A pro-choice group runs ads with women dressed as bears, in a reference to Sarah Palin’s “momma grizzlies.” One woman says “Want to know what threatens me? My daughter not having the right to choose” and another that they want to “protect our right to hibernate with whoever we choose.”
A Hindu group criticizes as anti-Hindu a review by the Catholic News Service of the new movie Eat Pray Love. Here is the review.
The Japanese ambassador to the Holy See argues that Christianity is foreign to Japan. There are, he writes, “at least, three elements which characterize Japanese religiosity philosophically distinct from Christianity. The three key words are ‘self,’ ‘Nature’ and ‘absolutization’.”
A German court supports equality in inheritance for homosexual couples. It said that “the fact that heterosexual marriage could produce children did not justify higher taxation for homosexuals over inheritance,” according to Reuters.
College is a five (!) year party, according to a new book, reviewed in the Wall Street Journal. “In an effort to win applicants, Mr. Brandon says, colleges dumb down the curriculum and inflate grades, prod students to take out loans they cannot afford, and cover up date rape and other undergraduate crime. The members of the faculty go along with the administration’s insistence on lowering standards out of fear of losing their jobs.”
And for those who like this kind of thing, three articles on fashion and clothing, The New Adventures of Old Elaine, Pawing Through Someone’s Memories at Scout Vintage T-Shirts, and A Return to Basics, One Stitch at a Time.
And finally, one in five American teenagers has some hearing loss. “Probably from those darn ear bugs,” wrote the young reader who sent in the link. “What’s that? Oh, you said ear buds.”
Thanks to the New Oxford Review for some of the links.
August 19th, 2010 | 7:43 pm
The Japanese ambassador is unfortunately furthering the ahistorical tendencies of Catholics
who like to think that the Church has no responsibility for our failures in the East. So we always talk pure theology rather than history because sin takes place within history not within theology. A series of pro imperialistic Popes between 1454 and 1510
furthered the same imperialistic urges within Iberia which led to conquistadors later landing in the Phillipines and making them Catholic under show of arms.
So one of the first impressions Japanese had of Catholicism off their coast was not a loving culture but was the interweaving of religion with
murderers and robbers wearing Spanish armor (read Niall Fergusson’s “Ascent of Money”… for the amount of silver taken from Peru and at what cost).
They probably thought as time went on that Catholicism had a lot of non-love in naming a people and a country after a Spanish king,
Phillip II….Phillipines….Filipinos. Japan did not want such a patronizing adoption. Pope Benedict in Brazil made the same ahistorical mistake that Sandro M. is making in the linked article. Ahistorical theology ain’t cutting it even if the Japanese ambassador internalized it to clean his historical plate. As to his divinizing of nature by Japanese, I guess he does not watch “Whale Wars” on cable.
August 19th, 2010 | 10:33 pm
Bill, I think Japan has had more than its share of imperialistic overreaching. I found that article to be very interesting and clearly expressed.
I wonder that perhaps Buddhism provides a really useful “method,” psychological, that the Church could adapt. Instead of “mu” or annihilation of the self, we could substitute submission of all will and desire to God.
The rejection of absolutes is not a popular idea in Christian ethics, but it is perhaps consistent with epistemological humility. After all, the only real absolute is God (and not any particular ethical system), is it not?
I think that the Church can do more in making East Asian Catholicism more authentically Eastern, just as she adopted certain European pagan beliefs. I think this could really be a fertile ground for research. In music, Sakai Takashi and Olivier Messiaen have contributed to this.
August 19th, 2010 | 11:37 pm
Patrick,
You are trying to cancel our sin with Japan’s….a permanent Catholic trend (“others sex abuse also”/ ” others burned people at the stake also” etc etc). But it was our duty to be different than imperialism as being those with the gospel and we were to represent love as new and as non imperialistic being the gospel carriers of whom Christ said, ” From him who is given much, the more will be expected.”. You apparently did not expect any more from us than from the Japanese…but then for the Japanese to convert to an imperialistic version of Christianity was not to convert at all. I recently a Catholic synopsis of our history in China on the net. It began with the Ricci period and completely jumped over the 19th century into the 20th. To do so is to leave out the period in which the Catholic representative, France, helped England in the 2nd opium war to simultaneously force open China to missionaries and force it open also to England’s Opium trade.
