Unification Thought |
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By Dr. Sang Hun Lee |
Chapter V - Theory of History (Part 3)
Section F - The Pattern of Historical Development
Using the methods of history stated clearly in Section E, let us examine in what pattern human history has developed. However, in order to make for easy understanding, we shall only explain the central history of the Central Providence to which the typical historic laws have applied.
1. From The Providential Viewpoint
(i) The History of God's Words
As stated in Section B, human history is the history of restoration and re-creation. Creation occurs through God's words. Therefore history can not but be a history created through words.
"But he answered, 'It is written, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." ' " (Matthew 4:4). What is it that conveys God's words of truth to the public? It is religion. Accordingly, we who regard human history as the history of re-creation, think that it is most important to look at history from the standpoint of religion.
(ii) The Providence of Parallel Periods
What is the pattern of history if we analyze history from a religious viewpoint?
Period of the Providence of Restoration |
The Period of the Prolongation of the Providence of Restoration |
Period of Slavery in Egypt (400 years) |
Period of Persecution under the Roman Empire (400 years) |
Period of Judges (400 years) |
Period of Church Patriarchs (400 years) |
Period of the United Kingdom (120 years) |
Period of Christian Kingdom (120 years) |
Period of the Divided Kingdoms of North and South (400 years) |
Period of Divided Kingdoms of East and West (400 years) |
Period of Jewish Captivity (70 years) |
Period of Papal Captivity (70 years) |
Period of Return (140 years) |
Period of Return (140 years) |
Period of Preparation for the Advent of the Messiah (400 years) |
Period of Preparation for the Second Advent of the Messiah (400 years) |
If we take the Judeo-Christian history as the example, we find, as already stated in Section C, Subsection (2)-7, "The Law of Parallel Providence", that special features of the division of the time periods, characters, and roles of central persons of the Providence, correspond with each other in 2000-year cycles. The following are examples of this. We can compare Moses, who appeared at the end of the 400 years of the Israelites' slavery in Egypt with Augustine, who appeared after the Christians were terribly persecuted by the Roman Empire for four hundred years. Saul became king when judge Samuel anointed him with oil. This was after the 400 years of the judges (chiefs of the tribes who were prophets, officiating priests and kings). Saul can be compared with Emperor Charlemagne who was given the crown of the Roman Empire by Pope Leo III the Patriarch, after the age of the Patriarchs. Like the judges, the Patriarchs had held the "three positions" and had lasted for the four hundred years since Christianity was authorized as the state religion of Rome. The prophet Malachi, who renewed the Israelite faith after the Israeli people, having been prisoners in Babylon for 70 years and then liberated by Persian King Cyrus, may be compared to Martin Luther. Luther started the religious Reformation after the Pope, who had been imprisoned at Avignon in southern France for a similar 70 years (from 1309-1377), returned to Rome but failed to stop the corruption. These people's missions in their respective times were like two peas in a pod.
Comparing these facts, we classify the Judeo-Christian history into the following three stages:
(1) The Period for the Foundation of the Providence of Restoration (from Adam to Abraham).
(2) The Period of the Providence of Restoration (from Abraham to Jesus).
(3) The Period of the Prolongation of the Providence of Restoration (from Jesus to today).
Comparing (2) with (3), that is, the Israelite history after Abraham with the Christian history after Christ, we find that they show very similar periods which are parallel to each other. The numbers written in the parentheses in this table are the theoretical number of years deduced from the Principle of Restoration (See Divine Principle, p. 392). The theoretical years in the age of the Providence of Restoration do not always correspond with the number of years adopted by common opinion in historical science but generally correspond with the number of years written in the Bible. In the case of the age of the Period of the Prolongation of the Providence of Restoration, the actual historical number of years and the theoretical values by the Unification Principle generally correspond with each other very well.
This is another basic attitude of the Unification Thought; that to establish an historical view one must look at the history of mankind from a religious viewpoint, as the "Providence of Restoration."
