On the Lutheran Here We Stand blog, there is a brilliant post on philosophy and the way in which misunderstandings affect how we are able to understand the views of others.

"Kant is to conservative evangelicalism (Reformed, Baptist and Lutheran) what Aristotle is to Tridentine Catholicism. We equate Kantian and/or positivist philosophy with truth as instinctively, deeply, and foundationally as the scholastics equated Aristotle's metaphysics with reality. ...

Saying something clearly Not-Aristotle doesn't ring as Not-Aristotle in their ears, it sounds simply Obvioustly-Not-True, and you're undermining our whole ability to speak intelligibly about the real world. It's not seen as Aristotle vs Competing Metaphysical Systems, it's The Way Things Are vs Incoherent Babbling ...

We're the same way with Kant. In the thoroughly modernist mind, if you take issue with Kantian (and later ueber-Kantian) definitions of truth and fiction, his epistemology, his entire approach to language, etc, you're not contradicting Kant per se. You are simply speaking nonsense at best and outright lies at worst, and you're undermining our whole ability to make intelligible statements about truth."

This is something I've felt for a long time ... but I don't have the training or background knowledge of philosophy to put it so eloquently.  I kant even spell Aristotle unless I cut and paste.

Seriously ... I've seen many areas where I believe there is not a real difference in belief, but rather a difference in the language and way of thinking behind it.  I think this could go a long way in bringing Christians back together.  Maybe this is what the ecumenical movement needs?

Orthodox quote for the day

From Soren Kierkegaard - Provocations, Chapter 21; Plough Publishing pgs.77-78:

"...many have doubted. And there have been those who felt obliged to refute their doubt with reasons. But these reasons backfire and foster a doubt that gets stronger and stronger. Why? Because demonstrating the truth of Christianity does not lie in reasons but in imitation: what resembles the truth... Without a life of imitation, of following Christ, it is impossible to gain mastery over doubts. We cannot stop doubt with reasons. Those who try have not learned that it is wasted effort. They do not understand that imitation is the only force that... can break up the mob of doubts and... compel them to go home and hold their tongues."

The Catholic Answers forum has a poll on evolution and creation - 7 days vs intelligent design vs Darwinian evolution.

The definitions:

1) 7 Day Creation: The Biblical account of Creation is literally true.

2) Intelligent Design: God used Natural Forces to Create the Universe and Life over a long period of time.  <-- My vote

3) Darwinian Evolution: The Origins of the Universe can be atributed to Natural Causes alone and not to any Higher Power.

"Our Lady of All Nations Who Once Was Mary" is a title that EWTN defends on their site, but the CDF seems to have disallowed.

Is EWTN wrong in this?  It would seem so.

CDF text quoted from the Catholic Light blog:

Abp. Angelo Amato, SDB, the secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, wrote on May 20:

With regard to the devotion known as 'Lady of All Nations' and the Marian apparitions experienced by the late visionary Ida Peerdeman, I wish to advise Your Excellency that although the said apparitions have received approval from His Excellency the Most Rev. Joseph Maria Punt, Bishop of Haarlem (Holland), in his Communications of 31 May 2002, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has expressed concern regarding one particular aspect of that devotion whereby official prayers invoke the Blessed Virgin as Lady of All Nations 'who was once Mary'.....[The CDF] does not permit any Catholic community of Christ's Faithful to pray to the Mother of God under the title of 'Lady of All Nations' with the added expression 'who was once Mary'.

From ReligiousNewsBlog.com, "Evangelicals and Catholics: The old edginess fading"

Evangelical Protestants and Roman Catholics -- the nation's two largest religious blocs -- have a relationship that's been marked in the past by hostility and tension.

But now, almost 500 years after Martin Luther, one of the top U.S. evangelical thinkers has co-authored a book that finds an increasingly warm relationship between Catholics and evangelicals.

At the end:

Yet both Noll and Shea believe the evangelicals are much closer to Catholicism on central Christian teachings than more liberal Protestants.

So, does that mean the Reformation is over? Noll summarizes: "The answer is not yes, but it's moving in the direction of yes."

See also Richard John Neuhas' and Charles Colson's efforts in dialogue at
Evangelicals & Catholics Together: The Christian Mission in the Third Millennium

I just found this great new blog on the Liturgy.

I really enjoy the Eastern liturgies, although I have only been to two different rites myself (Maronite Catholic and Malankaran Orthodox.)  They seem to have a spirituality that one misses in the services one grows accustomed to ... or maybe there is something that could be improved in the Western liturgy, or something to be returned to.

Anyway, this article is about the Ambrosian Rite, a Western Rite associated with Milan.  See also the Catholic Encyclopedia on the Ambrosian Rite, on Rites in general, and the Eastern Churches.

See also my website's page for the Eastern Catholics.

Orthodox-Catholic documentary to foster inter-Christian dialogue

"Moscow, August 1 (RIA Novosti, Olga Lipich) - "Pilgrimage to the Eternal City," an Orthodox-Catholic film production about early Christians in ancient Rome, will help bring the two churches closer together, a spokesman for the Russian Orthodox Church said Monday."

Creationism rift opens within The Vatican

17:50 05 August 2005 - NewScientist.com news service - Shaoni Bhattacharya

"A deep rift has opened within the Catholic church over the theory of evolution and its compatibility with the Christian faith.

The Vatican’s chief astronomer, George Coyne, has rebuffed controversial comments made by Cardinal Christoph Schönborn in The New York Times on 7 July that evolution is incompatible with a belief in God."

Sacraments: Two Views, by Alamo Bill

"Baptism and the Lord’s Supper can be viewed with two emphases: (1) what God does, or (2) what humans do. The first view understands baptism and the Lord’s Supper as “sacraments.� The latter view sees them solely as “memorials.� “Memorialism� has some interesting consequences ..."

