Luther Rice Journal of Christian Studies
Metaphors and Metaphysics: Ontological Realism and the Church as “The Body of Christ” by Anthony Costello Unity in diversity, individuality in community; this dialectic reality is the wellspring of some of history’s greatest achievements (e.g. Universal Declaration of Human Rights) and some of its greatest tragedies (e.g. National Socialism). As fallen beings, if we push too hard in one direction, the hunger for unity can mutate into faceless uniformity—push too hard in the opposite, and the cacophony of individual voices drowns out the common good. In his master novel, East of Eden, John Steinbeck highlights this stark dichotomy, fearing the loss of individuality for the sake of collective: In our time mass or collective production has entered our economics, our politics, and even our religion, so that some nations have substituted the idea collective for the idea God. This in my time is the danger [. . . .] And this I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected. And this I must fight against: any idea, religion, or government which limits or destroys the individual. This is what I am and what I am about. Here Steinbeck highlights man’s innate longing for, yet harrowing fear of, union with “the other.” It is a classic, philosophical enigma, one that haunts every generation - a vexing reality that has given rise to countless ideologies. For what, if anything, ultimately unites us? And, if united, must the self be sacrificed? In his letters to the Romans (Rom 12:4-5), the church in Corinth (1 Cor 6:15-20; 12:1213, 27), and his general epistle to Ephesus (Eph 4:4-6), the apostle Paul offers an answer: the Holy Spirit of God, who, in His infinite wisdom and power, unites all who have believed in the MA Christian Apologetics (2016), Biola University; MA Theology (2018), Talbot School of Theology.
John Steinbeck, East of Eden (New York: Penguin, 1992), 131-132.
