Ethics in the Last Days of Humanity by Don Cupitt. Polebridge Press (Salem OR, 2016). Pbk. 119 pages. £12.45.
Recent conversations with friends over global issues leave one grasping for suitable words and concepts with which to frame the spiralling vortex of anger and violence. This is also the context of Don’s latest study as he tries to identify what the future may hold for us, in what he calls ‘the Last Days of Humanity’.
It is an inspired and clearly argued analysis of where we are all heading and the failure of traditional views of the future (eschaton) to provide a convincing vision for our times. As he writes, ‘When a world ends, the old morality breaks down.’ Now that we have finally come to see that we are on our own, ‘we must remake good and evil for ourselves.’ His thesis is that as we cling to our tradition of humanitarian ethics we need to recognise that humanitarianism is eschatological.
It is a view that Don roots in the radical teachings of Jesus, that humans are no longer ‘under’ law but are autonomous, a law unto themselves. ‘Jesus appears as an ethical Prometheus who steals from heaven and has given to us the power to rule upon questions of right and wrong.’ Such is the context of the saying, ‘Why do you not judge for yourselves what is right?’ (Luke 12:57). The fundamental thrust of the Gospel message, the Kingdom of God and Sermon on the Mount are to be seen as the demand for total generosity of spirit, NOW. It is a message, from the Jesus of history, that Don sees occluded by ‘the Christ of developed ecclesiastical Christianity’ with its circumscribed conventions and pretentious hierarchy of privilege.
As Don charts the usage of the word ‘humanitarian’ he notes that it has quite recent origins in the nineteenth century, when it changed from being a theological term for christological orthodoxy to something more like general philanthropy. Though this concept emerged out of a specifically Christian matrix it can also be seen as a consequence of the effect of the rationalism of the Enlightenment on Christianity. Either way, our modern everyday use of the word is, for Don, proof that we know ourselves to be living in the last days of humanity.
Paradoxically, whilst the church-religion of Christianity languishes the ‘Jesus of history’, the post-theistic Son of Man, has become bigger than ever, ‘now manifest as a cosmic figure.’
An example of this development may be seen in the story of nurse Edith Cavell, whose current centenary deserves remembrance. Interestingly, her memorial in Trafalgar Square bears only one word in large capitals: HUMANITY. Though a devout Christian, if anything she is a martyr (though she would have rejected this term) to the ideal of humanitarianism. Interestingly, she also stands as a feminist icon in the midst of a male militaristic world. It was her simple action of caring for the wounded soldiers regardless of nationality in the interests of humanity – her last words were, ‘Patriotism is not enough’ – that now sets this bar of judgement above all other standards: nationalistic, ideological, political or religious. Regardless of our beliefs, the ultimate criterion of judgement has become our humanity or ‘humaneness’.
It is on this count that religious states such as Isis, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Oriental despotisms in general so notably fail. As countless migrants flee such states they cry: ‘We are humans.’ Instinctively, they turn to the West in the hope, if not of salvation in the traditional sense, at least for a better way of life. More generally, victims of natural disasters, wherever they may be, have come to expect and even demand generosity: ‘What took you so long?’ aid workers may be asked. Curiously, the standard of generosity implicit in the new humanitarian ideal is widely accepted as a right, sans frontiers. It is a humanitarian generosity that is now expected of the West and what continues to make it exceptional. It is the basis of all future ethics.
Dominic Kirkham is a former Canon Regular of the Premonstratensian Order. He lives in Manchester where he is actively involved in various local projects. His book From Monk to Modernity is reviewed on page 22.