Kristeva: The Obscenely [Baroque] Catholic Difference

Last updated on: July 7, 2013 at 4:37 pm By Artur Rosman

What I love the best about the passage I’m going to quote at length below is how it goes against so many sane opinions. It should royally tick off the following groups: Baroque haters, techie nerds, entrepreneurs, Trent detractors, modernity boosting Neo-Cons, liberals who still believe in progress, detractors of modernity, some Protestants, Duns Scotus slanderers, and believers who lose their lid whenever they’re preached at by an atheist. “. . . During the same period, in response to the... Read more

Acquainted with the Night: The Art of Jerzy Nowosielski (An IMAGE Journal Essay)

Last updated on: July 5, 2013 at 2:02 pm By Artur Rosman

What follows is an essay I published in IMAGE Journal with the help of the Starmach Gallery in Krakow (You too can own a Nowosielski). I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet When far away an interrupted cry Came over houses from another street, But not to call me back or say good-bye; And further still at an unearthly height, A luminary clock against the sky Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right. I have been one acquainted... Read more

American Idol: Religious Freedom

Last updated on: July 3, 2013 at 12:37 pm By Artur Rosman

That something went wrong with the post-conciliar Church is a truism of both left and right Catholics. The right thinks it went too far and was too much “in the spirit of” anything goes. For the left it didn’t go far enough, or wasn’t interpreted enough “in the spirit of” anything goes. These debates are boring enough to drive away people in droves. They merely reflect, bow down to, the dominant political trends of this nation. The fact that former... Read more

Famous Atheists Who Weren’t Atheists 2: The Christianity of Camus

Last updated on: February 1, 2015 at 10:16 pm By Artur Rosman

Albert Camus was nearly as unfaithful as Jean-Paul Sartre . . . to atheism. This should not be especially surprising to any semi-conscious reader of his novels. Despite his good existentialist intentions Camus could never really get beyond good and evil. Most of his literary works collapse under the weight of trying to cover up their origins in, and direct debts to, classical Christian doctrines, especially Original Sin. It’s as if he keeps trying to roll a rock to seal... Read more

Famous Atheists Who Weren't Atheists: Sartre's Crossover

Last updated on: June 28, 2013 at 11:30 am By Artur Rosman

Almost everyone will agree that Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980) is rightfully recognized as a major figure of 20th century atheism. Fewer people will agree about his stature as a philosopher. Even fewer people will testify to the staying power of his novels and plays, although he still inspires some good poetry written against his philosophy. However, it’s still not general knowledge that Sartre was not only unfaithful to Simone de Beauvoir, but also to atheism. With the help of his secretary... Read more

Debunking Science & Religion Myths: The Copernican Revolution Wasn't a Demotion

Last updated on: June 27, 2013 at 1:33 pm By Artur Rosman

The science and religion debates are chock-full of ideological myths. Nowadays the scientific side usually has the upper hand in the construction of history. This position means its stories should arouse healthy suspicion and invite demythologizing. Everyone has rehearsed all those terribly touching stories, perhaps even with a tear in the eye, about the persecution of the brave scientific martyrs by the ecclesiastical Grand Inquisitor(s). Let’s ignore the fact the Inquisition had more respect for due process and evidentiary rules... Read more

Zbigniew Herbert Tempers the Rational Fury

Last updated on: June 25, 2013 at 12:04 pm By Artur Rosman

Zbigniew Herbert (1924-1998) is one of the two greatest Polish poets of the 20th century. He is part of a poetic duo, or duel, with Czeslaw Milosz. Milosz was more of a mystic, Herbert a skeptic. Milosz was almost always critical of Poland, whereas Herbert entrenched himself within the Polish tradition. I want to avoid the dreaded words “nationalist” or “patriot,” but Hebert was both in the best sense. It’s possible to be both without undercutting the universal reach of... Read more

Sunday Spoiler: The Liturgy Is Not Sacred

Last updated on: May 31, 2015 at 11:09 am By Artur Rosman

If you’re looking for a book which is a huge difference-maker in how you view Christianity, then you should look no further than Cavanaugh’s Migrations of the Holy. The point he makes here opens up several lines of thinking: “Today the most significant misunderstanding of the Christian liturgy is that it is sacred. Let me clarify. The problem is that ‘sacred’ has been opposed to ‘secular,’ and the two are presumed to describe two separate—but occasionally related—orbits. The problem is not simply that... Read more

Colm Toibin's Regensburg Moment & Macauley's Catholic Dissidents

Last updated on: June 22, 2013 at 12:39 pm By Artur Rosman

Colm Tóibín’s The Sign of the Cross: Travels in Catholic Europe is a real treat. There’s nothing like seeing the familiar, in this case Catholicism, from an eccentric standpoint. It’s a roller-coaster ride where the memoirist simultaneously plays the role of Catholic insider and outsider. Tóibín frequently rubs me the wrong way with his pronouncements about Polish Catholicism (which I partially registered here). His speculation that John Paul II would not even know how to fathom the profound depths of Bultmannian... Read more

Pagan Symbols and the Coming Christianity

Last updated on: June 20, 2013 at 11:51 am By Artur Rosman

Philip Jenkins of Baylor U is probably our most perceptive commentator on religion. His views are almost always even-handed, even if he’s describing trends he’s not quite comfortable with. One cannot help but be extremely impressed when reading The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity. There he described, in the first edition of 2002, an ineluctable shift of Christianity south of the equator, long before it was popular to say so, long before Bergoglio became Francis. What’s impressive about his... Read more