Catholic theological method builds on a platform of cumulative error, where earlier errors lay the precedent for later and more egregious errors.
One of the ways that Catholics routinely defend their sect is to distinguish between official and unofficial teaching. But, ironically, that's just one more reason to reject Catholicism. The fact that the hierarchy so often straddles the fence on major issues, refusing to take a definitive position one way or the other, is hardly to its credit. If the pope is able to infallibly distinguish truth from error in matters of doctrine and ethics, why does he leave so many important issues up for grabs?
An obvious explanation is that by not taking an official position, the magisterium can't be proven wrong. You can't lose if you don't play.
One of the big selling points for Catholicism is the claim that you guys have a living oracle, unlike us benighted evangelicals with our dead book. We've got competing opinions, but no referee. So it's amusing when Catholics retreat into "there's no official position" in Catholicism on major issues to defend their sect.
///refusing to take a definitive position one way or the other///
ReplyDeleteThey call this "Both/And" theology. It's "catholicity" of message.
Or, "there's is an official position" but which is subject to Catholic dispute (STCD) as to,
ReplyDelete1. Whether it is an official position (TradCats vs. V2) or an "authentic" interpretation.
2. What magisterial level this belong to (thus what level of assent is required).
3. What the required assent to this all entails.
4. What is the meaning of this official position, at least in in its extent.
5. What support is there for this ("how long can we buffalo the Bible thumpers with 'the unanimous consent of the fathers?'").
6. How does this affect union with the East ("does this add to the list of issues we minimize?").
"If the pope is able to infallibly distinguish truth from error in matters of doctrine and ethics, why does he leave so many important issues up for grabs?"
ReplyDeleteGood article. I've asked Roman Catholics that same question a number of times before, and they just ignore it. Another "stumper" to pull on them is, "How do you know that the Roman Catholic Church's interpretation is infallible?"