Roy Bourgeois, William Barry, Robert Egan, JD Crossan
Update on Kermit ..... she had an x-ray yesterday that showed something wrong with her throat as well as a huge tumor of unknown origin in her tummy area. She's going to die if we don't do something, as she can't swallow right, so if I get up the courage (and find my other credit card) I'm going to have her get an operation tomorrow to look at her throst, and if it can't be fixed, to put in a feeding tube and hope the anesthesia doesn't kill her kidneys, and that she won't hate me for having an unnatural device forever stuck in her neck. Ugh - I feel sick. But on to the blog post ......
I've been reading a post at America magazine's blog on Maryknoll priest Fr. Roy Bourgeois, MM, and his possible excommunication because of his presence at the ordination of a woman ....... Roy Bourgeois, Conscience and Canon Law, posted by James Martin SJ.
If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know how I feel about women's ordination (I'm for it), and I once posted something about what William A Barry SJ had to say on the subject.
There's an interesting article at Commonweal by Robert J. Egan SJ, who teaches theology and spirituality at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington ..... Why Not? Scripture, History & Women’s Ordination. In a later discussion about his article Fr. Egan writes ....
My article also ended with a question: “Has the tradition of excluding women from the diaconate, presbyterate, and episcopacy really been faithful to the teaching and practice of Jesus? Or has it been part of a mostly unexamined and partially unconscious bias for subjecting women to men’s authority and power?” This was not a conclusion, but a question: “a very important question,” one that “urgently needs and deserves an open, prayerful, learned, patient, and discerning conversation among Catholics today.” In such a conversation, we might learn new things, feel them in new ways, see them from new angles, or have new thoughts about them. Such experiences might help us understand each other better and make out more clearly what God asks from us today.
And here is a (sort of) subject-related excerpt from In Search of Paul: How Jesus' Apostle Opposed Rome's Empire with God's Kingdom by John Dominic Crossan and Jonathan Reed (from a larger excerpt at Beliefnet) .....
*********************
[...] Paul's essential challenge is how to embody communally that radical vision of a new creation in a way far beyond even our present best hopes for freedom, democracy, and human rights ......
In 1906 a small cave was discovered cut into the rock on the northern slop of Bulbul Dag, high above the ruins of ancient Ephesus, just off the mid-Aegean coast of Turkey. To the right of the entrance and beneath layers of plaster, Karl Herold, of the Austrian Archaeological Institute, uncovered two sixth-century images of St. Thecla and St. Paul.
They are both the same height and are therefore iconographically of equal importance. They both have their right hands raised in teaching gesture and are therefore iconographically of equal authority. But although the eyes and upraised hand of Paul are untouched, some later person scratched out the eyes and erased the upraised hand of Thecla. If the eyes of both images had been disfigured, it would be simply another example of iconoclastic antagonism, since that was believed to negate the spiritual power of an icon without having to destroy it completely. But here only Thecla's eyes and her authoritative hand are destroyed. Original imagery and defaced imagery represent a fundamental clash of theology. An earlier image in which Thecla and Paul were equally authoritative apostolic figures has been replaced by one in which the male is apostolic and authoritative and the femal is blinded and silenced. And even the cave's present name, St. Paul's Grotto, continues the negation of female-male equality once depicted on its walls.
We take that original assertion of equality and later counterassertion of inequality as encapsulating visually the central claim of this book for Christianity itself. The authentic and historical Paul, author of the seven New Testament letters he actually wrote (Romans, 1-2 Corinthians, Galations, Philippians, I Thessalonians, Philemon), held that within Christian communities it made no difference whether one entered as a Christian Jew or a Christian pagan, as a Christian man or a Christian woman, as a Christian freeborn or a Christian slave. All were absolutely equal with each other. But in I Timothy, a letter attributed to Paul by later Christians though not actually written by him, women are told to be silent in church and pregnant at home (2:8-15). And a later follower of Paul inserted in I Corinthians that it is shameful for women to speak in church, but correct to ask their husbands for explanations at home (14:33-36).
Those pseudo-Pauline, post-Pauline, and anti-Pauline obliterations of female authority are the verbal and canonical equivalent of that visual and iconographic obliteration of Thecla's eyes and hand in that hillside cave. But both defacements also bear witness to what was there before the attack. Pauline equality was negated by post-Pauline inequality. Our book is about the actual and historical Paul, about the radical apostle who was there before the reaction, revision, and replacement began. He did not think in terms of political democracy or universal human rights. He only said that Christianity has never been able to follow, that within it all are equal and this is to be its witness and challenge to the world outside.
************************
I've been reading a post at America magazine's blog on Maryknoll priest Fr. Roy Bourgeois, MM, and his possible excommunication because of his presence at the ordination of a woman ....... Roy Bourgeois, Conscience and Canon Law, posted by James Martin SJ.
If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know how I feel about women's ordination (I'm for it), and I once posted something about what William A Barry SJ had to say on the subject.
