“Yes, there are many voices claiming to understand Scripture, and yes, they contradict. But to throw up my hands and step to the right three paces, take down another book, and undertake the interpretation of something else (far more inchoate and difficult) does not solve the problem at all. If I can’t read and understand …
Centralized Schism
“John the Baptist didn’t have a cushy office set-up at the Temple. He preached in the wilderness, but this did not make him the schismatic separatist. They were all back in Jerusalem” (Papa Don’t Pope, p. 69).
The Magisterium Needs a Table of Contents
“The faithful Roman Catholic is told that he cannot interpret the fixed Bible without the aid of non-stipulated, non-fixed magisterium. It is like being told that you cannot read the map rightly without being given the key—but then the key is hidden” (Papa Don’t Pope, p. 63).
In Search of the Magisterium
“There is a vast mountain of teaching and conflicting voices to sort through, and one thing the magisterium has not done is give us a table of contents to identify the precise boundaries of that magisterium. Where can I go and get a leather-bound set of all the infallible determinations of the Church?” (Papa Don’t …
The Eyes of the Mind
“But reason is an eyeball, and not a source of light. God created us with a faculty for rational weighing and sifting of evidence so that we could submit to light from outside. Every form of religion and secularism that tries to make the eyeball shed light is therefore doomed to failure” (Papa Don’t Pope, …
A Word to Those Divisive Others
“‘Brethren! These divisions are disgraceful! Our proposal for eliminating them is for everyone to stop being obstinate and join us!’” (Papa Don’t Pope, p. 54).
The Kingdom is a Fleet
“The day is coming when certain Christian communions, bobbing around in their own little boat, will stop claiming that the water exists for their boat only” (Papa Don’t Pope, p. 53).
Messy Kingdom
“Jesus never gives us any image of the growth of His kingdom throughout the world that would ever make us think of the phrase ‘nice and tidy.’ The kingdom of God is like a dragnet that brings in all kinds of fish, beer bottles, and a bicycle tire” (Papa Don’t Pope, p. 52).
Baptismal Succession
“Christian baptism is the inundation of the world and, like the water flowing over the threshold of Ezekiel’s Temple, it only gets deeper and deeper as it goes. The farther we get away from the apostolic era, the wetter the world gets” (Papa Don’t Pope, p. 51).
Do I Hear a Second?
“I know what to think of Second Nicea on the basis of the Second Commandment, which I consider to be a senior ‘Second’” (Papa Don’t Pope, p. 48).