Abstract:
Contemporary political philosopher John Gray has recently asserted:
“modern politics is a chapter in the history of religion.” Gray demonstrates how the
roots of modern political violence can be traced back to Christianity. Furthermore, he
sees Utopianism, “the Enlightenment project”, anthropocentrism and any notion of
human meaning as all originating in the Christian notion of “salvation”. Gray argues
that all of these ideas are disproven by values pluralism – the idea that human life
consists of an incommensurable range of values. Gray is also critical of human
beings technological appropriation of the world and the ecological crisis that this
consciousness has precipitated. Gray claims that all forms of universalism are
mistaken because they privilege a particular set of values at the expense of others.
Gray offers a modus vivendi as a political construct that can appropriate the insights
of values pluralism, without privileging any particular set of values. Despite
considering Christianity (and its offspring) illusory, Gray asserts that the “myth of
human meaning” is a “necessary illusion”; it is one that human beings cannot live
without. Gray’s argument, however, is beset with inconsistencies, including an
implicit teleology, despite his explicit rejection of all teleology, and the tendency of
his thought toward nihilism, undermining his proposal of a modus vivendi. In his own
constructive proposal Gray inadvertently privileges values of peaceful coexistence
and human flourishing. His own political vision has some similarities with the
Christian vision of the ideal human life. Christian eschatology is examined through
the work of Jürgen Moltmann, and the values of hope and love are highlighted as the
ethical consequence of Christian eschatology, as opposed to the violence that Gray
claims has been generated from it. Moltmann’s thought also reveals the resources
present in a theological perspective that are able to resolve some of the
contradictions between individuality and sociality and between human beings and
nature. This has significant implications for the ecological crisis, which is also one of
Gray’s central concerns. Finally, Martin Heidegger’s concept of Gelassenheit is
examined as a point of common ground between Gray’s thought and a theological
approach to the world of politics and nature.
