Thursday 24 April 2008

Around the traps

There are some wonderful posts around the traps at the moment. Here's a sample:

7 Comments:

Anonymous said...

Stramge that a Protestant should refer to that chap from Rome as the "holy father".

Never mind too, that the overwhelming majority of the worlds population doesnt subscribe to such a designation either. And its associated obnoxious claim on the totality of Humankind.

Ben Myers said...

Hi Anon. I know it seems offensive, but the whole Christian message is really nothing else than an "obnoxious claim on the totality of humankind". If the resurrection of Jesus was really an event for all, then there can be only one church, and this church's message is both utterly particular and absolutely universal.

This doesn't mean you have to become a Roman Catholic. But it might mean that the Pope represents an indispensable truth about the nature of the church and the nature of the gospel.

Anonymous said...

Even via a cursory read of right wing "catholic" blogs etc it is completely obvious that they affirm that "salvation" is only to be found within the "catholic" church and NOT in any form of Protestanism.

Plus there are many books which make the same absolutist claim. A good place to start would be The Truth of Catholicism by George (the war-monger) Weigel, wherein he states exactly that.

Plus a catholic magazine with the initials F T is full of "catholic" superiority. Even despite the fact that the cabal that runs it has formed a strategic alliance with conservative Protestants to further the F T political agenda(s).

Anonymous said...

Vatican II baby, we're 'disenfranchised brethren', and I so relish in that fact. Besides, who would go to 'right wing catholic blogs' to get the real deal on the position of the Catholic church? Isn't the magisterium in place for these sorts of questions?

And why get all worked up about 'absolutism'. There's no such thing as a non-absolutist for they'd be absolute about the fact that there are no absolutes...

As for Catholic superiority, hasn't the Protestant church, esp. in America, been just as arrogant and absolutist?

I just wish they'd let me take communion with them, I want to know if transubstatiationism is true after all...

In jest,

Jerry Magdelene

Bob said...

Thanks Ben for pointing out the video. Why don't the students at Princeton come up with videos like this? You'd expect the Presbyterians to respond with some hard thrown down after the Nazbos went after Calvin.

Anonymous said...

I thought the "bitingly accurate" Harris post on smugness was an unconscious parody of the very attitude it was attacking. Just to get this out of the way, I don't drive a hybrid or brag about my consumption of organic food or care about Linux or the Mac vs. PC debate and I even admire Bill Gates for how he has chosen to spend his money. But I don't get bent out of shape because some people make little lifestyle choices hoping to improve the planet in some small way and obviously feel pleased with themselves over it. People who feel smugly superior to them about this are just displaying the same attitude in a nastier way. And it wasn't even original--Tom Wolfe was doing this kind of thing decades ago.

Did Harris have a point -that, for instance, people need to do much more, or alternatively, they shouldn't do anything and drive a Hummer instead?

Anonymous said...

I think what Harris was really critiquing was the inconsistency these people display, going from one trendy cause to another without understanding the issues. I'm sort of on your side, though, about people feeling smug about being able to bash people who feel smug.

bryn

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