France also in that period insisted on the right for Bishops to use the prestigious Mandarin sedan
chairs in which they too were carried about like the Mandarins. Watch…the next time you see Catholics write about China and watch what we skip for the sake of image…to whit…partsnof the 19th century reality.
August 20th, 2010 | 12:03 am
ps….the point is that history…our sin history in the east is part not all….part of the Orient’s spare conversion rate. The ambassador’s three areas are part not all of the problem.
August 20th, 2010 | 1:30 am
The Portuguese and Spanish seemed to do a much better job of conversion than anyone else in the East. One of the most heavily Christian parts of India is formerly Portuguese Goa which is about one-quarter Christian. Macau and East Timor likewise have significant Christian populations and are surrounded by less Christian areas. Formerly Spanish Philippines is about 80% Catholic while the nearest countries of Vietnam (French) and Malaysia (British) are non-Christian.
August 20th, 2010 | 8:22 am
Mark,
Baptismal record conversions are done well by Spain. Colombia, Peru and Bolivia have high baptismal rates and are the top three cocaine traffickers in the world. East Timor has an awful number of children living on the streets.
The Japanese ambassador in the article is talking about deep conversions which are a problem even in the West if one looks at empathy for abortions even among Western Catholics. In Africa we have priests with unofficial wives. We need to move away from baptismal records as the litmus test.
August 20th, 2010 | 1:39 pm
I’m way out of my depth here–
that said, to what culture isn’t real Christianity both foriegn, but also present in an anticipatory way?
My Japanese-born and raised grandmother was Russian Orthodox before she converted to the LDS church;
so I suppose I’m not operating on the same assumptions other are, which I’m guessing include the assumption that Christianity operates best in Jewish and/or Greco-Roman soil.
But then, I’m not Catholic. My only knowledge of Japanese Christianity is of Japanese Mormons, with an appreciation of those Japanese who converted and then had to go underground during its isolationist period.
One such group has clung fiercely to Catholic practices, though with an incomplete understanding of Catholic doctrine–the Kakure Kurishitan (“catholic christian”).
Japanese do indeed convert to Christianity. I don’t see how it’s that much harder for a person in the Japanese culture to truly convert than for a person from a pagan European culture. Even now how much of Europe is crypto-pagan?
Christianity is foriegn to everyone on this earth. It’s kinda part of the definition, I thought. It’s why we need it, right?
…again, outta my depth on this one.
August 20th, 2010 | 4:19 pm
Sachiko,
The Japanese and the Chinese have an added problem not mentioned above. They have an intricate, intelligent culture of which they are proud. This very advancement can make them too proud of what they have attained versus what God wants them to attain. Such was the point of the Catholic priest psychologist, Adrian Van Kamm, concerning any proud groups or individuals.
In his book, The Woman at the Well, he notes that the Samaritan people were looked down on by others and yet they were then most welcoming to Christ as opposed to other towns like proud Jericho. He writes: ” The public sinner, the tax collector, the public woman Mary Magdalene, the criminal dying next to Jesus on the cross….they were more humbly aware of their sinfulness….Nicodemus, a pious and learned scribe, came to the faith slowly and hesitantly.
Inner conceit is an obstacle to grace.”
Many European groups converted en masse prior to producing the art of the Renaissance or the French sauces and cuisine of the 18th century. They converted while they were lowly although sooner or later one must personally accept that conversion more deeply.
August 20th, 2010 | 4:38 pm
Bill,
The Japanese have also converted en masse in their history, at least 3 times that I know of.
First, when the Portuguese first encountered Japan. Christianity was later suppressed and many Japanese Christians went underground.
