predestination & the preterite [Re: MDMD(3)--Just a thought]

[Vaska]

>From Paul Mackin:
>Steven Maas (CUTR) wrote: (concerning the centrality of predestination
>I alleged)
[snip] 
>> Are you saying that adherents of [Reformed Dutch] believe that no matter what
>> they do in their lives it is predetermined whether they will go to heaven
>> or hell?  What incentive does this give them to behave any way other than
>> on their whims? 
>>>>>It's a very extreme doctrine but roughly what theSynod of Dort decided.
The >elect and the preterite have no control of their respective destinies.
St. >Augustine (ODDLY) is associated to some degree with this position, 

Don't know about how odd it is: Augustine was really big on predestination
and took the Bible as his autority on that.  Gruesome stuff, most of it; the
scary bit is that Augustine has it right about the God of the Bible [some
traces of that are in the New Testament as well].  The Catholic church has
been downplaying this side of Augustine for a few centuries now, but he was
as "Calvinistic" about it as any Reformed Dutch churchman on a roll.

Now, for some Gnostics the god of the Bible was a second-order deity, the
blind Samuel, a god who had to be repudiated before one could establish a
personal relation with the god of the gnostic Jesus.  In _GR_, Pynchon has
some trouble with that too.  And, with Eric, I believe Pynchon takes these
things fairly seriously; even heart-wrenchingly so, perhaps.

I really like your reading of how Pynchon's using theological dogma -- to
hammer home the point that the preterites' fate is undeserved.  

Vaska