Mission Statement

Eschatology is the study of end times. The title of my blog speaks to a general cynicism that shades my perspective of the world. I'm not so far gone that I view my neighbors with contempt. In fact, I think individuals contain a degree of depth and complexity that would not be possible without some spark of fundamental goodness deep within.

The source of my cynicism comes from the institutions of society- those enterprises where we engage collectively: the market, the government, the media. While we as individuals construct these institutions, the resulting creations do not seem to reflect back the fundamental goodness of their creators. Each day these structures move seemingly of their own power in ways that are increasingly at odds with dignity of their constituent members.

Eschatology is the story of what happens when the structures of society collapse in on themselves or when they are washed away in the face of divine judgment. Do I think society is falling apart at a Biblically ordained pace? Not at all. But I do believe the discrepancy between who we are as a society and who we could be is vast. My despondency comes from watching the institutions of society systemically fail in way that injures all of us, not unlike something from an eschatological prophecy.

But implicit in any discussion of the end times is the prospect of hope and a new order to follow, so I would like to hold on tight to that ray of light throughout my writing.

These are some general themes I'm planning to explore:

• The actions and policies that elites in positions of power use to maintain their power.
• The counter-intuitive rise of libertarianism in the wake of a financial crisis caused by an unchecked free market.
• The role religion (specifically Catholicism) should play when addressing these problems.
• The rise of online narcissism (as a genre of writing and more generally in terms of how people construct and present online identities).
• The tension between fundamentalism and total moral relativism.

This is a loose collection of thoughts. Some posts will be short, others will unpack my thinking in more detail. I'm interested to see how it turns out.