Catholics view the sacraments as things done by God for man.  This is a major one of several reasons why many Protestants do not understand Catholic sacrements and sacramentals.  They see them as works Catholics do to get to heaven - and that is not Catholic teaching at all.  Rather, through the Sacraments, works of God for man, not works of man for God, God gives us grace.

Biblical examples of Catholic sacramentalism:

+ Act 19:11-12 KJV  And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul:  (12)  So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.

+ Act 5:15 KJV  Insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them.

+ Jam 5:14 KJV  Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord

The Pontificator blog is really one of the best, and I try to keep up to date with it.  His post called “Symbol and Realityâ€? is about the Anglican [Episcopalian in the USA] view of the Eucharist, specifically those of Lancelot Andrewes and Alexander Schmemann, neither of whom I had heard of before this.  Catholics explain the Real Presence in terms of transubstantiation, while others, including many Anglicans, use the explanation consubstantiation, or impanation.  While Andrewes did not accept transubstantiation, the original blog to which Pontificator refers, figura et res, veritas et figura, at the Meam Commemorationem blog, says:

"There is no hiatus, the Eucharist IS the Body and Blood and the Sacrifice offered on behalf of the sins of the whole world. There is no doubt in the mind of Andrewes about the reality of the whole Christ in the Sacrament."

I don't have the theological background to understand all that Jeff Steel at Meam Commemorationem quotes from Schmemann regarding this issue, but it was interesting to read all the same.

Pontificator's comment includes the following: "My one question about Schmemann's ontology of symbol is whether it truly allows the difference between an icon and the eucharistic Body and Blood. ... Hence the insistence of II Nicaea that the Eucharist is not an icon of the Body and Blood but is the Body and Blood."

Certainly food for thought.

Josh S has some interesting insights on the Eucharist in the Here We Stand blog, metalutheran.blogspot.com.

[W]hen Jesus says "This is my body," the Reformed answer with "No, Jesus, you can't possibly mean that," instead of "Amen." I believe quite strongly now (Sasse's influence, maybe? ) that responding to the Words of Institution is a fundamental part of celebrating the Lord's Supper and thus why we can never celebrate with the Reformed. When the pastor says, "This is the body of Christ," the Lutheran responds with "Amen," while the Calvinist responds with "No, it's not--that's impossible!" The Reformed "no" occupies the place in the celebration that the Lutheran "yes" does. Well guess what? That's not the appropriate way to come to the Table.

Catholics and Lutherans might not agree completely on the nature of the Eucharist, but we're historically a lot closer than many other Christian denominations, and a better understanding is growing.

Earlier in this blog, I referred to the Gestapo-like raid on St John's Episcopal Church in Connecticut. There is more news:

Bishops plan to take Connecticut cleric to church court - The Beaufort Gazette
Priest Removal - 13News, WIBW.com

Andrew Smith, the bishop of Connecticut, is being taken to a religious court by 9 other Episcopal bishops.  The "Connecticut Six" - 1 priest who has been removed from his parish, and 5 others in danger of similar action against them - have asked to be taken under the supervision of a different bishop.

The Anglican Communion is being divided on a number of issues, and we may see more dramatic splits in the future.

Michael Pahls has a brilliant post on his blog at Reformed Catholicism - Classically Protestant *and* Constructively catholic, entitled The Theotokos and Doctrinal Criticism.

He discusses Catholic and Orthodox Mariology (referred to as Mariolatry by anti-Catholic Protestanst) and the problems Protestantism has with them.

Most Protestant difficulties with Roman Catholic and Orthodox Mariologies (not identical theologies, by the way) stem from a failure to understand the intrinsic connection between Mary and the Church. ...
Saying "Mary is the Mediatrix of all graces" is nearly identical to saying, "the Church is Mediatrix of all graces." ...
A sacramental understanding of the Church is, of course, a prerequisite for finding this teaching acceptable. For Roman Catholics, the Orthodox, Presbyterian/Reformed Christians, Lutherans, and Anglicans this should be old hat. ...
If it was necessary to assume Mary's physical body into heaven for her to receive an anticipatory share in the Resurrection, than the resurrection body of Jesus and of us demands an essential continuity with our present embodiment. In other words, Jesus is not merely “alive to God� in a disembodied way as more liberal Christians wish to affirm. ...
The only really good grounds on which Protestants might object to Roman Mariology  ...

See also my essay on the Theotokos on my website.

On his blog, Dave Armstrong once again has a good debate on Sola Scriptura.  See The Novel and Unbiblical Doctrine of Sola Scriptura, Part I (vs. Lutheran Steve Parks)

Pontificator also has a good post.  See “Is ‘Word Alone’ An Evangelical Possibility?â€?

Support the Catholic Church by bringing a few Catholic votes to this predominantly anti-Catholic website's survey results. 

http://www.sermonaudio.com/survey.asp

(Note: you'll have to supply a valid e-mail address and get their weekly sermon list update.)  

Fr Nichols, OP, has a good article on the issues relating to the reunion of Orthodoxy and Catholicism.

For a few Eastern Catholic sites, see my Eastern Catholicism page.

What on earth do these people think they are up to?  They've taken a good Christian devotion, unfortunately often maligned by other Christians who don't understand it, and turned it into some pagan worship event - at a Christian, or supposedly Christian, church.  Now this extreme IS a corruption of the Christian faith ... not the real meditation on the life of Christ, and asking Mary to pray for us.  Take a look at the prayers they use.

Experiencing the Goddess Rosary  by Dalyn Cook