ABSTRACT

The text of the art of contentment, however, consists of a 'tissue of quotations' rather than a single doctrine. As long as the doctrine of contentment remains within the 'positional-historical' dimension of the universe of ideologies, the principal connections it traces are those between God, the individual, and the common weal. One of the elements which are modified is the concept of contentment, which has a chameleon-like ability to take on different hues according to the 'centre of culture' into which it is inserted. The concept of contentment can take on equally easily at least some of the attributes of Christian patience. Christian contentment is unstoical enough to allow the sufferer to 'vent' his heart of grief by complaining to God. Another element which is modified to assist the transfer of the doctrine of contentment from the 'positional-historical' to the 'inclusive-existential' dimension of the universe of ideologies is the concept of condition or estate.