Thursday, April 17, 2008

Articles, articles!

So much great stuff about the Pope's visit! So much to read! So little time! [And I haven't looked at one MSM story on the visit yet. Why do I need to?]

The First Things Blog helpfully reproduces the 1988 Erasmus lecture, given by then Cardinal Josef Ratzinger, on the state of biblical criticism. A gem. [I believe the lecture and a conference by the same name: "Biblical Interpretation in Crisis" were published in a book. I recall using that book extensively for my MA thesis.]

Over at NCR(egister), Fr. Longenecker, on why America needs the Pope. Given his background (former Anglican priest), he clearly illustrates why the Anglican hermeneutic stool (Scripture, Tradition, Reason) is deficient, and why only the Chair of Peter suffices.

The NY Times Papal Blog is stellar. (But they had to get Rosemary Radford Ruether? In her first post on Benedict and secularism she doesn't seem to grasp the difference between the secularism the Pope is talking about, and the secularism she -- and the Pope -- lauds: freedom of religion, and what the Holy Father calls the legitimate autonomy of the secular. I guess they needed a dissenting Catholic. Could have been worse I suppose.) Amy Welborn: A United not a Divider. And absolutely read this piece by Fr. James Martin SJ: The Vicar of Christ and My Gay Friend. It underscores for me a few things: one, just how the Church's teaching on sexuality simply doesn't come across in its nuance (read the comments on the article), two, how so many feel alienated from the Church (rightly or wrongly. In such cases, it's all about perception), and three, how important the subjective experience of people is in reconciliation and ongoing conversion. People have to feel welcomed and loved first before they can hear the truth of the teaching on human sexuality, and actually start internalizing it and living it. Needless to say, this isn't something that happens overnight either ...

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