Disambiguation
15 September 2007 - 4 תשרי 5768 by Huw
Writing from the position of Zen Humanism, Nacho discusses the Vatican’s “investigation” of Peter Phan. (The background of Nacho’s post is this story.)The absolute horror of Peter Phan is shown well in this quote:
For even if Christ embodies the fullness of God’s self-revelation, the church’s understanding of this revelation remains imperfect, and its practice of it remains partial, at times even sinful.
It makes me giggle. That’s 100% historical truth. Our Christian understanding of this revelation remains imperfect, and its practice of it remains partial, at times even sinful. We can see, standing outside the Christian Tradition, how many things change, evolve, disappear. We take wrong steps, we move forward and backward. What’s wrong with admitting that?
Why does it undo our image of or self to admit the truth?
I don’t mean that sometimes in some place some one or more Christians might make a mistake. Orthodoxy and Catholicism both play semantics by saying “if someone made a mistake, that wasn’t the Church therefore the Church can’t make a mistake…”
Then they make up (ie tell lies about) a mystical and invisible church: one that does not exist, it’s a spook to distract us. At the same time they insist that the “real” church is not invisible but visible. When you point out an error in that visible organisation, the reply is “Oh, that’s not the church, that’s just that one person… (etc) In all fairness, the Romans have, at least, a way to purge out disharmonious voices like Phan’s. The Orthodox don’t. But disharmony - institutional heresy - is not the same as a mistake or a change or an evolution.
Nacho points out that the Romans are investigating Phan for the “serious ambiguities” in his writing. He’s evidently “notably confused on a number of points of Catholic doctrine”. Nacho then moves to his own tradition where he encourages such ambiguity. Would that we, Christians, could equally dance in the not-knowing.
A client at work has been dealing with a spiritual awakening in her own life. Because of her rather fundamentalist upbringing, she felt it insane that she didn’t know anything about God, that she had questions, that she had doubts. Bah! I’ve encouraged her to keep asking, to keep searching. I showed her the listing of spiritual adverts in the Mountain Express (what Fr J & I used to call the listing of “Lesbian Broccoli Worshippers”). I said, “look at the variety of possible questions and answers available in just Asheville alone!”
Ah, glory to you!…
Confusing and Beautiful
as a lover to the beloved
known and unknown
tender and terrifying
who leads this dance of questions?
from the human heart
to the heart of light
glory.
Huw, I know this is aerious subject, but I must admit that every time I read Peter’s full name, my mind keeps thinking of Tinkerbell and the Lost Boys. Oh well, many of us are accused of living in Neverland anyway.
In passing, you are overstating the Church argument as much as you used to overstate the Eastern Rite Orthodoxy argument when I first started making some comments here.
Now, if you will excuse me, I am going to think happy thoughts and fly off.
Mm.
Do you mean…
1) I’m saying the wrong thing.
or
2) I’m saying what some of the church says but that’s not what all of the church says.
Option 2. I promise to send you a “short” e-mail, but I have to rush off to an appointment.