Later, after Japan opened back up and began to Westernize. Christianity was seen as a “modern” religion and conversion became fashionable, as was adopting other Western practices.
My grandmother’s grandfather was a wealthy samurai who converted to the Russian Orthodox church and encouraged/commanded the rest of his family to convert with him, including my grandmother’s father, Suzuki Sentaro.
Even if my great-great-grandpa Kawai Bunza Buro’s conversion was only a matter of social expediency–I’m not sure that’s all there was to it–his heir was sufficiently sincere in his faith that when sent to Russia to fight in the Russian-Japanese war in the early 20th century, he made sure to attend services with a local congregation and spent Christmas with a local Russian family.
Japanese people converted in goodly numbers again after World War II for a couple of decades, until they became more modern and wealthy. This is what my (half-Japanese) father observed as a missionary in Japan in the mid to late 60′s, and after we lived there in the early ’80s.
I’m saying, Japan does have an intellectual tradition that sometimes counters Catholic/Christian tradition.
I don’t see how it’s more or less of a problem for conversion/retention/sincere membership than the traditions and philosophies of men in Africa (where Christianity is flourishing) or even in Europe, especially in traditionally Catholic countries such as Spain.
Historically, The Church has been able to handle Jews and Gentiles, Greeks and Romans–I, being Mormon, don’t agree to the Hellenistic creeds of the early church, because I think they’re in opposition to New Testament Christianity. I think this sounds rude, though I mean it politely–once you can adapt to the theological ideas of the Greeks, what’s a few Asians here or there?
Japan has issues. Who doesn’t?
Though, I say again, I might have this viewpoint since I come from a background of Japanese Christians.
Also, I’m LDS, and many Japanese traditions–the honor of ancestors, for instance; the closeness of community–translate very well into active LDS church membership.
August 20th, 2010 | 6:28 pm
Your agency for cultural affairs though gives the number of Christians as 2.04% of the population which is tiny.
August 20th, 2010 | 7:52 pm
Bill, of course you are right that Catholics are sinners too. I just get tired sometimes of introspection and self-critique. It’s a kind of pride in a way. I prefer to focus on the future and try to create or at least appreciate something new and beautiful.
Sachiko, it’s true the Japanese are a proud people and they have much to be proud of. It’s a fine line to walk between alerting them to the Good News of the Gospel on the one hand, and asking them to adopt a Western sensibility on the other. There’s absolutely no need to build Gothic churches in Japan. I suppose it should remind one to focus on the core of Christ’s message rather than its ethnic embellishments.
August 20th, 2010 | 10:19 pm
Patrick
Here in a papal incident, I can show how ahistorical we truly are. Pope Benedict in his letter to China several years ago stated that the Catholic Church does not seek to overthrow governments but to have a place in rational discussions. Sounds normal right? It does until you realize that our writers and pundits were forever retelling how John Paul II overthrew communism in Poland which China also breads about in our media. George Weigel in Witness to Hope….erroneously like others gave John Paul credit for helping overthrow the Marcos regime in the Phillipines. Now go back to Benedict’s letter to China claiming that the Church does not seek to overcome governments…..while our writers have been saying the exact opposite openly.
China must think we are daft or that Benedict is a used car salesman. The truth is that he so lapsed in the letter into ahistorical mode that he forgot
actual reality…..ie thatna Pope did help overthrow communism in Poland while a Cardinal did the same as to Marcos in the Phillipines.
August 20th, 2010 | 11:53 pm
Hi Bill,
Thank you for your insightful comments. I’m not so sure that Pope John Paul II explicitly advocated the overthrow of the USSR so much as he reminded Poles of their inherent dignity as children of God which was not respected by the Soviet Union.
Hegelian historical mode may not always be appropriate in every circumstance. The cost of the overthrow of the Chinese government may outweigh its benefits (whatever “our writers” may write). I think that our current pope is in China advocating a path of reform rather than revolution. Discretion is the better part of valor. Just my 2 cents.
