Kids

[Terrance]

Paul Mackin wrote:
> 
> True, Calvinists did not think of themselves as achieving perfection.
> They did believe however in spiritual and material achievement, much of it
> presumably through their own efforts, in which sense they were
> arguably followers  of Pelagius. Such success was for them a sign of
> devine favor. The funny  thing was however was that  salvation (for the
> Elect) was by God's grace alone, in which sense the Calvinists were
> Augustinians.

Yes, theologically, but the means / ends  was reversed 
(kinda like technology today). Weber's "Iron Cage" may be a
plastic one or the "windowless glass monad" or a plastic
Platonic Cave or Imipolex Blake. What? More on this later.
It's the SPIRIT of capitalism (did Pynchon as I suspect,
read Mumford?) that slouched towards AMerica to be born. One
must regard one's self as Elect, the lack of conviction and
intensity would be viewed as weakness of faith and one must
do "good works" in the economy to demonstrate one's
convictions and faith. God's hand? Invisible hand (one of
the terms Pynchon digs, all twisted away from its origin)? 




> 
> Even the best things break down. There are no surviving binary oppositions
> in Christianity. Everything always comes back to its opposite. The last
> shall be first and the first shall be last. As below so above.
> 
>                                 P.