Great thumpin' Athena! You don't ask for much, do you? The history of the Church stretches over 2000 years and five continents, include any amount of dramatic turns and conflicts which make even the notion of a bare narrative a frightening one, includes several immensely important yet obscure periods (for instance, the rise of Christianity in the British Islese and especially in Ireland) and cannot ignore the history of other Christian bodies. And difficult though it it is to be concise, to be neutral is impossible. That is because the position you take on a number of historical issues is going to affect your view of the Church. In particular, an important question is whether there is a legitimate organizational and ideological continuity between the most ancient Church and the modern Roman Catholic Apostolic Church, without any recognizable perversion or radical alteration of essential matters. You cannot possibly be neutral about this: either you think so, or you do not. If you do, you recognize the validity of the Catholic Church on its own terms - whether or not you are yourself Catholic; if not, you are taking the viewpoint of the Protestants. And I am afraid that there is no middle ground in these or many other issues (e.g., what does one make of the numerous eyewitness accounts of miracles that dot Catholic history?) - either you take one view, or another.
So what should you do? Just read. Start anywhere, and use your native intellect and critical faculties. And discuss what you read with others. The material is ample, and there is no reason to hold back. Have fun!
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Re: Gnostic heresies
Date: 2007-07-15 07:59 pm (UTC)The history of the Church stretches over 2000 years and five continents, include any amount of dramatic turns and conflicts which make even the notion of a bare narrative a frightening one, includes several immensely important yet obscure periods (for instance, the rise of Christianity in the British Islese and especially in Ireland) and cannot ignore the history of other Christian bodies. And difficult though it it is to be concise, to be neutral is impossible. That is because the position you take on a number of historical issues is going to affect your view of the Church. In particular, an important question is whether there is a legitimate organizational and ideological continuity between the most ancient Church and the modern Roman Catholic Apostolic Church, without any recognizable perversion or radical alteration of essential matters. You cannot possibly be neutral about this: either you think so, or you do not. If you do, you recognize the validity of the Catholic Church on its own terms - whether or not you are yourself Catholic; if not, you are taking the viewpoint of the Protestants. And I am afraid that there is no middle ground in these or many other issues (e.g., what does one make of the numerous eyewitness accounts of miracles that dot Catholic history?) - either you take one view, or another.
So what should you do? Just read. Start anywhere, and use your native intellect and critical faculties. And discuss what you read with others. The material is ample, and there is no reason to hold back. Have fun!