2. From The Viewpoint Of Religion And Politics
(i) The Law of Dominion of the Center
However demoralized human society may become, there always exists a leader who manages the people by the law of the dominion of the center mentioned in Section C. Particularly in the Divine Providence, God sets up a leader as the center and lets him rule his society directly and lets him influence the various surrounding societies. This aspect of the domination of the center is politics. We therefore think that we should, as a next step, also observe history from the religious and political perspectives.
(ii) The Four Types of Society
It should be thought, from the viewpoint of politics, that human society has passed through the following four types: clan society, feudal society, monarchic society and democratic society. (It should actually be five types, including the society of co-life, co-prosperity and cojustice, that is the "tricoistic" society [Sam-Kong-Chui], which we believe will come about in the future). Taking the Judeo-Christian history as an example, during their period of hard toil in Egypt, the Israeli people lived in tribes, which came from the 12 children of their ancestor Jacob. They thus formed one of the typical clan societies.
The Christian society, during the period of persecution under the Roman Empire, was formed as a family-like group of believers with the 12 Apostles and 70 disciples of Jesus as the central figures. This is also regarded as a clan society (Christian clan society).
Next in the Jewish history, Moses, the liberator, escaped from Egypt leading 600,000 Israelites who formed a society in Canaan with the judges as central figures. This was a feudal society. When Christianity was the national religion of Rome, they accomplished a Christian society administrated by the Patriarchs. This was also a feudal society.
After the period of judges, Saul was crowned and the United Kingdom of Israel came into existence. In Christian society also, after the period of the Church Patriarchs, the Roman Empire was revived by Charlemagne with Christianity as its central spirit, forming a Christian monarchical society.
The United Kingdom of Israel was divided into two, due to the impiety of the kings, and was successively annexed by Babylonia, Persia, Syria and Rome. Thus during this period they had no king of their own. However, looking at this society from the viewpoint of religion and politics, it can be said to have been a kind of democratic society in that there were no prophets or kings.
In the Middle Ages, the hierarchical Catholic society was demoralized, and this brought about the religious Reformation in the Modern Age. Accordingly, Protestantism was propagated widely, bringing a democratic tendency into religious life. In those circumstances, after several revolutions in Europe, parliamentary democratic order came to take a major part in the political field, largely replacing monarchy. We understand that all these things happened by the same providence as that in the period of the Old Testament.
(iii) The Reasons for the Formation of the Four Societies
What reasons did these four societies, which can be distinguished religiously and politically, have for coming into existence?
Generally speaking, these four societies were due to the struggle between God's Providence and the power opposing it (the struggle between good and evil mentioned in Section E). The Providence seeks to establish God's sovereignty and enlarge His dominion in order to bring man back to God and relieve the miserable lives of those living in immorality and in separation from God.
The reasons for these changes of social forms will be mentioned in terms of the direct providence of God, the Central Providence.
(1) Clan Society
This society came about due to the providence to increase beyond a certain number those people who would be the basis for establishing the sovereignty of heaven. God always appoints a central figure by the law of dominion of the center whenever He carries out the providence of salvation. In the period of the Old Testament, this central figure was Abraham, and then his grandson Jacob whose descendants then increased in Egypt. God intended to make 12 tribes from Jacob's 12 children and to let Jacob's descendants become the foundation of the future state. Accordingly, this period can be said to be the period of preparation for the establishment of the sovereignty of God. The reason for the establishment of the Christian clan society centering on Jesus' twelve Apostles, is the same as this providence.
(2) Feudal Society
This society was formed, on the basis of the numbers (tribes) in the clan society, in order to establish the foundation of faith and the foundation of substance (i.e. complete obedience in heart to the prophets and judges), by centering on these prophets who brought God's words. During the period of the clan society, because faith was the main concern, land had not been provided. However, in this feudal society land was allotted as their base of living, and each tribe held its own decentralized area of land independently. The judges and parish priests, the central figures, took on the three duties of heaven: the duty of prophets, the duty of priests, and the duty of kings.
