Pope is Warned of a Green Antichrist
March 2, 2007, 12:18 pm
Posted by Cathleen Kaveny
or so sayeth the UK Times.
I guess that type of sermon will convince someone, but not me. . . I don’t know about you, but the summary prompted me to check into Jean Raber’s post below– especially Inheriting from the Raptured.
Because global warming hasn’t hit Indiana yet (it’s snowing here), I just checked into the price of fabulous hotel rooms in Palm Beach, on a whim–700 dollars a night (okay, the Four Seasons). No fabulous spring break for me. That is, unless the rapture comes, and I inherit from the raptured.
Most of us will never know if there is an ecologist Antichrist (a green-hued Al Gore perhaps?)….Global warming will have killed us off well before he appears.
Take a look at John Allen’s latest weekly post on the Green issue in the Church
Unfortunately for me, I don’t know anyone who has the remotest chance of being Raptured, so the document to which Cathleen has most kindly linked above is of no earthy or unearthly use to me.
Best of luck to you other Infidels, though.
I think the Cardinal was ministerpreted. From Zenit (http://www.zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=103757), his key point was that “The Antichrist is the reduction of Christianity to an ideology, instead of a personal encounter with the Savior”. In Europe, the key example of such a secular ideology is reflected these leftish trends. And that was his intended audience. But the point is equally valid concerning the secular ideology that dominates America– radical individualism, American exceptionalism, materialism, militarism.
Of course the Cardinal was misinterpreted. More irresponsible ‘reporting’ from the Times of London.
Will John Allen take them to task again?
It’s too bad that Commonweal hasn’t followed Allen’s lead in exposing these hacks…
Fred
It’s too bad that Commonweal hasn’t followed Allen’s lead in exposing these hacks…
Fred>
Take it easy Fred. Commonweal is not a newspaper nor does it have the resources that NCR has.
I looked up the Zenit thing, and I don’t think it’s obvious he was misinterpreted. I think it’s plausible that he’s claiming the antichrist is a particular person, a “green” activist. I also think invoking the antiChrist in this manner, seemingly so detached from its rich and complicated context in scritpture, and identifying it so crudely with a contemporary political movement or a particular person, isn’t hermeneutically sound or apologeticaqlly helpful.
But I’ll read the whole thing when it comes out, if it comes out. I’ll let you know if I change view.
The Biffi/ Soloviev/ antichrist story is not any newer than the one about the Anglicans reuniting with Rome, but the Times of London has discovered that they can spin these stories so that they generate a lot of heat.
Some folks (Balthasar, Biffi, readers of Communio) have been mulling Soloviev’s Tale of the Antichrist for some time. It’s not about identifying some particular person (Left Behind!). Instead it’s about an attitude that seeks to replace Christ with the values promoted by Christ (or other values – it doesn’t matter).
here’s a bit more of Biffi, Balthasar, etc:
http://www.tcrnews2.com/tcrmore.html
Bill,
my apologies for the bombastic spasm. I’m getting it looked at next Thursday ;-)
Fred
Cathleen,
Your are too kind, or were you indulging in understatement? To identify the AntiChrist seriously as a “Green” activist is idiotic. An English geologist I used to sit at lunch with a long time ago in Graduate School used to argue that Dwight Eisenhower (1956) was the AntiChrist. I was never sure whether this was tongue in cheek. He seemed convinced though he remained unpersuasive. Could the Cardinal have had a British sense of humor?
I’d say silly, rather than idiotic.
If you google Baffi, it looks like he might be doing just that. I don’t have access to primary texts, but it seems to me that he doesn’t recognize that appropriation of apocalyptic discourse-espeially through the medium of Russian literature– is inherently tricky stuff–and at the very least, highly likely to be misinterpreted.
Rather like appropriating the polemical language of Byzantine emperors.
I agree that “silly” would be better than “idiotic”. But a thought occurred to me. Could he have been thinking of Al Gore?
Mmm. He says “the Antichrist presents himself as pacifist, ecologist and ecumenist.”
Is Al Gore pacifist? Or ecomenist?
It is striking to me, though it shouldn’t be surprising, how certain tropes become the coin of the realm in “power circles” like the Vatican, especially as certain people rise to the top. You could see it in the way John Paul was cited for years, and now, I sense, in the way the Communion-and-LiberationSpeak of the late Don Giussani–Christ as “an Event,” for instance–is used by Pope Benedict and others, often to great effect. Perhaps Soloviev (sp?) is similar. I recalled Cardinal Ratzinger’s fascinating talk on biblical exegesis in NYC in 1988, when it seems he cited Soloviev. This link is to the one version I could find quickly via Gogle, so I can’t vouch for its reliability:
http://www.christendom-awake.org/pages/ratzinger/biblical-crisis.htm
But I’d like to find the original. The Anti-Christ as an Exegete?! That was very Ratzinger, and is very Benedict, as his upcoming book on Jesus will take aim at the same topic. And given “The Jesus Tomb” hoax, he has a good hook, if he needed one.
Also, did Soloviev really cite Tubingen? Or was that a Ratzingerian gibe?
In response to your views on “Environmental Activism” I want to post a part from my article which examines the impact of industrialization and consumerism on our minds and environment. Please read.
*The link between Mind and Social / Environmental-Issues.*
The fast-paced, consumerist lifestyle of Industrial Society is causing exponential rise in psychological problems besides destroying the environment. All issues are interlinked. Our Minds cannot be peaceful when attention-spans are down to nanoseconds, microseconds and milliseconds. Our Minds cannot be peaceful if we destroy Nature.
*Industrial Society Destroys Mind and Environment.*
Subject : In a fast society slow emotions become extinct.
Subject : A thinking mind cannot feel.
Subject : Scientific/ Industrial/ Financial thinking destroys the planet.
Emotion is what we experience during gaps in our thinking.
If there are no gaps there is no emotion.
Today people are thinking all the time and are mistaking thought (words/ language) for emotion.
When society switches-over from physical work (agriculture) to mental work (scientific/ industrial/ financial/ fast visuals/ fast words ) the speed of thinking keeps on accelerating and the gaps between thinking go on decreasing.
There comes a time when there are almost no gaps.
People become incapable of experiencing/ tolerating gaps.
Emotion ends.
Man becomes machine.
A society that speeds up mentally experiences every mental slowing-down as Depression / Anxiety.
A ( travelling )society that speeds up physically experiences every physical slowing-down as Depression / Anxiety.
A society that entertains itself daily experiences every non-entertaining moment as Depression / Anxiety.
Fast visuals/ words make slow emotions extinct.
Scientific/ Industrial/ Financial thinking destroys emotional circuits.
A fast (large) society cannot feel pain / remorse / empathy.
A fast (large) society will always be cruel to Animals/ Trees/ Air/ Water/ Land and to Itself.
To read the complete article please follow either of these links :
http://www.planetsave.com/ps_mambo/index.php?option=com_simpleboard&Itemid=75&func=view&id=68&catid=6
http://www.earthnewswire.com/index.php?option=com_forum&Itemid=89&page=viewtopic&t=11
sushil_yadav
Cathy,
Actually there is a fellow–Japanese, I think–who takes out full page adds in the NYT with a plan for complete world peace and I think he might be described as an Ecologist, Pacifist and Ecumenist. He is also a Vegan. If I remember correctly, he even wants all the carnivorous animals to become vegans. Perhaps your Cardinal has seen one of these advertisements.
It is very important that Benedict XVI should be warned about the John Paul II Millstone —
http://jp2m.blogspot.com/
that is waiting for him
because he is a clone of John Paul II
http://pope-ratz.blogspot.com/