Evangelii gaudium

[Michael_Mayo]

I saw your post about the new terms, although the phrase “promethean neopelagianism” actually appears as two words in the online text, whereas your source shows it as one mighty word. The two words make sense to me, the reference to Prometheus being the idea that one can go it alone by their own effort without God or Church, coupled with a new Pelagianism, the heresy which denies original sin and our dependence on grace.

The other humdinger, “anthropocentric immanentism”, is a new to me. I guess it represents overdoing the horizontal view of theology, where God is somehow only present in the assembly of believers, as opposed to the radically vertical notion that God is only distinct, aloof and distant. As with so many things, the truth is not in one or the other extreme, and our effectiveness as evangelizers depends on our getting it right.

It is giving me a headache just thinking about it!

I think you are right on with promethean neopelagianism. As for (shall we just cvall it AI), he goes on to say: 97. Those who have fallen into this worldliness look on from above and afar, they reject the prophecy of their brothers and sisters, they discredit those who raise questions, they constantly point out the mistakes of others and they are obsessed by appearances. **Their hearts are open only to the limited horizon of their own immanence and interests, **and as a consequence they neither learn from their sins nor are they genuinely open to forgiveness.

Sounds like an egotism.

 

[christofirst]

I think you are right on with promethean neopelagianism. As for (shall we just cvall it AI), he goes on to say: 97. Those who have fallen into this worldliness look on from above and afar, they reject the prophecy of their brothers and sisters, they discredit those who raise questions, they constantly point out the mistakes of others and they are obsessed by appearances. **Their hearts are open only to the limited horizon of their own immanence and interests, **and as a consequence they neither learn from their sins nor are they genuinely open to forgiveness.

Sounds like an egotism.

True.

On the other hand, people will argue, and rightly so, that orthodoxy does matter. Everything regarding the Faith is not necessarily open to debate. There is an ultimate right and wrong, and many of us cling ferociously to what we believe to be right. I think the problem comes when the Church gives us a certain latitude for what we believe (like the possibility of married priests as opposed to women priests) and how we do things (like the liturgy), but we take it upon ourselves to declare that our way is the only way. The pope clearly wants to attract as many as possible, including and perhaps especially those on the fringes, and many of us who are already “established” are liable to feel threatened. I think the pope is telling us to hold fast to the essentials, but to lighten up when it comes to the trappings. The Church is big enough for more than we might like to admit.