Oakeshott on Religion

(From a letter)

"And I would like, more than anything else, to extend those brief pages in On Human Conduct into an essay (you know how I admire and value this literary form) on religion, and particularly on the Christian religion. This ambition came to me, partly, from the re-reading of all that St. Augustine wrote--St. Augustine and Montaigne, the two most remarkable men who have ever lived. What I would like to write is a new version of Anselm's Cur Deus Homo--in which (amongst much else) 'salvation,' being 'saved,' is recognized as [having] nothing whatever to do with the future. Oh, but I know I can never do it now; I have left it too late."

(from Paul Franco's Michael Oakeshott)

First of all, this is from a letter, in which he praises essays--clearly Oakeshott had wonderful sensibilities. Secondly, how interesting! An Oakeshottian consideration of religion as something that should be centered on the present instead of on the past or the future. There seems to be something right about this--it captures the humility that we ought to have about our salvation and objects to Calvinist predestination (at least in my mind it does). Thirdly, Oakeshott had an affair with Iris Murdoch! My apologies--I think I'm not supposed to be obsessed with celebrity gossip, but I can't help it. This is intriguing.