Perennialism: The End of Ecumenism & The Transcendent Unity of Religions
Protopresbyter Peter Heers, D.Th, Lecturer in Ecclesiology, Holy Trinity Seminary, Jordanville, NY
Introduction: The Devil’s Dichotomies and Their End
A tried and constant tactic of the enemy of mankind’s salvation in Christ is to limit man’s choices to two options, which are seemingly opposed, and to block from view any other possibility, or rule it out as impractical or untenable. For example, one is either rational or irrational, supra-rational not being an option. Or, one must be either blindly obedient or self-willed and rebellious, true obedience being rejected. Or, on a larger scale, to the Africans he presents a terrifying black magic and then for escape a “good” white magic. Or, for the impoverished masses, the greed of capitalism is countered and corrected by the “equality” and “fraternity” of communism. Or, for those who suffered under the authoritarian rule of papal Protestantism there is the self-rule and individualism of reformed Protestantism. And one could go on and list many other such false dichotomies in which both options are the enemy’s inspiration. Even today, with our current “Covid crisis,” the accepted narrative states that the only solution to a deadly virus is an experimental and potentially more deadly “vaccine” — early treatment with existing medicines being largely ignored.