August 22nd, 2010 | 12:10 am
A pro-choice group runs ads with women dressed as bears, in a reference to Sarah Palin’s “momma grizzlies.” One woman says “Want to know what threatens me? My daughter not having the right to choose” and another that they want to “protect our right to hibernate with whoever we choose.”
Hibernate?
I get the bear reference, but if sex is correlated to hibernation, then you’re doing it wrong…
August 22nd, 2010 | 6:12 am
For one thing, bill is wrong that the Philippines converted under “show of arms”.
The Spaniards, who came to the Philippines in pitifully small numbers (the largest number of Spanish soldiers in the Philippines at any given time was around 1,500 spread over a few population centers, and this was roughly 200 years into colonial rule), managed to hold onto the country not because of its troops but because of its priests. The only conquistador who tried to do what Cortes did ended up dead off the coast of a small island. The Spanish campaigns in the country would be carried out mostly with local troops who stood loyal to Spain, not conquistadores.
“So one of the first impressions Japanese had of Catholicism off their coast was not a loving culture but was the interweaving of religion with
murderers and robbers wearing Spanish armor”
Actually, the first impression they had of Christianity was some seemingly crazy guy in a robe preaching in Satsuma province. They were hardly intimidated by the Spaniards and the Portuguese, and wanted to trade for their guns.
Heck, the Christians the Shogun was most concerned with were not the ones wearing armor. His government was more afraid of the ones wearing robes. The ones wearing armor (like the Dutch), could be allies.
In short, it is the prospect of a divided culture (something that spurned the Shoguns to crack down on Buddhist warrior sects as much as they have Catholic missionaries) that caused the conversion of the Japanese to die in the sands, not the stereotype of the leering robber-conquistador. As somebody already pointed out, the Japanese were willing to convert en masse, and leaders were willing to lead their people into the faith, Spain or no. It was simply a matter of historical accident that these leaders backed the wrong horse. (The side that featured prominent Christian daimyo lost the battle of Sekigehara.) That is why Christians are only 2.04% of Japan’s population.
For a guy accusing other people of ahistoricity, bill sure doesn’t bother to use a little historical perspective yourself.
August 22nd, 2010 | 5:29 pm
Jonathan
Tell the readers now why number of forces were not important as when the loyal to Spain, conquistador, Pizarro conquered 40,000 Incas with 300 men (Ferguson claims only 180 men).
Tell the readers why number of Spaniards was not important there or in any primitive setting.
And thus why your figure of 1500 is 5 times the number it took to conquer 40,000 Incas. So your number is very high if…..well you tell them.
August 22nd, 2010 | 6:10 pm
ps…Tell them too who specifically were loyal to Spain within the Phillipines and how do some historians say that loyalty was achieved rather than by priests. Both in 1535 and later in 1560′s, fighting was involved with one local group being used against another in the 60′s and after.
August 22nd, 2010 | 8:44 pm
On the battle of Sekiegahara being the end for Christianity, Latourette of Yale Divinity School contradicts that: he notes it put in power Ieyasu who at first was friendly to Christians. He let in the Augustinians besides those already there and received a Bishop with honor and gave financial aid. According to Latourette, Ieyasu later changed and grew intolerant as were his successors. The largely Christian rebellion of peasants who successfully fought off government forces for some time within a castle filled with 20,000 of them of 1637 and 1638 aroused the ire of subsequent leaders and according to Latourette made them just as I said suspicious of the Spanish and Portuguese and banned them while not banning Protestant England and Holland.
August 23rd, 2010 | 9:20 am
ps….for those interested, Ieyasu had a British advisor who did work for the Dutch and we can imagine that both he and King James I who corresponded with Ieyasu …both must have let Ieyasu know how Iberian Catholicism overthrew leaders in now Peru, Mexico, and Phillipines. The Spanish were banned from Japan in 1624 and
the Portuguese after the 1637/1638 revolt. The English continued on then left then were later banned when they tried to return while the Dutch were allowed one artificial island to land on (thus not real Japan).
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