(3) Monarchical Society
This society came at the last stage of the foundation to receive the Messiah which was formed on the base of the foundation of faith formed during the period of the feudal society. It was a unified society of all or several tribes under one king. This society was in the last stage of God's providence of salvation. This type of society is evident in the United Kingdom and the society of the Northern and Southern Kingdoms in the days of the Old Testament; and in the period of the New Testament, this period corresponds to the Christian Kingdom (religiously) and the monarchical society (politically) of the modern age. However the kings, the leaders, were not completely dedicated to God and turning their power to fulfill their own will, they turned to Satan. Therefore this society had to be abandoned. Accordingly, the democratic society came next. (However, in the New Testament period, the religious monarchical society does not occur simultaneously with that of politics-we will discuss this later.)
(4) Democratic Society
The Christian monarchic society was provided by God as His last step in preparing for the Messiah. However, when the leaders lost their faith and became selfish and greedy for power, their societies obstructed the way to God. When this happened, God destroyed the kingdoms and then prepared the way for all people to seek after the Messiah by their own subjectivity (original mind) and responsibility. This is the democratic society. In respect to religion, Protestantism, which can be called democratic faith, was brought about by the Reformation. In respect to politics, parliamentary democracy came about through the opportunity created by the civil revolutions. (However, in this case also, the times of these two forms of democracy are different ... this is to be dealt with later.)
Summarizing the above, religiously and politically, in the days of the Old Testament the four types of society consecutively appeared-the clan society, the feudal society, the monarchical society and the democratic society-and at the final stage they received Jesus Christ. However, because the Israelites did not accept Jesus as the Messiah, the Kingdom of God was not realized on the earth but only a spiritual kingdom was left.
Therefore, since then, the history of Christianity has progressed centered on Jesus, with the purpose of the realization of the Kingdom of God spiritually. As a result of that, very unfortunately, they repeated the same failures that the Israeli people had made. Accordingly the four types of society-clan, feudal, monarchical and democratic society have again appeared in the history since Jesus.
3. From The Viewpoint Of Economy
(i) Mutual Relationships of Religion, Politics and Economy
Since the history of mankind is the history of recreation, the words of God are naturally of utmost importance as well as the development of the spirit such as heart, personality and individuality, which are raised by words of God. However, it is not reasonable to say that the problem of bread, i.e. the problem of economy, can be ignored.
Man is the union of Sung Sang and Hyung Sang; therefore the problems of the spirit are never independent of the physical or material problems. A state, which is an assembly of human beings, is just the same. The spiritual source of a state is religion, but at the same time the economy can not be ignored as the source of state power.
Looking at history, we can see that politics is what combines and harmonizes these two important factors, neither of which can be ignored, i.e. religion-the life of the Sung Sang of man, and economy-the life of the Hyung Sang of man. In the Unification view of history, we understand history from the three perspectives of religion, politics and economy.
(ii) The Developmental Steps of Economy
How can we understand history from the perspective of economy?
Economical developments are also explained in relation to the providence of God.
(1) Slavery Society
This society is the economic aspect of the clan society, which was the first form of society to be separated out for God's side. Economy can not be of importance in this stage, because at that time, the situation was entirely occupied by the power standing in opposition to God. The clans on God's side were slaves during the Egyptian period, and in the period of the New Testament age, they were also very poor people who were persecuted terribly by the Romans.
This was the economic situation of the slave society, the primitive age when God's side had no power in this world and people were ignorant of the words of God and did not know the real value of man.
(2) The Economic Aspect of Feudalism
However, as time passed, the people on God's side escaped from the domination of the Egyptians and Romans and became independent. Land was distributed as the basis of the economy. Accordingly, they came to have land (the manors) under the lords and parish priests, and they made it their base of living. This is the economic society of feudalism.
After this period the mutual relationships of economy, religion and politics were rather complicated, so this point should be clarified before explaining the next step of economic development.
(iii) The Inequality of the Development of Religion, Politics and Economy in the Period of the New Testament
In the period of the Old Testament, the economy depended entirely on the land due to the fact that industry had not yet developed. Therefore the field of economy had never stood out independently from politics. In relation to the economy, the monarchical society of the Old Testament days was only an enlarged feudal society with the monarchs replacing the position of the feudal lords which had been previously occupied by the judges. In the period during the Babylonian Exile and also in the period after Malachi when Israel was under the dominion of other countries, the people on God's side were again living in a slave economic society.
