Begging the Question
4 June 2008 - 2 סיון 5768 by Huw
I took Eamon Duffy’s The Stripping of the Altars to the Laundromat with me this evening: I’d forgotten my Audiobook-bearing iPod at the office. So while the socks tumbled, I comforted myself the introduction and chapter one of this exploration of “traditional religion in England, 1400-1580.” Yes, I’m a geek.
What interested me most, in these first two sections was Duffy’s untenable position: in trying to defend Traditional Religion from the twin assaults of historical criticism (that it is far removed from the orthodoxy of the clergy and that it is heavily influenced by paganism and superstition) he fails to answer one question: is it Christian?
I’m quite comfortable with - and indeed, enjoy - the mythology of Mediaeval Christians. But I heavily doubt it is anything remotely like Christianity - ie would Jesus recognise it? I doubt it. Is it part of the “deposit of the faith” or is it more like 18 layers of paint laid over 1000 years of barnacles on the hull of the ship of faith? I think it’s more the latter. Beautiful, yes. Salvific, maybe: but no more so than the Elizabethan glory that rose up in its stead.
When, in the first two chapters, Duffy shows over and over the superstition of the laity and the attempts of clergy to correct some while giving in to others and rebaptising others… I think he’s lost before the starting gates have even opened. It’ll be a fun, geeky read. I may even adopt some of the practices he suggests - and I totally reject the solid iconoclasm of the puritan-based reformers. But the excesses of the Mediaeval Church need to be recognised and so named.
