I'm totally onboard. I wonder sometimes, though, about whether it is still worthwhile to call the project "Christian", or whether it is really about as different from historical Christianity as the latter is from Judaism. (Is that the meaning of the Third Age?) I don't know: the Evangelicals will call us heathens, the trad Catholics will call us heathens, the Orthobros will call us heathens—and it is exhausting and futile to argue, since they are all stuck in the own circular, self-referential epistemological loops. At some point I just wanna say, "You know what, I'm done, you keep your damn word if it means so much to you, and I'll go and pursue the Spirit who is outside of your word." I have been feeling some frustration lately about how vast and incoherent of a concept "Christianity" is, and how people are so self-righteous about their narrow versions of it: maybe that's what happens when native idiocy fuses with the misbegotten drive to evangelize. Sometimes I almost don't even want to be associated with these folk.
I sometimes like to speak of a literalism of metaphor, where poetry reveals the actual truth about the spiritual realm and the fixation on history is a sort of pharisaism.
The parallel Church might also take the form of the child of God living in the tension. The sausage factory is sometimes the place where Christ wants to be found. A new structure is not always the answer. There is no structure immune to corruption, even the kind we create with good intentions. Most often they end up becoming idols, images that are self-serving. Whatever the Church is or may become she is found in only Wisdom. In someone we know who can't be tamed.
Absolutely, I agree - and Francis is entirely captured by the WEF. However, I do think that Vigano is different. He has spoken out vehemently against the WEF. (Disclaimer: I have Trad Cath relatives, and they happen to know about all the bad actors, and most of their friends do too. It's not going to make me a Catholic, but I appreciate support from wherever it comes. (Most people in my world in suburban Ohio don't even know about the WEF, and if they do, aren't in the least alarmed.)
That's what they say, and what they said through the sex abuse scandal, through all the other scandals and persecutions. And it's probably true. But if the shepherds let the wolves devour the flocks, it's time for new shepherds.
Thank you for this illuminating post. In return, I have written https://sarumuse.org/2023/11/09/my-interview-with-dr-michael-martin/
That's a beautiful post, Fr. Anthony, and I'm honored to have you as a fellow traveler.
I feel that
I'm totally onboard. I wonder sometimes, though, about whether it is still worthwhile to call the project "Christian", or whether it is really about as different from historical Christianity as the latter is from Judaism. (Is that the meaning of the Third Age?) I don't know: the Evangelicals will call us heathens, the trad Catholics will call us heathens, the Orthobros will call us heathens—and it is exhausting and futile to argue, since they are all stuck in the own circular, self-referential epistemological loops. At some point I just wanna say, "You know what, I'm done, you keep your damn word if it means so much to you, and I'll go and pursue the Spirit who is outside of your word." I have been feeling some frustration lately about how vast and incoherent of a concept "Christianity" is, and how people are so self-righteous about their narrow versions of it: maybe that's what happens when native idiocy fuses with the misbegotten drive to evangelize. Sometimes I almost don't even want to be associated with these folk.
Decoupling Lord Christ from the Hebrew in our mind will set a new stage of understanding the metaphorical nature of the NT
I sometimes like to speak of a literalism of metaphor, where poetry reveals the actual truth about the spiritual realm and the fixation on history is a sort of pharisaism.
I believe Philo of Alexandria would agree with you
The parallel Church might also take the form of the child of God living in the tension. The sausage factory is sometimes the place where Christ wants to be found. A new structure is not always the answer. There is no structure immune to corruption, even the kind we create with good intentions. Most often they end up becoming idols, images that are self-serving. Whatever the Church is or may become she is found in only Wisdom. In someone we know who can't be tamed.
and...
When a pope or patriarch or elder speaks out against the WEF, the WHO, the EU, the BMGF or the rest of the war criminals, I'll give them a hearing.
But I don't think we need to worry about that happening.
You do, of course, know about Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, don't you? To be sure, he's outside the institutional church.
I do. Most of the the bishops and archbishops and all of the cardinals just go along to get along.
Absolutely, I agree - and Francis is entirely captured by the WEF. However, I do think that Vigano is different. He has spoken out vehemently against the WEF. (Disclaimer: I have Trad Cath relatives, and they happen to know about all the bad actors, and most of their friends do too. It's not going to make me a Catholic, but I appreciate support from wherever it comes. (Most people in my world in suburban Ohio don't even know about the WEF, and if they do, aren't in the least alarmed.)
When I first heard about Vigano, I thought he was an extremist. I was wrong.
That's what they say, and what they said through the sex abuse scandal, through all the other scandals and persecutions. And it's probably true. But if the shepherds let the wolves devour the flocks, it's time for new shepherds.
"...the wolves devour the flocks, it's time for new shepherds."
Or maybe new flocks.