On the other hand, the relation between the monarchical society and the economy in the age of the New Testament is fairly complicated.
(iv) The Development Stages of the Economy in the New Testament Age
(1) Co-existence of the Christian Monarchical Society, the Feudal Society and the Feudal Economic System (Manor System)
With the establishment of the Empire of the Franks by Charlemagne (the restoration of the West Roman Empire), Western Europe entered a monarchical social system in the religious field. This also happened with the establishment of papal power. However, in the political field the Emperor could not establish the absolute power and after his death his state was soon divided into three parts (or two, roughly speaking). The feudal social system could not be dissolved and the manor system also remained unchanged. Accordingly, from the coronation of Charlemagne (800) to the religious Reformation of Luther (1517), monarchical society in the religious field and feudal society in the political or economic field co-existed. In other words, the social development was disproportionate.
(2) Co-existence of the Religious Democratic Society, the Political Monarchical Society, and the Economic System of Capitalism
With the corruption of Catholicism, a religious monarchy, the way to God was obstructed. Thus the religious Reformation was started by Luther and Calvin, and Protestantism, which is religious democracy, became the main stream of history. However in the political field, the religious Reformation stimulated national consciousness and as a result, the kings of the nationalistic states destroyed the feudal system and established absolute monarchies. They cooperated with the owners of industries who had become economically rich and powerful because of the development of the productive forces. In other words, the change in the political field came one step later than the change in the religious field. It should be noted that the initial stage of capitalism, in which the new bourgeois personally increased their private possession of capital, is the phenomenon which corresponds with the feudal age in which the lords similarly increased their private possession of land. In other words, the capitalism of the initial stages, can be called a "feudalism of capital.
(3) Co-existence of Political Democracy and Economic Monarchy (Imperialism)
Following the period explained above, the monarchs became so rigid that freedom of belief and the development of the economy were disturbed. Thus democratic revolutions (bourgeoisie revolutions) took place here and there. Accordingly, the monarchical system changed to the democratic system in the political field. However in the economic field, monopolies developed so remarkably that the capitalistic economy changed rapidly to become an imperialistic, that is, monarchy-like system of economy. This follows the law of historic development that a monarchical society always comes after a feudal society. Since early capitalism was "a feudalism of capital", the "monarchy of capital", or imperialism, which was the monopolistic stage of capital, came as the next stage.
(4) From Economic Monarchy (Imperialism) to Economic Democracy (Socialism)
However, imperialism collapsed because of the World Wars and the world economy began to move toward economic democracy, that is, the socialistic system. Thus not only communistic socialism but also democratic socialism, Catholic socialism, Protestant socialism, neo-capitalism, nationalistic capitalism and the welfare-state, came to occupy the mainstream of economy as well as economic thought. These phenomena also show that history followed the order of social development, that is, it went from feudal society to monarchical society to democratic society.
In other words, socialism, which is a "democracy of capital" came after imperialism which was a "monarchy of capital." (We should note however, that here socialism refers to an economic democracy which is completely incompatible with communism which is a dictatorship.)
Since the foundation to accept the Messiah at the time of Charlemagne failed to be established, it became impossible to integrate society. It is interesting that the change in the religious society was followed by the change in the political society one step later, and the change in the political society was followed by that in the economic society one step later too, and each change in society was similar to the other changes in the characteristics of each stage. (See Figure 20, "Historical Changes in the Christian Cultural Sphere") The first reason for this is that in the days of the New Testament, unlike those of the Old Testament, the scope of the Central Providence had been enlarged to the whole of western Europe so that it was difficult for the providential central person to control the whole area. (This was the co-existence of the religious monarchical society and the political and economic feudal society.) The second reason is that although there is no nationalism in religion, politics and economy have been greatly influenced by national consciousness. (This is the co-existence of religious democracy and political monarchism.) The third reason is that the great development of the productive forces made capital (money and machines) more important than land. (This is the co-existence of political democracy and economic imperialism.)
Standing on the mutual relations of religion, politics and economy mentioned above, let us explain the latter half of the stages of economic development.
