Great Rhetoric, But the Theology!

If you have been following the dialog between Steven Riddle and myself regarding my rather dim view of Puritans, please make sure that you read this excellent post.

I agree strongly with Steven's assessment of Edwards's command of the language. In fact his description reminds me of another great poet who wrote demonic works about the nature of God (more times than not, I get the feeling that Milton is actually rooting for the Devil in Paradise Lost), not to mention the beautiful poetry found in the writings of the false prophet Mohammed! I am not so quick to give Edwards a theological pass for his conclusion.

First, the beginning clearly states that God hates the sinner. It is powerful language, and I admire the rhetorical skill, but theologically this is an abominable view of the relation between the Creator and a humanity He made in his Own image. Also, the almost Catholic invitation at the end for repentance rings a bit hollow. Edwards was still a Calvinist. The damned are damned because God wants them to be damned. That is what follows from the opening passages. The end of the sermon strikes me as softening up the crowd for the basket passing.

However, Steven has done a great job in writing about this, as he usually does, so go read it and may the conversation continue!

Old Oligarch has a good one here...

The Old Oligarch is one of the blogs that I like to read. The author, who goes by a nome de plume, teches theology and is also a gun aficionado, holds his liquor, as they said in the good old days, and writes quite well. I highly recommend his blog, and am adding it to the links list.

In this post he writes about the need for lay theologians to be on call, ready for the pastoral dimension of their work that they did not think they were signing up for. He makes some outstanding observations about the many people out there who thirst for knowledge, and have no one to turn to. It is not really so surprising that garbage like The Da Vinci Code can be so popular, as people want to learn, and this stuff comes along pretending to offer the knowledge they seek, and they do not have the academic tools needed to verify (or they are too lazy, or a mixture of both is at play) what is offered.

A very interesting post.

Now Hear This!

Just a brief lunchtime screed about funerals:

I just read on Gerard's Blog about the rarity of priests wearing black vestments at funerals. It also makes me think of the typical "instant canonization" homilies that are so common in the average funeral these days.

So, if any of you happen to be around when they are burying me, you might want to warn the priest that he had better: wear black vestments, preach about Purgatory and Hell, make sure that someone chants the ENTIRE sequence Dies Irae.

I hate happy go-lucky sunshine funerals. They are supposed to make everyone feel better, but I think they fail in that they ignore the real grief and sense of loss that everyone feels. Also, if Purgatory, Hell, and Confession are not mentioned, a terrific catechetical opportunity is lost, especially if the deceased is young. I am not being ghoulish, but we all tend to live like we will have plenty of time.

Oh, I should go to confession, but, well, it's such a nice day, maybe I'll make it next Saturday. Well, maybe you will, and maybe you will be killed as you drunkenly plow into the highway divider, taking a family of 5 down with you. Then where will you be? Not in any place you want to be in! But if you had gone to confession, restored your life in a state of Grace, you might have been better able to resist that fourth martini!

Hmmm. I seem to be sounding more like my grandmother, but there is a good point there.

And it is not a point being made enough from the pulpit (pulpit?!? When was the last time you were preached to from a pulpit?).

Back to my pork sandwich.

Triumphalism

Remember, we must love the Anglicans as individuals. They are in communion with the Druid of Canterbury for any number of reasons, culpable and non. When we attack the institution of the Church of England or its Franchises in the former colonies, we must NEVER attack the members. We do not want to see the Church of England crumble into dust as any sort of proof of our righteousness (we still have to answer for a number of our own bishops, whose fall, in that they are validly ordained, is even more outrageous), rather we want the Church of England to crumble FOR THE SAKE OF the Anglicans themselves.

Now, Steven Riddle has made a good point that the refugees from HMS Canterbury may head to the error of Evangelical Protestantism (or be disgusted by the hypocricy of the C of E and drift into paganisms, Mohammedanism, Communism, pansexualism, whatever). However, they are already doing this. England is frightfully secular and Koran-infested.

One could point out that France, Italy, Spain, all of these Catholic nations are merely following along, and one would be absolutely correct. So we cannot sit back and point fingers. Our work is cut out for us. We must re-evangelize our own communities, then go out and spread the Gospel to the Nations (more on this in the context of Modern Art later).

Furthermore, I think it is better for the Anglicans to leave an idolatrous and heretical sect (who really do worship simple bread and wine) for a sect that is simply heretical. At least the Evangelicals are committed to preaching the Gospel (insofar as they can understand it).

I have to say I sometimes surprise myself with the vehemence of my anti-Canterbury position. Especially as a traditionally-minded (but not Radical Traditionalist) Catholic, I admire the sense of the beautiful found in the Oxford Movement, for instance, the dignity of their ceremonies. I love much of the literature that has come from C of E members (with the exception of most of C.S. Lewis, who I find mind-numbingly awful); I even like their anthems and carol services, and all of that. But when taken from the context of valid sacraments, these things become dark and dangerous.

Even as I applaud the Church of England's efforts at spreading the Gospel in Africa and India, I recognize that its day as a missionary sect is over and it is time to pray for it to close shop and for the Anglicans to follow Ven. Cardinal Newman home to Rome. But I do not pray for this to simply happen. I pray for the strength, guidance, clarity, etc. to do my part in drawing these people to the True Church!

So, with that, here is the little bit of Triumphalism as promised in the title! Thinking of the High Church Anglicans always makes me think of this great line from Brideshead Revisited:

"Beware of Anglo-Catholics - they're all sodomites with unpleasant accents."

St Ignatius

I mentioned St. Ignatius Loyola the other evening to a friend who has a, shall we say, more Preacherly disposition. He looks at me and says, "oh, the bald, stupid guy?" Well, I received and email from this friend and he apparently did not get struck by lightning yesterday on the feast of St. Ignatius, so I guess we can chalk that up to Divine Mercy.