Misery of Mankind and Salvific Expectations

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Art and religions, the classical quietists, are superseded and rendered obsolete by pure reason. Bolland reacts here to a statement of a certain F. Bacon in "The Advancement of Learning" which states that man is forced to be an actor in his own life and is unable to be a pure spectator, but that inspired and sacred theology offers a safe haven and Sabbath rest from all human efforts. Bolland asserts that pure reason may not exactly provide what religion, according to Bacon, pretends to provide, but provides something similar: ataraxy (cessation of anxiety). Religion is seen as dead in modern times, but the causes of religion are still valid and need to be examined throughout the book.

The roots of religion are seen in both cosmic fear of death, and cosmic nostalgia or yearning for the mysterious. Religion is not moral teaching nor superstition of illiterate peoples. Religious expectations in the extreme tend to apocalyptics. Those have been around at least since Babylonian times, as an old papyrus shows, and still abound in modern days, as seen for example in the case of the Theosophic Society.

The New Testament is full of salvific expectations, see for example Gal. 1:3-4, where Jesus is expected to come and save you from this evil age. The summit of these expectations are the Revelations or prophetic teachings of John, directed against the Caesar cult. These Revelations draw on a plethora of ancient symbolism, like Babylonian astral mythology (the serpent vs. the sun god/celestial mother).

The historical background hints strongly to late first century, under the rule of Emperor Domitianus. This emperor has been seen by for example Iuvenal as the return of former Emperor Nero, as seen from the mentioning of 666 as its cabbalist sum. The disastrous fire of Rome is 'predicted', but of course rather it is a retrospective statement as this infernal accident happened already under Nero.

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http://www.egodeath.com/BollandPhilosophyOfReligion.htm