Capitalistic Society ("Feudalism of Capital")
This is the economic basis for the period of political transition from the feudal society to the monarchical society. The reason this kind of economic system developed is that, as mentioned above, the main property of individuals changed from land to capital due to the development of the productive forces and the private possession of capital. In other words, this feudalism of capital developed due to the development of individualism. The feudalism based on land ownership changed to a feudalism based on capital ownership.
Fig. 20 Historical Changes in the Christian Cultural Sphere
Imperialistic Society ("Monarchy of Capital")
This is a further developed stage of the above-mentioned capitalistic economy; as the private possession of land was monopolized and unified by the monarchs, so the private possession of capital was monopolized by a few financial capitalists to bring about the stage of monarchy of capital. At this stage, struggles for colonies took place among the imperialistic powers. It should be noted here that Western European society is composed of the countries of the Central Providence, which have the great mission of the propagation of Christianity. Thus when we view economy, it should not be separated from the developments in politics and religion. The political and economic struggles for the colonies were evil in the sense that they brought about monopolies of capital and the undeveloped countries were victims of aggression and exploitation. However at the same time, it is also possible to think that through these struggles, God has propagated Christianity all over the world and unified a large area of the world into the Christian cultural sphere. In this way, the struggles for the colonies have providential significance.
Socialism ("Democracy of Capital")
However, since contributing to the propagation of Christianity, imperialism has not contributed to the Providence at all. Furthermore, because it continued to exploit the people and smaller nations, God finally destroyed this economic system (imperialism). We think that the appearance of various social systems and the emancipation of colonies after World War II are expressions of God's will.
What kind of economic society will appear after the present socialistic society (including Keyne's revised capitalism)? Is it the communistic society that communists assert? Absolutely not. Soviet communism, which is the most developed one today, shows on the one hand many evils and is gradually retreating from economic liberalism, and on the other hand it adopts a political dictatorship. Then what will the future economic society be like? At least one point is sure. The future society will be a society brought about by God's Providence, a society of good and a society which is harmonized politically and economically based on peaceful order and equality. Such a society is the "Heavenly Familial Society", which is also the society of co-life, co-prosperity and co-justice. In other words, it is the familial society expanded to a world-wide scale. As to the concrete details of this society, we plan to write supplementary volumes on its political and economic aspects after further studies have been completed,
Section G - History and Culture
History is the history of culture. Man must first construct a culture in order to form a society. Accordingly, to live a social life means to construct a culture. The process of the change of this culture is history. So finally, let us discuss the relationship between history and culture.
1. The Central Providence And Peripheral Providence In Cultural History
(i) The Central Providence of Cultural History
All the creation is governed by the law of dominion of the center and the law of creation from one. Therefore, cultural history is also divided into central and peripheral cultural histories.
Viewed from the Principle of Restoration, the center of history is the cultural history of the Israeli people.
The Israeli cultural history, which starts from Abraham, is the so-called Hebrew culture or Hebraism. This culture moved to Rome to become Christian culture. Geographically, the Christian culture is the culture of Western Europe which as a result, we believe to be the center of world cultural history.
(ii) Peripheral Providence
On the other hand, the Oriental and Islamic cultures are regarded as peripheral providence. Therefore, the changes of history in those areas are not as regular as those in the Judeo-Christian cultural area.
However, although they are peripheral, the Oriental and Islamic cultures are the same as the Judeo-Christian culture in the fact that history is the history of re-creation by the Word. Hence, various sages, wise men and righteous persons have appeared to show the way to the people.
In the peripheral providence also, the laws of creation are working just as in the Central Providence in the West. Also, though not as strictly as in the Central Providence, the law of indemnity and the law of separation can be seen to be in operation. Since culture centers around the Word (thought and religion), we can say that cultural history corresponds with religious history (history of thought)
2. Sung Sang Culture And Hyung Sang Culture
Like any other phenomena, history has two sides: Sung Sang and Hyung Sang. Originally the two aspects should have been unified, but by the fall of man, the two were controlled by different subjects (different peoples or states) which often were opposed to each other.
