Detestable Enormities
July 13th 2007 04:11
The detestable enormities of the Bishop of Rome have reared their ugly head once more. Strange that the Pope claiming the Catholic Church is the one, true Church founded by Christ causes media headlines: “Pope a Catholic!” Mirabile dictu!
What I found vastly amusing was the blustering of the ecumenical classes. The Reverend David Phillips, General-Secretary of the Church Society, was quoted recently in The Times demanding that Rome renounce its murderous pretensions and errors as a prerequisite to ecumenical dialogue.
“They remind us that in their view to be a true church one has to accept the ludicrous idea that the Pope is in some special way the successor of the Apostle Peter and the supreme earthly leader of the church. These claims cannot be justified biblically or historically, yet they have been used not only to divide Christians but to persecute them and to put them to death.” The Reverend Phillips may truly be said to be beside himself, and indeed answering the ecumenical question before anyone gets to discuss it. Hardly cricket, wot! Let’s not even mention Matthew 16:19, Good Queen Bess or Calvin’s Geneva!
As usual the media have blown up an unremarkable Church document, which was simply restating Vatican II, into yet another triumph of Ratzingerian Reaction. The Fourth Estate thrives on the idée fixe.
What I can’t get is why a bunch of Deist Unitarians (as most, though not by any means all, Anglicans are) really cares what the Pope thinks. It’s sort of a backhand, Oedipal acknowledgement of papal supremacy, if you ask me. The real question is the metaphysical one of Divine Revelation – the ways and means are quite secondary. If you believe that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God made flesh to show us the way to the Father then a teaching Church, even with a fascist Pope, makes a great deal of sense, and gives the Holy Spirit more than his usual cameo role at Hillsong.
If, on the other hand, you believe that Christ is the Incarnation of the values of tolerance and inclusivity, who came to show us unconditional love and lead us to experience our groundedness in the Divine, then a Church of any sort is a surely matter of communal, aesthetic preference. The Holy Spirit’s main job is to inspire tasteful hymnody – a job s/he is becoming less and less accomplished at. Hymns must be difficult to compose, even under inspiration, if you can’t quite believe in the Trinity, Incarnation and Sacraments. Let’s not even go anywhere near the Ten Commandments.
What I found vastly amusing was the blustering of the ecumenical classes. The Reverend David Phillips, General-Secretary of the Church Society, was quoted recently in The Times demanding that Rome renounce its murderous pretensions and errors as a prerequisite to ecumenical dialogue.
“They remind us that in their view to be a true church one has to accept the ludicrous idea that the Pope is in some special way the successor of the Apostle Peter and the supreme earthly leader of the church. These claims cannot be justified biblically or historically, yet they have been used not only to divide Christians but to persecute them and to put them to death.” The Reverend Phillips may truly be said to be beside himself, and indeed answering the ecumenical question before anyone gets to discuss it. Hardly cricket, wot! Let’s not even mention Matthew 16:19, Good Queen Bess or Calvin’s Geneva!
As usual the media have blown up an unremarkable Church document, which was simply restating Vatican II, into yet another triumph of Ratzingerian Reaction. The Fourth Estate thrives on the idée fixe.
What I can’t get is why a bunch of Deist Unitarians (as most, though not by any means all, Anglicans are) really cares what the Pope thinks. It’s sort of a backhand, Oedipal acknowledgement of papal supremacy, if you ask me. The real question is the metaphysical one of Divine Revelation – the ways and means are quite secondary. If you believe that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God made flesh to show us the way to the Father then a teaching Church, even with a fascist Pope, makes a great deal of sense, and gives the Holy Spirit more than his usual cameo role at Hillsong.
If, on the other hand, you believe that Christ is the Incarnation of the values of tolerance and inclusivity, who came to show us unconditional love and lead us to experience our groundedness in the Divine, then a Church of any sort is a surely matter of communal, aesthetic preference. The Holy Spirit’s main job is to inspire tasteful hymnody – a job s/he is becoming less and less accomplished at. Hymns must be difficult to compose, even under inspiration, if you can’t quite believe in the Trinity, Incarnation and Sacraments. Let’s not even go anywhere near the Ten Commandments.
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Comment by Louise
The Fourth Estate lacks a brain.