September 19, 2006
Pope Benedict and Positive Press
We're still on the Pope Benedict comments since it is creating quite the controversy in the world. And the Wall Street Journal published an excellent analysis of the situation today (registration required). Some key points:
[Regarding the Pope's quote] Taken alone, these are strong words. However, the pope didn't endorse the comment that he twice emphasized was not his own. No matter. As with Salman Rushdie's "Satanic Verses," which millions of outraged Muslims didn't bother to read (including Ayatollah Khomeini, who put the bounty on the novelist's life), what Benedict XVI meant or even said isn't the issue. Once again, many Muslim leaders are inciting their faithful against perceived slights and trying to proscribe how free societies discuss one of the world's major religions.
This is a big problem for Muslims in the world: they are protesting something that didn't actually happen. Not just protesting - they are threating to kill someone over remarks that they either don't understand or didn't bother to understand. There's more:
The question raised by the pope is whether this convergence has taken place in Islam as well. He quotes the Lebanese Catholic theologist Theodore Khoury, who said that "for Muslim teaching, God is absolutely transcendent, his will is not bound up with any of our categories." If this is true, can there be dialogue at all between Islam and the West? For the pope, the precondition for any meaningful interfaith discussions is a religion tempered by reason: "It is to this great logos, to this breadth of reason, that we invite our partners in the dialogue of cultures," he concluded.This is not an invitation to the usual feel-good interfaith round-tables. It is a request for dialogue with one condition--that everyone at the table reject the irrationality of religiously motivated violence. The pope isn't condemning Islam; he is inviting it to join rather than reject the modern world.
The whole piece is good, so read it here.
Glad to see someone in the media is paying attention.
God bless,
Jay
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Jay,
As a non-Catholic Christian, I could not be more proud of Pope Benedict over the last week. Three cheers for his crisp, honest questions and message, and also for his backbone in the face of death threats and crazed, illogical reactions. It's obvious that some of the world's most brilliant minds are walking the beautiful brick alleys and hallways of the Vatican.
My hat is off to you all,
Michael O.
Michael,
Have you had a chance to read Benedict's encyclical? I found his theological insights rich and profound on both a personal and social level. I know that too often I separate theological truth, personal holiness, and social justice into independent categories. Deus Caritas Est brings it all together in a refreshingly beautiful fashion.
I'd be most interested in hearing your perspectives (in addition to your answers to my questions related to "irresistable grace").
Posted by: Burnt Marshwiggle at September 22, 2006 10:52 AMBurnt,
Regarding Calvin's irresistable grace: It seems to me that irresistable grace and predestination are one in the same. As you know, Augustine's studies in Carthage and Rome convinced him God had elected his chosen people. We can see some "precedent," in that the Lord chose Isaac. Ishmael was 12 when Isaac was finally born yet God had already predestined Isaac's future. Could either Ishmael or Isaac have done something to change God's plan?
I think Calvin merely specified Augustine's belief in the predestination of believers. Augustine's arguments concerning predestination needed some additional proof, and that's what Calvin attemped to do with the teaching of irresistable grace.
I don't see much benefit in the teaching of irresistable grace and predestination, however. I believe they are true, but a truth that isn't very constructive here in earth. It's kinda like the art world, where some historical items are very, very important to only a few really, really rich people. Calvin studied law and Augustine rhetoric - I think they loved to serve and volley semantics with their counterparts.
Thanks for the interesting site. I will dig into that this weekend.
Michael O.
Posted by: Michael O. at September 22, 2006 11:14 PM
