Benedict's clean wide sweep

The recent speech of Pope Benedict XVI has attracted all the attention it deserves, albeit for all the wrong reasons. I have been keenly following this Pope for all the controversies he generated since he was Cardinal. At the outset I must say I am enamored by his ability to intellectualize and offer profoundly vast interpretations of the Christian faith and his admirable attempts to anchoring it in all encompassing post-modern social value system. His 1st encyclical was a very interesting read about “Eros”, greek for Love. The main thrust of that encyclical was the unity in human love and Divine love and its centrality to the nature of God. I loved reading it at times even though I had to shake my head sideways in few places.

This is a Pope who has wide manifold ambitions: to redeem Europe’s post-modern secular, liberal, “moral-relativist” hiatus to an environment of catholic (note the lower case) values anchored firmly on Christian faith which will “allow” and “co-opt” the advances of modernism, science and technology in so far as they don’t transgress and contravene the value system the Church wishes to establish. To prevail over other branches including Protestantism and other “liberal” churches to unite the “Christian” world behind Catholic Church (note the upper case) and effectively capitalize on the political and economic might of the Christendom united this way to evangelize other cultures and lands (read China and India). Finally and most importantly confront Islam’s spread: both the silent and violent varieties in Africa and Europe.


Central to achieving his aims is of course the primary task of “squaring” Europe’s position. It is not a coincidence he chose Benedict as his papal title, for Benedict I is the 1st Pope who brought Europe under the Church’s umbrella. But the irony is since 16th century , renaissance and the ensuing period of Enlightenment, followed by the long period of industrialization and rapid advances in science and technology, 2 wars, Europe has moved farther and looser from the grip of doctrinaire Christianity. How do you then sell your brand? By incorporating the leading product’s features in your own is what the Pope is doing. By tying the Christian faith’s basis to “logos”, greek for reason and imputing “reason” as the basic characteristic of the Christian God, Benedict is trying to kill all 3 birds with 1 stone. And hence we start with that marvelous coinage “dehellenization” of Christianity.^[*]

To Europe the message is, the Christian faith is anchored not only on the biblical revelation but also your near and dear value, reason. So there is no essential dichotomy in living and accepting Christian faith and relying on reason. Whoever tries to wedge the two is a de-hellenizer of Christianity! All the progress from 16th century onwards that happened in Europe which was actively opposed by the Church and led by movements and personalities farther and farther from the Church were de-hellenizers!

To the other churches and branches the message is not to misread history by misunderstanding Christianity’s profound success in Hellenized Europe. To not “blasphemize” the faith by imputing “eastern” values of “capricious” “omniscient” God! Essentially, fall in line with Rome. To other lands and cultures the message is subtler. If you want to progress accept the Faith as it alone brings you the revelation as well as the “reasonable” God! Don’t wallow in your notions of capricious and fatalistic religions.

Finally to Islam: You are the primary and most potent advocate of the “capricious” “unreasonable” “violent” God! Instead of employing reason to evangelize, you guys believe in violence to fulfill God’s will. It is totally against the central principle of divinity in our faith. We totally reject this idea. That’s why you are still in 7th century and Europe witnessed so much progress. Watch out! We are coming atcha!

^[*]
What a coinage! It stands the record of the Church on its head, as the Church was the primary “de-christianizer” of Hellenism all through this period.