There's been a lot of discussion about Pope Benedict's first Papal Encyclical. I include below an excerpt from an earlier, related work, credited to Andrew Sullivan (outspoken, 'conservative,' gay Catholic). Generally the responses from the press seem to have been largely positive, surprised, and impressed by Benedict's work (he comes out swinging for 'eros' and the necessity of its presence in fostering 'agape.').
Andrew Sullivan | The Daily Dish: Benedict and Love: "'Now, this does not mean that one should be cruel toward non-Christians. On the contrary, Christians are obligated toward their non-Christian fellows in a three-fold manner. First, there's 'missionary activity.' Second, there is agape, which has two forms: a) 'the relations of Christians among one another should have an attractive and exemplary force,' and b) to 'follow the work of the Lord who performed his work of love for those who neither knew nor loved him (see Rom 5:6), directing their love to all those who need them, without asking for thanks or a response.' And finally, the 'last and highest mission of the Christian in relation to non-believers is to suffer for them and in their place as the Master did.' (pp. 81-83)"
2 months ago
2 comments:
Since you are the intellectual, creative, and imaginary type, let me pose you a question:
How would you feel reading this from the non-Catholic, non-Christian perspective?
I would also point you to past encyclicals; reviewing them gives quite a history on the Church's perspective on other faiths, non-Catholic Christian and non-Christian.
A well-posed question--one which I'll have to delay my true answer until my plate is less full of busy work elsewhere. In the meantime, without diving in to past encyclicals or other published works from Ratzinger's earlier hand, I would tend towards a more negative view based on mere hearsay. The Church's perspective on other faiths has come a long way closer to equality, but there is most certainly still a superiority complex lingering around the periphery. The Church's intellectual past is most certainly something I'm longing to dive into but have yet to give myself the time. The works on social justice from the late nineteenth century cry out particularly strongly. Anyway, it is my suspicion that almost all faiths at their root guarantee a sort of superiority complex, seeing as they often have mutually exclusive world views and as such believe at their core that only one true faith can exist... Catholicism is just as guilty as the rest on this one--but other than recognizing and celebrating commonalities, is there a real solution?
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