Catholics stress "continuity" as a mark of the true church. It's my impression that many Catholics have no inkling what an alternative to the Catholic model of ecclesial continuity might even look like. They've been conditioned to view the issue with Catholic tinted glasses.
Newman famously used the metaphor of an acorn growing into an oak tree to illustrate the doctrine of development. So let's play along with an organic, botanical metaphor to illustrate a certain type of continuity. I'll use a maple tree instead,
Trees have lifecycles. A parent tree disseminates the next generation. Then the parent tree dies. The next generation repeats the cycle. So there's a lineage of trees, where each derives from a parent tree up the line. And they're all the same kind of tree, with the same kind of fruit.
Suppose we view Rome as a diseased and dying maple tree dispersing seeds which took root to grow into new and vibrant maple trees. A fraction of the samaras germinate to become adults. The original maple tree expires, but not before it spawns descendants. So there's generational continuity between the original maple tree and its descendants. There's never a time without a maple tree. The essence of the maple tree is contained in its samaras. The essence of the maple tree is transmitted from one tree to the next, in unbroken succession, from Pentecost to the Parousia.
What about Orthodoxy as an alternative model of continuity?
ReplyDeleteI believe the EO think continuity requires continuity of faith and not just valid ordination.
DeleteRight, but the EO consider themselves Catholic (big "C") too, so aren't there at least two models of Catholic continuity?
DeleteAdditionally, the EO also require continuity of praxy in addition to doxy. They still use liturgies from Basil (4th century) and Crystostom (5th century), which itself is a shortened version of the one written by James, Jeses'brother.
Why not use them as a comparison?
Also, in your maple analogy, seeds are dispersed. But in reality, you don't get seeds without pollination (cross our self), so the seeds aren't genetic clones of the parent. So, how does pollination fit in vis a vis seed churches? What does it mean to have offspring that are genetically distinct? At least in the acorn analogy, the acorn and the tree are one in the same.
Finally, how does the maple seed analogy for with Christ's prayer that we be unified? The unity in the analogy is taxonomic, what is the unity of such churches in reality?
Maybe the best botanical analogy is that Christ is the vine and we are the branches and we have to live in Him to have life ourselves.
"Right, but the EO consider themselves Catholic (big "C") too, so aren't there at least two models of Catholic continuity?"
DeleteIt's up to Catholics to explain what makes their model of continuity superior to the EO alternative.
"Why not use them as a comparison?"
i) In the West, Catholicism is the default foil for Protestants, and I have a far more detailed understanding of the Catholic position than the EO. In addition, it's far more theologically influential in the West that EO.
ii) One of my objections to EO is that it has so many made-made obligations.
"Also, in your maple analogy, seeds are dispersed. But in reality, you don't get seeds without pollination (cross our self), so the seeds aren't genetic clones of the parent. So, how does pollination fit in vis a vis seed churches?"
Every analogy has limitations. Newman's analogy has limitations.
But I don't need successive maple trees to be genetic clones of the parent tree. It's sufficient for my purposes that they are the same kind of tree with the same kind of fruit. The essence of the maple tree persists in its successive "incarnations".
"What does it mean to have offspring that are genetically distinct?"
The analogy doesn't require identity, just relevant continuity.
"At least in the acorn analogy, the acorn and the tree are one in the same."
No, they're not one and the same. The acorn isn't the original tree but a next-generation replacement.
Moreover, I don't see the essential difference between oak seeds and maple seeds. While the dispersal mechanism is different, but the underlying relationship between a tree/plant and its seeds is the same. (Admittedly, I'm not a botanist, and botany is vast.)
"Finally, how does the maple seed analogy for with Christ's prayer that we be unified? The unity in the analogy is taxonomic, what is the unity of such churches in reality?"
As I've said before, I operate with a Word-Spirit paradigm rather than a priest-sacrament paradigm.
In addition, I've discussed Jn 17:21 elsewhere. For instance:
http://triablogue.blogspot.com/2017/12/catholic-prooftexts.html
"Maybe the best botanical analogy is that Christ is the vine and we are the branches and we have to live in Him to have life ourselves."
i) To begin with, I'm riffing off of Newman, but taking his organic/botanical metaphor in a different direction.
ii) The Vine parable (Jn 15:1-6) is authoritative in a way that extrabiblical illustrations are not. That said, the point of my illustration is to show how superficial discontinuities (multiple denominations which come and go) are consistent with enduring unity at a deeper level.
There are two ways of eliminating the competition. One way is to refute them one by one. Of course, that's not realistic.
DeleteThere is, however, value in refuting major objections. But even that is constrained by time and our respective skill sets.
The other way is to eliminate the competition indirectly by proving our own position. To the extent that the rival positions are incompatible, we can scratch them off the list.
The original tree might have been cut down and fashioned into a dead idol that people idolatrously bow down to. Good thing that many of its offspring are living and full of sap.
ReplyDeleteOh, very good!
Delete