{"id":1445,"date":"2014-11-26T19:04:00","date_gmt":"2014-11-26T19:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2014\/11\/a-case-for-orthodox-christianity.html"},"modified":"2014-11-26T19:04:00","modified_gmt":"2014-11-26T19:04:00","slug":"a-case-for-orthodox-christianity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2014\/11\/a-case-for-orthodox-christianity.html","title":{"rendered":"A case for Orthodox Christianity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
By Mark Shea.<\/a>\u00a0Yeah, that\u2019s right. \u00a0Mark makes a great case for Orthodoxy when asked by a reader why he is Catholic instead of Orthodox. \u00a0How does he do this? Certainly, he makes it clear why he is Catholic! \u00a0Of course. \u00a0But the content of his arguments just doesn\u2019t seem to be, well, read for yourself.\u00a0<\/div>\n
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Well, not really. \u00a0First, he fails to give the Number One Reason he has always defaulted to when pointing out the flaws in others\u2019 testimonies: Because it is True. No matter what, that\u2019s the bottom line reason to be Catholic. \u00a0I\u2019m not saying he doesn\u2019t think this. \u00a0But it\u2019s noteworthy when distinguishing between the Church and the Orthodox, a clear \u201cBecause It\u2019s True\u201d never occurs.<\/div>\n
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Much of the reasoning \u2013 and indeed, much of the reasoning in the comments \u2013 is a broad version of \u2018their mammas wear army boots. \u00a0Suggesting that Orthodox are more this or more that or more the other, as opposed to Catholics. \u00a0The problems with this, of course, is that it means nothing about the Truth of Orthodoxy\u2019s claims, as has been said on CAEI and other Catholic blogs when Atheists blast the actions or tendencies of religious people.\u00a0<\/div>\n
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Several of the theological issues he touches on seem to be vaguely understood at best, and he never really delves into them as I would like to have seen. \u00a0The Filioque <\/i>is perhaps the main example. \u00a0Not mentioned by most was less the fact that the Orthodox churches disagreed with the theology of the phrase as much as they disagreed with the theology of the Roman Church suddenly feeling it could add to the Creed without input from the rest of the Christian world.\u00a0<\/div>\n
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Another interesting twist on Mark\u2019s take was the emphasis he put on those rascally converts. \u00a0This is shocking since, in the day, Mark would be the first to come down hard on someone for impugning the motives or tendencies of converts to Catholicism. \u00a0In Mark\u2019s piece, he once again makes the suggestion that while \u2018many\u2019 may not be that way (in standard fashion, pointing to personal friends he knows as examples), clearly a problem with Orthodoxy is its converts. \u00a0Followed by an equally condemning attitude toward those dreaded reactionaries, many of whom are such converts who become Catholic for all the wrong reasons. \u00a0That\u2019s called change. \u00a0Mark saying what Mark once would have condemned.\u00a0<\/div>\n
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Some of the reasons are silly. \u00a0The idea that the Orthodox are anti-Western? \u00a0Most of Mark\u2019s own Catholic readers are part of the whole \u2018the West is dead, let it die\u2019 movement. \u00a0We won\u2019t even discuss their attitudes about the US. \u00a0Does he mean anti-Western in the sense of the Old Western culture, or currently anti-Western? \u00a0That\u2019s a broad term and tough to pin. \u00a0In that Orthodoxy is not a product of Western Latin Culture is true, and could be part of the issue. He does mention its hostility toward the West since VII. \u00a0But I don\u2019t really know what is meant by that, so it\u2019s hard to say.\u00a0<\/div>\n
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Mark ends it with saying the Orthodox Church just isn\u2019t ready to accommodate, as Cardinal Newman said. \u00a0Though the phrase is assimilate. \u00a0A hairline distinction between those terms to be sure, and a balance I\u2019m not sure the Church is any better at achieving. \u00a0Sure, \u201cDoctrine (TM)\u201d will never change. \u00a0But almost anything you do with it can change if you\u2019re clever. \u00a0Something the Orthodox might have figured out, that the Catholic Church, after centuries of changing to fit the latest, still doesn\u2019t seem to get.<\/div>\n
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Anyway, in light of my <\/span>own post a few days ago<\/span><\/a>, I thought the timing was interesting. \u00a0On our way into the Church, we seriously considered Orthodoxy. \u00a0Practical considerations made it a moot issue. \u00a0But reading this, and the rather weak and contradictory reasons (at least contradictory reasons when considering the criticisms of others\u2019 reasons for conversions) was an interesting read.\u00a0<\/div>\n
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Oh, and one more thing. \u00a0Mark made a little dig about the Orthodox letting bygones be bygones. \u00a0He mentions his ability to get over Pearl Harbor. \u00a0Yet even now, there are still tens of thousands of families who lost loved ones living today for that very attack. \u00a0Mark\u2019s OK with that. \u00a0And yet.<\/a>\u00a0 As can be expected, grudges are only excusable for the right reasons and right people. \u00a0So many revealing statements, so little time. \u00a0<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Mark Shea.\u00a0Yeah, that\u2019s right. \u00a0Mark makes a great case for Orthodoxy when asked by a reader why he is Catholic instead of Orthodox. \u00a0How does he do this? Certainly, he makes it clear why he is Catholic! \u00a0Of course. \u00a0But the content of his arguments just doesn\u2019t seem to be, well, read for yourself.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2805,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nA case for Orthodox Christianity<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"By Mark Shea. Yeah, that's right.  Mark makes a great case for Orthodoxy when asked by a reader why he is Catholic instead of Orthodox.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2014\/11\/a-case-for-orthodox-christianity.html\" \/>\n<meta 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