The below image is from Pithless Thoughts. There are innumerable 'Journey to Orthodoxy' blogs written by people who have found something wondrous and want to share their experience with the world. I am a reader of many of these, but with some caveats. I am not too fond of the Apologia Pro Vita Sua-esque blogs filled with often tendentious pericopes from the Fathers. It's as if the writer feels he has to make theological bulwarks on each step of his walk towards the Church. I made this hill, and now I have to build up defenses lest I be overcome and die on it.
Honest and straightforward expressions of thoughts, questions, and the struggle to understand and fit in are - to me - much more readable (I think for the same reason diaries are more enjoyable to read than thesis papers are). To paraphrase Fr. Matthew of blessed memory: "The conversion journey is important, but what is more important is what you are doing about your faith NOW." How you got here is a valuable thing to remember, but theosis is not a rear-view mirror.
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"A diary is more enjoyable than a thesis"... which is why I read more well written "diary blogs" than "theology blogs" these days. And I like Fr. Matthew's statement. Its a good reminder for me that sometimes it would do me well to forget what lies behind and press on (and it would make my wife happy to not hear the same story yet one more time... :).
ReplyDeleteNewman bashing blasphemer! hahah
ReplyDeleteI am picking up what you're laying down.
matthewmoore: Don't get me wrong. I think it's a good book. I certainly find him an enjoyable read. My complaint is with the attempts at writing in the same genre when the delivery is not quite as skilled - much as when men try to write pseudo-Shakespearean sonnets to their girlfriends.
ReplyDeleteOh please you don't have to explain. My blasphemer accusation was just an anglo cath knee jerk reaction ;) I actually had tried to read Newman a couple of times and couldn't get into it, so I know where you're coming from. There are some certain blogs that people fall all over and I find them to be the wordiest garbage... :)
ReplyDeleteI'm generally not one for the theological or debate minded blogs either. I always assumed it was a girl/guy thing, but I guess not. Part of my problem is that, more often than not, those blog writers like to hear themselves talk. Haven't they ever heard of KISS??! LOL And, then you get 4-5 of them going in the combox and oh my! My brain just wants to explode.
ReplyDeleteTo each his own, though.