While Barzun pulls plenty of punches in his survey of the Reformation, he does get some things right:
"To invoke the Saviour in place of works was to change reality; that is, to reshape culture and and individual behavior. Worshipping the saints had become a kind of polytheism: they were powers to entreat. Every living person, every activity and institution, every town and village was dedicated to a patron saint, and aware of living under his or her protection. . .This distributed worship had come into being as the early church converted the pagan populations of the West. To make the new creed intelligible and congenial, Christian rites and holidays were adapted to existing customs. Saints took the place of local deities: Christmas, Easter, Rogations (the springtime blessing of the fields) re-enacted the original pagan festivals. . .
Luther was induced by overwhelming tradition to condone the worship of the Virgin Mary. The late Middle Ages, thinking of mercy as peculiarly maternal had made her, not Christ, the intercessor in forgiveness. Luther recalled that in his youth to mention Christ in a sermon was considered 'effeminate'." (Barzun, 22)
Sorry for falling back on quotes today, I'm too muddled for creative thought. Check back maņana!
Posted by Discoshaman at juin 11, 2005 06:05 AM | TrackBack
congratulation
You are back.It is intresting that you have not written anything from Dean.... He has been very active in these days.Take care and say hello Duchess
FP
FP!!!
It's awesome to see you, man. :) Drop me an email if you get a second. I'm anxious for news. . .
I did blog on Dean a bit, btw: http://www.postmodernclog.com/archives/001146.html
See you soon. So glad to see you!
Posted by: Discoshaman at juin 14, 2005 05:19 AMDisco,
Interesting post. I'm going through it here in Southern Oregon with the local Orthodox priest. He's working me over telling me that Orthodox is the only way to go. I've a lot of respect for those guys, but I just can't get over the Mary/Saint worship.
I've wracked my brains trying to find an example of such in Scripture. I can only remember one time when Saul prayed (through the witch at Endor) to Samuel. The results were not good. The Mary/Saint worship strikes me similarly.
I'd be curious to learn more about your take on Orthodoxy and the traditions of the church.
Glad you're back. I missed you! Hope you had a good break.
Posted by: FreeAgent at juin 16, 2005 08:17 AM