However, don't conflate the spurning of religion with the spurning of faith. The Age of Reason did not lead to a rejection of God, but its focus on the individual and autonomy helped shape a different relationship with a divine being that would become particularly important in the shaping of this nation. To explain this, I'm going to use a metaphor common to the Age of Reason: the clock.
It should not surprise anyone that given the significance of science to rationalists, they saw the universe itself as an orderly, coherent system that humans could understand through reason. While the Puritans had the Howling Wilderness, the rationalists had Natural Law, and all the implications that follow the word Law. Where there is Law, there is Order, and where there is Order, there exists the possibility that we can understand how things work, including the universe itself. To express that notion, rationalists frequently compared the universe to a clock or watch.
Here's where you come in, to try to tease out the implications of that metaphor. Think about and respond to the following questions:
- If the universe is a clock, who is the clockmaker?
- How does a clock work? Try to think about this by thinking of old-style clocks, ones that you had to get working by means other than plugging it in or putting in a battery.
- Once the clockmaker (whoever that is) starts the clock, does the clockmaker have to do anything to keep the clock running?
- Ultimately, of course, the clockmaker sells or gives the clock to someone else. So imagine a clockmaker has given you a clock. Whose responsibility is it to make sure the clock functions properly? And if it doesn't function properly, whose fault is that?
- So what does any of this have to do with individualism, autonomy and the changing relationship between humans and their divine being?
I think the rationalist view is perhaps too simplistic to be used in explaining something so complex. However, I will try to answer within those parameters. But I want to make sure I understand the premise. The clock I am imagining represents humanity. So, with that in mind I would say I believe God is the clockmaker.I guess it would be fair to say that after God creates the clocks (us)to some degree he leaves us to our own devices. However, not before supplying us with everything needed to facilitate proper functioning. Ideally, we should be able to operate or exist independently.(for awhile) Of course if God is the original clockmaker, I do not dare say he is responsible for our frailties. Instead, I would say that because we are given all the necessary parts in order to operate efficiently, failure to do so is usally a result of our own "acquired" malfunctions. In other words, we are responsible for our own problems. If we do not function properly its because we have in some way self destructed. Now while it could be argued because of our own self induced problems, we should be responsible for our own maintenance. But, fortunately, we do come with a guarantee. Therefore we are able to be returned to our maker, who can restore and make us completely whole again. Which I think is the ultimate intent of the maker.
ReplyDeleteIf the clockmaker is a Higher Power, he has created a clock that needs to be "wound" periodically in order to keep it functioning. The "winding" part is up to the human race -- their discoveries and activities maintain a forward pace. If that Higher Power has created a perfect universe, anything that goes wrong must then be the result of improper maintenance by the human race -- or else an "Act of God" in the case of natural disasters. These would have been things that science could not yet explain, things that would interrupt the order despite the progress made in science during the Age of Reason. I guess one could say that with every paradigm shift on earth comes another "winding" of the clock -- the handing off of responsibility for progress to yet another group. When man tinkers too much with the mechanism -- when he gets it completely wrong -- will ultiimately bring about the end of the world, or the end of humanity, unless that largely unexplainable occurrence, the "Act of God" occurs.
ReplyDeleteI think a key thing if what both of you are saying is the notion that God is "letting go." That is, in a rationalist view God may or may not have existed (and ironically it was a rationalist, William James, who offered one of the more compelling defenses of faith in the early 20th century), but whatever the case, God was not present or personally intrusive. The clockmaker indeed was God, who created the universe so that it could function on its own, without direct interference. Our world was exactly that--our world.
ReplyDeleteLater, when we get into Romanticist literature, we'll see that philosophy transform into something called Transcendentalism, a spiritual philosophy crucial to some of our greatest literature.
The clock is mankind and the clockmaker is of course God Almighty. The clock or mankind needs constant winding or a reminder; the alarm feature (the Bible) that while God has given us free will our actions still must be accounted for. It is our beliefs and values based upon biblical principles that we have been provided with our daily needs. However, just like the Israelites on their journey out of Egypt, how long will our beliefs guide us before we begin to question why and how we do things? That is the free will God has given each of us and provided us with the ability to become prosperous.
ReplyDeleteAs time goes on, we continually question everything around us and fall farther away from the truth that is present in our alarm or our subconscious that allows us to hold these truths to be self evident. The clockmaker (God) allows each piece of the clock to work as it should, but when time runs out it is the pieces of the clock that will be brought before him and judged accordingly.
