Catholicism

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This is an elegantly written apologia for Catholicism.

Barron's point, I believe, is to restore the sense of Catholicism as a culture in itself. As a culture, Catholicism has a depth and breadth that cannot be reduced to a handful of dogmas, but, rather, must be experienced as a total experience. Barron invites us to see Catholicism as he sees Catholicism, namely rich and beautiful and, ultimately, mysterious.

However, Catholicism is a culture that is a religious faith. Accordingly, Barron approaches the culture through the faith, starting with the distinctive elements of Catholicism, but unfolding them through reflection on history, art, and literature.

Thus, Barron begins with the revelation of Jesus and His mission; explores the theology of God's existence with Anselm and Aquinas; considers Marian doctrines and the missions of Peter and Paul; reflects on the mystery of the church; and discusses the communion of saints, the sacraments and the last things. Barron is an insightful observer; he can invariably take the normal and quotidian and point out something overlooked by most people. His insights are well worth the price of admission.

Consider this example:

“How strange that we believe in the church. In the Nicene Creed, Catholics profess their faith in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the three divine persons, and that seems reasonable enough. But then they proceed to declare their belief in “one holy catholic and apostolic church.” Does this not amount to the conflation of Creator and creature? Is it not effectively blasphemous to announce one's faith in a human institution? To answer these questions is to come to the heart of the Catholic understanding of the church, for Catholics hold that the church is not merely a human organization, simply a coming together of like-minded people, a community of purely worldly provenance and purpose. Rather, the church is a sacrament of Jesus and, as such, shares in the very being, life, and energy of Christ. According to the inexhaustibly rich metaphor proposed by Saint Paul, the church is the body of Jesus, an organism composed of interdependent cells, molecules, and organs. Christ is the head of a mystical body made up of everyone across space and time who has ever been grafted onto him through baptism.”

All true, all said many times, and, yet, it is interesting. It is strange to think that we believe “in” the Catholic - or, for Protestants, catholic - church in the same way that we believe “in” Jesus. We simply don't tend to believe “in” things these days, perhaps, or, perhaps, we are so nominalist that we can no longer believe that “the church” has a dimension more than its finite members.

Another example:

“We hear that in the wake of this exchange there was a mass defection among Jesus's followers: “Then many of his disciples who were listening said, ‘This saying is hard; who can accept it?' ” (Jn 6:60) and “As a result of this, many [of] his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him” (Jn 6:66). It is fascinating to note how often in the history of Christianity the teaching concerning Jesus's presence in the Eucharist has been a church-dividing issue, a standing or falling point. Plaintively, Jesus asks his remaining circle of followers, the twelve: “Do you also want to leave?” (Jn 6:67). What follows is John's parallel to Peter's confession of faith at Caesarea-Philippi: “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God” (Jn 6:68–69). Speaking for the others, Peter confesses that what Jesus has said about the Eucharist is true, and he ties that confession to a declaration of Jesus's sacred identity. From a Catholic point of view, this coming together of faith in the Incarnation and faith in the real presence is of great significance, for the Eucharist is nothing other than a sacramental extension of the Incarnation across space and time, the manner in which Christ continues to abide, in an embodied way, with his church. At this crucial moment in Jesus's public ministry, Peter got this, and he spoke his conviction on behalf of the core group of Apostles. It is the Catholic faith that Peter, down through the ages, has continued to get it.”

Compare this insight with Jerry Walls' banal “argument from political correctness” in Roman but Not Catholic: What Remains at Stake 500 Years after the Reformation. Walls demands that Catholics acknowledge that they are beastly for not allowing those who think that the Eucharist is merely bread from “sharing the Lord's table,” all while acknowledging that those who view the Catholic approach to the Eucharist as “idolatry” have a fair point as an objective matter. But the form of Christian unity must be maintained, according to Walls, who grants no understanding of the points that Barron makes concerning the Catholic connection of the Incarnation with the Real Presence. Catholics cannot be indifferent to denials of the latter any more than they can be indifferent to denials of the former.

Another example:

“A fundamental biblical principle is that in a world gone wrong there is no communion without sacrifice. This is true because sin has twisted us out of shape, and therefore intimacy with God will involve a twisting back into shape, a painful realignment, a sacrifice. And this is why, on a biblical reading, covenant is almost invariably associated with sacrifice.”

Another point presumed by Catholic practice that most Catholics don't see.

I found this book to be well worth the price and the time expended on it. It is one of the least apologetic of apologetics. One of the strengths is that Barron uses the people who make up Catholic culture as examples of Catholic culture. Thus, Barron offers fascinating vignettes of Catholics of all backgrounds, including Thomas Aquinas, Thomas Merton, Dorothy Day, Edith Stein and St. John of the Cross. A reader cannot come out of this book without having learned something, including the vast diversity of the Catholic experience.

When my last book about theology proved disappointing, a book friend sent me to this one. It was an excellent recommendation and I thank you. “...love is what God is: love is the divine life—and the entire purpose of spirituality is to get that life in us,” Robert Barron writes. “Love is not primarily a feeling...it is willing the good of the other as other.” The church is, Barron tells us, the mystical body of Christ, and “...shares in the very being, life, and energy of Christ.” It is “...that mystical body, in which people learn to see with the eyes of Christ and to walk the path that Christ walked.” Whew. This author takes me way, way, way into the depths.

Book Review - Catholicism: A Journey to the Heart of the Faith by Robert Barron - I picked this up because it is the companion book to a documentary that tries to explain Catholicism. So it seemed to fit in my focus of understanding what Catholicism teaches. I should have assumed that this is mostly an explanation of Christianity (albeit the Catholic expression of Christianity). Overall very helpful, especially the three chapters on the church.

Click through for a longer review on my blog at http://bookwi.se/catholicism/

This is an absolutely awesome book. It is a FIRST Tour book which usually means that I post about it, but do not quite have time to read it all. Yesterday I started reading and had serious trouble putting it down. I'm about half way through and plan to finish it today if possible. (We've already had a late start, so we'll see...) Last night I found myself trying to tell the Enginerd about this book and why I like it so much. Honestly it is hard to put it into intelligible words outside of Margaret-language. I have a Bachelor's of Religious Studies and books like this are what my college experience was for. I was trying to get an education in things that I wanted to understand. It seems that everything that I went to school to learn appears to be summed up in this one book that is just long enough, but could be oh so much longer (I'll have to check into the television documentary...). I wonder if I still would have pursued my degree if this book had come out first.

Robert Barron has a great way of explaining things. He is capable of bringing ancient examples to life to mix with the contemporary and in detail make clear life and faith. I'd say this is a hard book for me to review, because it is so personal and makes me want to expound and explode back into my research papers and exegesis studies. However what I can tell you is that even with his vast vocabulary this book is understandable and one that anyone and everyone should read. It's not “What is Catholicism?” to me, it's what is Christianity, what is true faith, what is my background, what is my heritage.

Thanks to Image Books for providing a copy for review.



Originally posted: http://creativemadnessmama.com/blog/2011/09/06/catholicism-by-robert-barron/