tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14300599.post112089662128844249..comments2023-10-09T07:56:32.564-05:00Comments on Sacramentum Vitae: Doffing the maskMike Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09060404905348849140noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14300599.post-1121731927064749572005-07-18T19:12:00.000-05:002005-07-18T19:12:00.000-05:00Fr. Kirby:It seems you have the kernel of a devast...Fr. Kirby:<BR/><BR/>It seems you have the kernel of a devastating review well in hand.Mike Lhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18100363229707213441noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14300599.post-1121584070176659422005-07-17T02:07:00.000-05:002005-07-17T02:07:00.000-05:00I was given this book today by my bishop, who want...I was given this book today by my bishop, who wants me to review it. So, unfortunately, I'll have to read more absurd statements such as those you quote. For example, in commenting on persecution of Jews by Christians in the Middle Ages on the basis of Host-desecration myths, he poses the following question, apparently seriously: "One might wonder why <I>eating</I> the body of Jesus would be any less of a torment to him." Good grief. <BR/><BR/>His history is also unrelentingly selective in this and other areas. I can see much about the sins of the faithful, but little or nothing about their contributions to society or how their faith informs their positive actions. And the facts that qualify the negatives in Church history seem to be ignored on a first, admittedly quick scan. Nothing about the fact that medieval excesses were a falling away from earlier ecclesial denunciations of torture and believing popular superstitions about witches. Nothing about papal decrees and other authoritative statements forbidding anti-Jewish pogroms. And, surprise, surprise, not much more than a glossing over of the crimes against humanity of those who hated religion and exalted reason in the past, such as the French Revolutionaries during the terror or the "scientific socialists", aka Communists.<BR/><BR/>But the fundamentals problem with the book are that it assumes a deficient definition of faith equivalent to "believing six impossible things before breakfast" and that it simply asserts rather than actually argues for empiricism/positivism and utilitarianism.<BR/><BR/>Unfortunately, to those with the right prejudices and an ignorance of objective history and contrary philosophies (and the long-continuing debates in this field), this book will appear sophisticated and well-informed.Fr Matthew Kirbyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14386951752314314095noreply@blogger.com