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Maranatha
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Under the Ban: Modernism, Then and Now
Beginning in the late 18th century and continuing through the century that followed, the epistemological revolution launched by Descartes and Kant merged with developments in archaeology, history, and biblical study to produce a radical shift in the thinking of some theologians. Among other things, the historical value of the Gospels and the first five books of the Old Testament (the Pentateuch) came under attack; while in his influential book The Christian Faith, Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768–1834) sought a foothold for belief in the notion that the essence of religion is piety, and piety is feeling. This is to say that to be genuinely religious it is sufficient to feel dependent on God.
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Attempts to salvage something from the collapse of faith reflected in literary works like Tennyson’s In Memoriam and Arnold’s Dover Beach ranged from biblical fundamentalism to liberal Protestantism. “The Jesus of History and the Christ of Faith” became a favorite slogan of the liberal Protestants. The catchy expression is shorthand for a supposedly unbridgeable split between the human Jesus—a historical figure said to have been concealed from sight by the early Christian community’s practice of shrouding Him in pious fictions—and a divine being upon whom believers project their subjective religious impulses. (In his new book, Jesus of Nazareth, Pope Benedict XVI calls this history-faith dichotomy “tragic” for Christian belief. The Gospels present “the real, ‘historical’ Jesus in the strict sense of the word,” he writes.)
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And now? Major elements of today’s progressive Catholicism bear more than a small family resemblance to things condemned by Pius X in 1907. Consider Pascendi on the Modernists’ program of Church reform:
They . . . demand that history be written and taught according to their method and modern prescriptions. Dogmas and the evolution of the same . . . must be brought into harmony with science and history. As regards catechesis, they demand that only those dogmas be noted . . . which have been reformed. . . . As for worship, they say that external devotions must be reduced in number and that steps must be taken to prevent their increase. . . . They cry out that the government of the Church must be reformed in every respect. . . . Both within and without it is to be brought in harmony with the modern conscience . . . which tends entirely towards democracy. . . . The Roman congregations they likewise wish to be modified in the performance of their holy duties, but especially. . . the Holy Office. . . . Finally, there are some who. . . desire the removal of holy celibacy itself from the priesthood.
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Beginning in the late 18th century and continuing through the century that followed, the epistemological revolution launched by Descartes and Kant merged with developments in archaeology, history, and biblical study to produce a radical shift in the thinking of some theologians. Among other things, the historical value of the Gospels and the first five books of the Old Testament (the Pentateuch) came under attack; while in his influential book The Christian Faith, Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768–1834) sought a foothold for belief in the notion that the essence of religion is piety, and piety is feeling. This is to say that to be genuinely religious it is sufficient to feel dependent on God.
…
Attempts to salvage something from the collapse of faith reflected in literary works like Tennyson’s In Memoriam and Arnold’s Dover Beach ranged from biblical fundamentalism to liberal Protestantism. “The Jesus of History and the Christ of Faith” became a favorite slogan of the liberal Protestants. The catchy expression is shorthand for a supposedly unbridgeable split between the human Jesus—a historical figure said to have been concealed from sight by the early Christian community’s practice of shrouding Him in pious fictions—and a divine being upon whom believers project their subjective religious impulses. (In his new book, Jesus of Nazareth, Pope Benedict XVI calls this history-faith dichotomy “tragic” for Christian belief. The Gospels present “the real, ‘historical’ Jesus in the strict sense of the word,” he writes.)
…
And now? Major elements of today’s progressive Catholicism bear more than a small family resemblance to things condemned by Pius X in 1907. Consider Pascendi on the Modernists’ program of Church reform:
They . . . demand that history be written and taught according to their method and modern prescriptions. Dogmas and the evolution of the same . . . must be brought into harmony with science and history. As regards catechesis, they demand that only those dogmas be noted . . . which have been reformed. . . . As for worship, they say that external devotions must be reduced in number and that steps must be taken to prevent their increase. . . . They cry out that the government of the Church must be reformed in every respect. . . . Both within and without it is to be brought in harmony with the modern conscience . . . which tends entirely towards democracy. . . . The Roman congregations they likewise wish to be modified in the performance of their holy duties, but especially. . . the Holy Office. . . . Finally, there are some who. . . desire the removal of holy celibacy itself from the priesthood.
more