(i) Hebraism and Hellenism
In the Central Providence, the Hebrew culture (Hebraism) is the Sung Sang culture and Greek culture (Hellenism) is the Hyung Sang culture.
Why so? Because Greek mythology is based on polytheism which does not admit the one and only God and as such is almost the same as atheism. Moreover, the Hyung Sang aspects of culture such as science, art and mathematics concerning natural circumstances were developed greatly in Hellenism. On the other hand, these were not as developed in Israel, but the Israeli people have the Sung Sang culture centering on the religion of and literature about the sole creator, God.
Originally these two cultures should have been complementary to each other, and eventually a complete culture will finally be developed through the G-T action of the two. Even though on the one hand, these two cultures have interacted and depended on each other, on the other hand, because of the fall, they have struggled with each other until today.
Christian culture based on the Hebrew culture moved to Rome, where it interacted and unified with Greek culture to become Roman culture.
In the Middle Ages, the culture stemming from Israel became powerful in western Europe and formed Christian culture, while the traditional culture of Greece, which lost favor in Western Europe, was propagated in the Islamic world and greatly influenced the life there.
In modern times, the Renaissance emerged out of the culture stemming from Hellenism and the Reformation came out of the culture stemming from Hebraism. Today, the tradition of Greek culture (Hellenism) has led to the communistic culture via the Enlightenment, while the Hebraic culture has flowered into the Christian culture. At present, these two cultures are opposed to each other.
(ii) The Sources of the Two Cultures
As stated above, if we seek for the source of western culture, which is the Central Providence, we will reach the two cultures of Hebraism and Hellenism. Why then were these cultures born, and why do they still oppose each other without harmonization?
In order to clarify this, let us go back further to the origins of these two cultures. Before Greek civilization, there was Aegean civilization and before this, the Egyptian and Syrian civilizations. Between these two, the Egyptian civilization had greater influence on the Aegean and Greek civilizations. When we investigate who was leading the civilization of Egypt, we find that it was the Hamitic people who had created it.
On the other hand, before the Hebrew civilization there was the Syrian civilization in which Abraham lived. Pushing further back chronologically, before the Syrian civilization there was the Accadian civilization, and before that, the civilization of Babylonia which was preceded by that of Sumer. It is not too clear where the Sumer people came from but it seems however, that the Semitic people contributed to their development.
If so, it becomes clear that it was the Hamitic and Semitic peoples respectively that were closely connected with the creation and advancement of these two civilizations.
According to the Bible, both the Hamitic and Semitic peoples are descendants of Noah, namely of Ham and Shem, who were the sons of Noah.
Thus in our search we have unexpectedly entered the world of Genesis in the Old Testament. The Unification view of history based on the Unification Principle starts its work by clarifying the historic laws hidden in the Old Testament. The key for clarifying the problem of opposing cultures lies in the theory of the fall of man, but there is not time now for introducing this theory philosophically. In later publications however, the studies for which will soon be completed, we shall explain this question in detail. Here we only suggest the whereabouts of the source of the problem.
(iii) The Termination of History is a Unified Culture
To conclude then, history is divided into Sung Sang and Hyung Sang cultures. These two cultures are generally opposed to each other though there is some interaction or interchange between the two. How can we reson the opposition? For this purpose, religion and science must be unified to become a unified culture by the combination of both truths, namely religious truth and scientific truth (see Divine Principle). The Unification Principle and Unification Thought have been established to solve this problem. Since human culture is based on thought, it will be possible to form a unified culture, in which both the Sung Sang and Hyung Sang are combined, only when a unification of thought is established.
History has now advanced to the point where it is possible to realize this unified culture. We now face a wonderful new cultural age which is beyond our imagination. We firmly believe that the two opposing trends which have not been able to cooperate with each other for several thousand years will be united with each other in the new age and form the reality of this culture. Furthermore, not only the cultures stemming from Greece and Israel, but also the Oriental and Occidental cultures will surely be united. There will, without fail, in the not too distant future appear a movement which will unify those cultures, namely the movement of the "New Renaissance" or "Unification Renaissance."
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