If the world were a clock, it is very hard to say who the clock maker is. Because these were religious people, they would have thought that God was the clock maker. Not only must the clockmaker cut the wood and create the different mechanisms that make it tick, he must also put it all together and make it function. Because the clergy members and church leaders were the ones who controlled the public, I must say that I believe that they could be the clock makers. They are the people who put the pieces together and make it work without many other people knowing those details. The mechanical pieces are hidden and you have to trust that they will work. Another great point is that people live their life according to the time. Clocks are not always accurate, leading people into a false sense of time. They can be fast or slow, or the time can be wrong. I think that this is representative of the religious leaders because they can tell the congregation whatever they want and because they do not know better, they will believe them and accept what they are told. The church leaders can hide the details, like the clock mechanisms, and only allow you to see the nice, pretty details, like the clock face.
ReplyDeleteThe clocks years ago needed to be wound up on a regular basis for them to work, which is like people going to church to be reminded that God is there and there is a reason that they should believe in him. The church clergy are the winders of the clock and the time and image of the clock is the belief in God. The clock maker sells or gives the clock away and it is the responsibility of the new owner to wind it up and maintain it. It is representative of the church teaching about God. They make the clock (teach about God and how you should believe in him) and then sell the clock and it is the responsibility of the new owner to wind it (to follow God and his teachings and maintain their beliefs and values.)
In the metaphor used during the Age of Reason that the universe is a clock, the clockmaker would be God. So as a clockmaker creates a clock, God makes the universe. God, as the clockmaker, winds up the clock, in turn, beginning and giving life to the universe. God’s gift to humanity is this clock or the universe. However, clocks must be wound multiple times in order to work. Meaning, with a clock you must take initiative to maintain it. Thus, humanity is receiving this gift from God, but what the metaphor may imply is that humans assume responsibility with this gift. It boils down to this new idea that humans decisions really do make or break this world God has created that they’re individual actions affect the scheme of things.
ReplyDeleteThe ultimate clockmaker would be, as everyone else stated, God. A clock is wound repeatedly over time in order to continue ticking. I suppose when the piece is out of the clockmaker’s hands, the clock will have to work on its own. But what if it breaks and no one knows how to fix it? Is it then the responsibility of the maker to repair that creation? I know in real life, when complicated objects or machinery become broken, there are specialists who can repair them. I suppose this could be related the fact that, when things go wrong, people pray to God and ask for his help in righting wrongs. However it is the responsibility of the people to keep the clock working correctly. As Alexis stated, it is like a gift from God that must be treasured. The people must remember to wind it up whenever needed and never forget that its there. Instead of God being responsible for everything, the individual has the power to contribute to his own well being by taking care of the clock (or taking care of the flow of humankind).
ReplyDeleteFun fact: this concept of churches as institutions JUST came up in my Young Adult Lit class. We read The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman last week and discussed the underlying theme of religious control within the novel. I was excited to see this come up again in another aspect of my studies! And I would definitely recommend this book.
The clockmaker of the universe would be God. In my house we have a grandfather clock and it has to be wound every week to keep it ticking. If it is not wound up the time will stop. The people of the universe is responsible for making sure that the clock is "wound" to keep everything going smoothly and on track. Just like God gave us life and all the abilities to live, such as, our senses, and knowlegde. He expects us to know when to step up and in this case wind the clock so that we don't stop. If something is not right then you need to have the incentive to be the one to change what you don't like or what needs to be done. If time would happen to stop it would be our faults because nobody wanted to be the one to step out of our confort zone. Like I said it only take on person to take something upon their shoulders if they want it to be different. It only takes one person to change the world. It is the individuality in each of us that wants to make a difference. We as Americans have the freedom if we don't like to change it.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the clockmaker is God, which has been stated by most of us. Usually when I think of a clock, I've always thought of time, never a philosophical metaphor, which I think gives me a different perspective on the notion of time. I think that with God as the clockmaker, there is not only the concept of the universe and time, but there is also the idea of keeping everything continuous and evolving. The time that has passed would represent all of the advancements in technology, the evolution that mankind has experienced, and anything else that has been contributed to mankind.
ReplyDeleteThe winding of the clock could possibly represent how things have become the way they were. Thus, I feel that it's our responsibility to take care of the clock because if it functions properly, everything will stay orderly and there would be the potential prevention of chaos. Everything that has to do with autonomy, individualism, and the changing of relationships can be based off of the decisions that we make. If there ever becomes a stop in time, the consequences could be very severe.
In this phase I think the people were moving more towards a material world and less of a spiritual world. God was seen as "The Planner," but he did not have be present for the day to day preparations or there to "supervise." It's like the planner sets up the laws of how things should be then leaves it go or steps away from it to fend for itself. Much like the clockmaker who winds the watch and leaves it running or in this case the "clockmaker."
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