Eric Voegelin.pdf - Geschwister-Scholl-Institut für Politikwissenschaft

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flows from the Gnostic attitude. Quoting from two Puritan
documents, 49 one published in 1641 and the other in 1649,
Voegelin supplies bloodcurdling testimony of the readiness of
the extremists in the Puritan movement to „dash the brats of
Babylon against the stones“, and to „suppress the enemies of
Godliness forever“. 50 He then adds a paragraph on the
relevance of Seventeenth Century English gnosticism to
twentieth century developments which ends by noting that in
„the political process the saintly comrades will take a hand,
and the hand will be well armed. If the personnel of the old
order should not disappear with a smile, the enemies of
godliness will be suppressed, or, in contemporary language,
will be purged“. 51 The new revolutionary order of the „saints“
knew no limits in its scope — it was to apply to „all persons
and things universally“. 52
Anticipating the objection that it is unfair to portray
Puritanism in the guise of its extremist wing, Voegelin adds:
„The selection of materials which are meant to illustrate the
nature and direction of the Gnostic revolution may seem
unfair. A critic might object that Puritanism as a whole cannot
be identified with its left wing. Such criticism would be
justified if it had been the intention to give an historical
account of Puritanism. The present analysis, however, is
concerned with the structure of Gnostic experiences and
ideas; and this structure is also found where the
consequences are toned down to the respectability of Calvin’s
Institutes or of Presbyterian covenantism.“ 53
Mutatis mutandis , the same answer can be given to those who
will say that it is unfair to link gnosticism as a whole with the
Cult of Violence on the grounds that some gnostics have
professed pacifism.
Thus far, the argument of the New Science of Politics.