tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33424426.post985387350863737157..comments2023-09-01T07:04:13.381-07:00Comments on Reflections on Faith and Culture: Distant MirrorsGil Bailiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04481878663941134090noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33424426.post-62993024460091849902006-10-22T05:54:00.000-07:002006-10-22T05:54:00.000-07:00One of the reasons that I've been so committed to ...One of the reasons that I've been so committed to the success of the Gil's work is that it "emphasizes the anthropological uniqueness of the Judeo-Christian tradition and the unparalleled historical significance of the Christian Gospel." Once that uniqueness is made plain, the realization of its profound truth follows ineluctably. This truth becomes transformative by first permeating the personal and psychological condition of the hearer; providing, in short, a powerful key to understanding one's own sinful desires and motives. But it soon moves on to recreate one's perception of all things, including the meta-dimension of human experience we call "history." <br /><br />In my opinion, the only thing capable of blunting the "hot knife" of radical Islam is a renewal of the Faith and the Church that bears it through history. And, it seems to me, athe Anthropology of the Cross is the key to that renewal. The dimensions of this project - and the implications of its failure - are enormous.Mark Gordonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03370958932767047313noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33424426.post-51929170081655207972006-10-21T17:17:00.000-07:002006-10-21T17:17:00.000-07:00Great insight. Oh how I wish leadership in the Wes...Great insight. Oh how I wish leadership in the West had wisdom and courage sufficient to their great and historic task.<br /><br />rich<br />www.lordteachus.blogspot.comrichhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12305525629856575327noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33424426.post-26588524065781416372006-10-21T16:54:00.000-07:002006-10-21T16:54:00.000-07:00Gil, I, too, puzzle over why forlorn old Christend...Gil, I, too, puzzle over why forlorn old Christendom has chosen to cut off its Christian faith to spite its face when it only has to look in the mirror to see its ancestry. But, alarmingly, it also seems content to shorn itself of progeny, assuring cultural suicide as you, Mark Steyn and others continue to warn. If it weren't for immigrants, the United States would be heading in a similar demographic direction. <br /><br />Can mimetic theory and/or that superb sociological gift, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, give us insight and motivation to avoid the utter diminution of a culture based on the faith of fishermen? Or can these vital intepretive instruments even be heard in the din of diversions, entertainment and trips to the mall? <br /><br />R. V. Young points out something worthy of note in the most recent St. Austin Review:<br /><br />"Pride [superbia], according to St. Thomas Aquinas, is the gravest of sins 'because in other sins a man turns away from God either on account of ignorance or weakness or a desire for some other good thing, but pride holds an aversion to God as such insofar as it does not wish to be subject to God or to his rule'." <br /><br />Young recounts the constant reminders of our western ancestors of the realities of life and death: infant mortality, maternal mortality, lack of ways of staving off infection if serious hurt; in short, what was called "the imbecility of our [human] nature."<br /><br />Today, however, Young says, "we smell so fine, and have such white teeth -- how can we be foul sinners in constant need of grace?" <br /><br />You said somewhere, if we refuse to be creatures, we will try to be the creator usually with a pagan deity's attributes: eternal youth, immortality, and all the rest.<br /><br />Having (and raising) children, like faith in the God revealed by Jesus, is a reminder of my mortality and creatureliness. Children limit my freedom and "individuality". Children crimp my style.<br /><br />In short, the fall of the West is as ancient wisdom has long noted, preceded by pride.<br /><br />Just a thought.Athoshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09158421880497827083noreply@blogger.com