GR: Help with the Preterite and Elite

[Paul Mackin]

On Nov 4, 2005, at 12:53 PM, Ghetta Life wrote:

> "Preterite" is not a theological term, but is of the same root as  
> "preterition" which is.  "Preterite" is the past-tense form of a  
> verb describing something belonging in the past.  "Preterition" is  
> a Calvinist concept meaning one who has been "passed over" in the  
> distribution of god's grace, thus by His neglect remaining in  
> damnation.  The funny thing about being "passed over" is that it a  
> term also shared by Judaism referring to those “passed over” by the  
> Angel of Death at the original Passover.  In this case those who  
> were passed over are those who were saved.  I’m sure this double  
> meaning was of interest to Pynchon.

Herero  for the latter idea is mba-kayere" (I am passed over).  
Slothrop uses it once a a mantra to ward off danger.


The Hereros are chanting mbe-kayere when the half-brothers  
Tchitcherine and Enzian at last come into close proximity in the  
forest without recognizing each other . The paragraph ends with  
"certainly not the first time a man has passed his brother by, at the  
edge of the evening, often forever, without knowing it." (p 734-5)

A bit of ambiguity over which meaning of "passed over" more nearly  
applies.



>
> The Calvinist usage is the one of interest here.  It is the result  
> of Calvin logically taking the concept of an omniscient and  
> omnipotent God to the reasonable implication that everything  
> occurring in his Creation is his ultimate responsibility,  
> especially the salvation of the Elect, because it is by “grace,”  
> meaning not in any way earned by the recipient.  In this case his  
> neglect of those damned is not considered God’s responsibility, a  
> failure of logic that Pynchon is here exploiting.  These kind of  
> logical absolutes are just what he love to deconstruct.
>
> Ghetta
>
>
>
>> From: Paul Mackin <paul.mackin at verizon.net>
>>
>> On Nov 3, 2005, at 8:18 PM, Billy Internicola wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> I understand that Pynchon has borrowed his conception of the   
>>> preterite and elite from protestant theology, which I am pretty   
>>> well familiar with.  I assume that Pynchon is not interested in  
>>> the idea as it was  conceived and as it pertains to faith.
>>>
>>
>> One thing I've wondered is whether the word "preterite" as opposed  
>> to  "preterition" is also a Christian doctrinal term. Dictionaries  
>> don't  seem to define it in that sense but only as pertaining to  
>> the   past  or substantively as the grammatical past tense.
>>
>
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