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Sep. 19th, 2006 01:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tree_and_leafI've just been reading the Pope's notorious Regensburg address , and have come to the conclusion that this is a lesson to us all that chucking in a controversial quote at the start of an academic paper is not always the best policy, even if it does stop people from falling asleep. Actually, the thrust of the speech isn't about Islam at all, but about how one regards the synthesis of Hellenistic and Jewish ideas. While Benedict's ideas about Islam, as they are presented in the speech, are oversimplified, the whole affair seems to have been blown out of all proportion, and makes one wonder if people bother to read things in context any more.
But what's really been baffling me is the suggestion that the Pope was being offensive to Jews by quoting - in a subsequent statement - Paul's statement that 'the Cross is a scandal to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks'. It finally dawned on me, after reading Mariana Hyde in the Grauniad, that it's possible that it was taken as an endorsement of the idea that the Jews - all Jews - are personally responsible for the death of Christ (to which the Christian would say, not any more than anyone else is). She writes of the Pope bringing up that business of the Jews killing his Lord - except, of course, that's not what the phrase 'scandal to the Jews' means at all. It could be paraphrased as "The Jews think that the idea that Jesus, executed like a common criminal, is God, is offensive and blasphemous, and the Greeks think we're nuts to believe something that far-fetched."
So - unlike the first instance - this one really is a mare's nest. Or am I missing something?
ETA On second thoughts, the first one's a mare's nest, too. Although I think it would have been better if Benedict had found some other quotation, none of this would have happened if journalists could be bothered to read things properly - or if there weren't people out there who like nothing better than an excuse to take offence. And it's disgraceful that the media is encouraging them. There are lots of subjects on which I disagree with the Pope and the Roman Catholic church in general, but I'm really getting fed up with this. If I were Catholic, I suppose I'd probably be writing irate letters in green ink by now...
But what's really been baffling me is the suggestion that the Pope was being offensive to Jews by quoting - in a subsequent statement - Paul's statement that 'the Cross is a scandal to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks'. It finally dawned on me, after reading Mariana Hyde in the Grauniad, that it's possible that it was taken as an endorsement of the idea that the Jews - all Jews - are personally responsible for the death of Christ (to which the Christian would say, not any more than anyone else is). She writes of the Pope bringing up that business of the Jews killing his Lord - except, of course, that's not what the phrase 'scandal to the Jews' means at all. It could be paraphrased as "The Jews think that the idea that Jesus, executed like a common criminal, is God, is offensive and blasphemous, and the Greeks think we're nuts to believe something that far-fetched."
So - unlike the first instance - this one really is a mare's nest. Or am I missing something?
ETA On second thoughts, the first one's a mare's nest, too. Although I think it would have been better if Benedict had found some other quotation, none of this would have happened if journalists could be bothered to read things properly - or if there weren't people out there who like nothing better than an excuse to take offence. And it's disgraceful that the media is encouraging them. There are lots of subjects on which I disagree with the Pope and the Roman Catholic church in general, but I'm really getting fed up with this. If I were Catholic, I suppose I'd probably be writing irate letters in green ink by now...
Re: Anglican Plots
Date: 2006-09-20 06:06 pm (UTC)Of course, arguably the modern established Church of England is the result of sinister plots to overthrow monarchs and seize land and property from its rightful owners...
So where did it all go wrong?
Re: Anglican Plots
Date: 2006-09-21 08:41 am (UTC)Repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts in 1828?
Re: Anglican Plots
Date: 2006-09-21 09:29 am (UTC)... anyway, I think things could only be improved by some Anglican Ninjas. The trouble with Dr Williams, as far as I can see, is that he hasn't got the killer instinct...