation, and is therefore something to be desired rather than feared. Because God is pure goodness, an apocalypse is akin to utopia, for it illuminates to humankind the true and only pathway that leads to a celestial age in which harmony and justice rei