There's an interesting article at Commonweal by Robert J. Egan SJ, who teaches theology and spirituality at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington ..... Why Not? Scripture, History & Women’s Ordination. In a later discussion about his article Fr. Egan writes ....
My article also ended with a question: “Has the tradition of excluding women from the diaconate, presbyterate, and episcopacy really been faithful to the teaching and practice of Jesus? Or has it been part of a mostly unexamined and partially unconscious bias for subjecting women to men’s authority and power?” This was not a conclusion, but a question: “a very important question,” one that “urgently needs and deserves an open, prayerful, learned, patient, and discerning conversation among Catholics today.” In such a conversation, we might learn new things, feel them in new ways, see them from new angles, or have new thoughts about them. Such experiences might help us understand each other better and make out more clearly what God asks from us today.
And here is a (sort of) subject-related excerpt from In Search of Paul: How Jesus' Apostle Opposed Rome's Empire with God's Kingdom by John Dominic Crossan and Jonathan Reed (from a larger excerpt at Beliefnet) .....
*********************
[...] Paul's essential challenge is how to embody communally that radical vision of a new creation in a way far beyond even our present best hopes for freedom, democracy, and human rights ......
In 1906 a small cave was discovered cut into the rock on the northern slop of Bulbul Dag, high above the ruins of ancient Ephesus, just off the mid-Aegean coast of Turkey. To the right of the entrance and beneath layers of plaster, Karl Herold, of the Austrian Archaeological Institute, uncovered two sixth-century images of St. Thecla and St. Paul.
They are both the same height and are therefore iconographically of equal importance. They both have their right hands raised in teaching gesture and are therefore iconographically of equal authority. But although the eyes and upraised hand of Paul are untouched, some later person scratched out the eyes and erased the upraised hand of Thecla. If the eyes of both images had been disfigured, it would be simply another example of iconoclastic antagonism, since that was believed to negate the spiritual power of an icon without having to destroy it completely. But here only Thecla's eyes and her authoritative hand are destroyed. Original imagery and defaced imagery represent a fundamental clash of theology. An earlier image in which Thecla and Paul were equally authoritative apostolic figures has been replaced by one in which the male is apostolic and authoritative and the femal is blinded and silenced. And even the cave's present name, St. Paul's Grotto, continues the negation of female-male equality once depicted on its walls.
We take that original assertion of equality and later counterassertion of inequality as encapsulating visually the central claim of this book for Christianity itself. The authentic and historical Paul, author of the seven New Testament letters he actually wrote (Romans, 1-2 Corinthians, Galations, Philippians, I Thessalonians, Philemon), held that within Christian communities it made no difference whether one entered as a Christian Jew or a Christian pagan, as a Christian man or a Christian woman, as a Christian freeborn or a Christian slave. All were absolutely equal with each other. But in I Timothy, a letter attributed to Paul by later Christians though not actually written by him, women are told to be silent in church and pregnant at home (2:8-15). And a later follower of Paul inserted in I Corinthians that it is shameful for women to speak in church, but correct to ask their husbands for explanations at home (14:33-36).
Those pseudo-Pauline, post-Pauline, and anti-Pauline obliterations of female authority are the verbal and canonical equivalent of that visual and iconographic obliteration of Thecla's eyes and hand in that hillside cave. But both defacements also bear witness to what was there before the attack. Pauline equality was negated by post-Pauline inequality. Our book is about the actual and historical Paul, about the radical apostle who was there before the reaction, revision, and replacement began. He did not think in terms of political democracy or universal human rights. He only said that Christianity has never been able to follow, that within it all are equal and this is to be its witness and challenge to the world outside.
************************
posted by crystal | 11:05 AM
2 Comments:
The image of Paul and Thecla that Crossan describes is amazing, and it is just as he describes.
I've renewed that book of Crossan's at the library, and I may purchase a copy for myself. It's much, much better than I expected it to be. I expected it to be mostly politcal, with Crossan trying to shoehorn Paul's letters into the politics, but he actually offers up some of the most compelling and insightful interpretations of Paul's writings that I've ever come across. He and Reed describe the situation of the 1st century 'Pax Romana' very well too, in a useful context.
Crystal, I'm really, really sorry about what you've been going through with Kermit.
I am so sorry to hear the latest update on Kermit. It sounds like nothing is going right for her.
I am also very sorry that you are having such a hard time letting go of a friend that has been with you for so many years. I found with Kiki that I had to face the painful realization that there were some things that I just could not buy, threaten, or plead my way out of. Perhaps I could have delayed the loss for a week, or maybe even a few months, but the cost would have been great, not only financially but in terms of pain for both Kiki and I.
Perhaps you and Kermit should have a discussion about whether she is ready to go, and if so, are you willing to set her free. I don't know what the answer will be for either of you, but I think the questions need to be asked.
My wife, Susannah, has never posted to you, but she has read over my shoulder, and both of our hearts go out to you and Kermit in this time of pain. We both pray that you two can find peace and freedom from pain.
Love and Hugs,
Mike L
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