Incompetent prooftexting

"Jason has a good attitude, but this sort of incompetent handling of the Patristic evidence is so glaring, that it simply confirms the fact that Evangelical apologists all too often simply scan the Fathers for proof-texts, with no meaningful knowledge of the historical contexts of the authorities to whom they appeal. Frankly, this distortion of Gregory the Theologian’s views would be laughable were it not for the fact that some people will actually be duped by these sorts of presentations."

February 26, 2006 @ 11:16 am

http://www.communiosanctorum.com/?p=161

"Cf. also Irenaeus: 'As we are lepers in sin, we are made clean by means of the sacred water and the invocation of the Lord, from our old transgressions, being spiritually regenerated as newborn babes' (cited by J. Pelikan, The Emergence of the Catholic Tradition (100-600), p. 164)."

February 28, 2006 @ 12:06 pm

http://www.communiosanctorum.com/?p=165

Having berated Jason for his allegedly "incompetent prooftexting" of the church fathers on Feb 26, it's ironic to find Owen quoting Pelikan quoting Irenaeus two days later.

In other words, Owen doesn't really know his way around the primary sources. Here he's lifting a quote from a secondary source. So he's not reading it in the original context, since all he has is the snippet from Pelikan, without the surrounding material.

This sort of incompetent handling of the Patristic evidence is so glaring, that it simply confirms the fact that Anglo-Catholic apologists all too often simply scan the secondary sources for Patristic proof-texts, with no meaningful knowledge of the historical contexts of the authorities to whom they appeal. Frankly, this distortion of Irenaeus would be laughable were it not for the fact that some people will actually be duped by these sorts of presentations.