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| '''Modernism''' is, according to the teachings of the ], a ]. First condemned in 1910 by Pope ], Modernism is characterised by an unwillingness to accept defined Church |
'''Modernism''' is, according to the teachings of the ], a ]. First condemned in ] by Pope ], Modernism is characterised by an unwillingness to accept defined Church ]s accompanied by claims for the possibility of the ] of dogma - a notion subtly distinct from ]'s teaching on the "development of ]". | ||
| Modernism was a term given by clergy, |
Modernism was a term given by ], ]s, and ]s such as Pius X, to describe series of movements and beliefs of other Catholic and ] theologians, clergy, and ]s. It should be noted that almost none of the "modernists" called themselves that or saw themselves as a unified group, this label was applied to them by the popes and others. | ||
| Modernism in the Catholic Church is the result of a few certain |
Modernism in the Catholic Church is the result of a few certain ]s and schools of thought popular in the Catholic and Protestant Churches around the turn of the ]: | ||
| *Textual Criticism of the Bible. In other words, attempting to reevalute the meaning of the Bible by focusing on the text alone and ignoring what others have historically taught about it, especially with the assumptions that the |
*Textual Criticism of the ]. In other words, attempting to reevalute the meaning of the Bible by focusing on the text alone and ignoring what others have historically taught about it, especially with the assumptions that the ]s described within couldn't have possibly happened and attempting to piece together what really happened and why the writers might have written about what they did. This way of looking at the Bible became quite popular in the Protestant churches and found its way into Catholic churches. It was an offshoot of the concept of ], since that doctrine describes the ability for an individual to learn all necessary religion by reading the Bible alone. | ||
| *Secularism and other |
*] and other ] ideals. The ideal of secularism, essentially meaning the best course of action in politics and more is to organize everything on what desperate groups and religions share as a view of what is "good". In other words, that Church and State should be seperated, and that the laws of the state should generally only cover the "common ground" of beliefs between the various religious groups that might be in the state, for example the prohibition of murder, etc. From the secularists point of view, it was possible to distinguish between political ideas and structures that were religious and those that were not. Many Catholic theologians at the time did not believe that such a distinction was possible, they believed that all aspects of society had to be organized with the final goal of ] in mind. Secularism was first started by certain English philosophers who attempted to create a "universal relgion" based on the "common denominator" of all other religions. Secularism further spread through the enlightenment secret societies such as the ]s, the ], and the ]. | ||
| *The modern philosophy systems, such as Kant. One of the main currents in modernist thought was to attempt to synthesize the vocabularies/ |
*The modern ] systems, such as ]. One of the main currents in modernist thought was to attempt to synthesize the ]/]/] and other features of certain modern systems of philosophy with Catholicism, in much the same way the Scholastics earlier attempted to synthesize ] and ] philosophy with Catholicism. | ||
| The combination of these three currents usually led to other conclusions which were common in Modernist thinking: | The combination of these three currents usually led to other conclusions which were common in Modernist thinking: | ||
| *That religion is primarily a matter of irrational emotions: Since textual criticism teaches that miracles did not really happen, and the philosophical systems in vouge at the time taught that the |
*That religion is primarily a matter of irrational emotions: Since textual criticism teaches that miracles did not really happen, and the philosophical systems in vouge at the time taught that the existence of ] and other things could never be known, then religion must be primarily caused and centered on the feelings of believers. This plays into secularism as it weakens any position that would support the favoring of one religion over the other in the state, since religion is primarily about the individuals feelings it would self defeating to do something to hurt those feelings. | ||
| == The Evolution of Dogmas == | == The Evolution of Dogmas == | ||
| The final overall teaching of Modernism, is that dogmas (what is taught by the church and what its members are required to believe) evolves over time, rather then being the same for all time. This aspect of thought was what made |
The final overall teaching of Modernism, is that dogmas (what is taught by the church and what its members are required to believe) evolves over time, rather then being the same for all time. This aspect of thought was what made Modernism unique in the history of ] in the church. Previously, a heretic (someone who believed and taught something different then what the rest of the church believed) would either claim that he was right and the rest of the church was wrong because he had recieved new revalation from God, or that he had understood the true teaching of God which was previously understood but then lost. Both of those scenarios almost necessarily led to an organizational seperation away from the church, a ], or being kicked out of the church, an ]. With this new idea that doctrines evolve, it was possible for the modernist to believe that the old teachings of the church AND his new seemingly contradictory teachings were both correct, each had their time and place. This system works with almost any type of new belief that the modernist might want to introduce, and for this reason Modernism was labled the "snythesis of all heresies" by Pope Pius X. | ||
| == Social |
== Social/] causes for Modernism according to Catholics == | ||
| Catholic historians and theologians also have social explanations as to why |
Catholic historians and theologians also have social explanations as to why Modernism developed as it did and became so popular: | ||
| *Working with the modern philisophical systems was trendy, it allowed theologians to work with non |
*Working with the modern philisophical systems was trendy, it allowed theologians to work with non-Catholic philosopher contemporaries, and not to be looked down upon as "ancient" for an exclusive following of philosophers such as Aristotle. | ||
| *In the Americas, especially in the United States, priests bishops and theologians were surrounded by a culture and laity fully enraptured with the concept of secularism. Anti-Catholic uprisings in the early colonies and later caused a desire for |
*In the Americas, especially in the United States, priests bishops and theologians were surrounded by a culture and laity fully enraptured with the concept of secularism. Anti-Catholic uprisings in the early colonies and later caused a desire for priests and bishops to "fit in" and to "prove their loyality to the American way". Embarassing encylicals such as the '']'' (which condemned most of the ammendments in the ]) were largely ignored by these priets and bishops. The modernistic trend of injecting secular values into Catholicism itself would allow for a much smoother relationship in these areas. Also, the downplaying of the doctrines taught by the Church contrary to the ] led them to be virtually unknown by succeeding generations of Catholics, causing newly ordained priests and bishops to almost automatically have secularist beliefs. | ||
| *The |
*The evolution of dogmas theory, much like certain interpretations of being saved "sola fidei", allow for a constant updating (critics would say "loosening") of standards of morality. As moral standards shifted heavily during the 20th century, previously a Catholic would have had to deny his faith to engage in some of the actions of his contemporaries. Now, citing that dogmas can change, it was possible to update Catholic ] while not being concerned with possible contradictions. | ||
| == Church Officials Response to Modernism == | == Church Officials Response to Modernism == | ||
| The Pope Pius the Xth was the first to label Modernism as a movement. He wrote many encylicals condeming the ideas of |
The Pope Pius the Xth was the first to label Modernism as a movement. He wrote many encylicals condeming the ideas of Modernism. He was greatly concerned with the ability of Modernism to allow its adherents to believe they are strict Catholics yet have a markedly different belief as to what that means (this was enabled by the evolution of dogmas theory). Due to this, he instituted the ] to in a way force people to come to clear terms with what they believe. He also, more controversially, introduced a secret ] soceity called the ] to spy on ] to see if Modernism was taught in them. Catholics reason that this had to be done because of the dangerous structure of modernist thinking. | ||
| As the 20th century wore on however, most modernist ideas became accepted by the vast majority of all Catholics. Today, the attacks against Modernism were seen as |
As the 20th century wore on however, most modernist ideas became accepted by the vast majority of all Catholics. Today, the attacks against Modernism were seen as stifling some of the best theologians of the time, and Pope St. Pius the Xth has been listed as one of the worst popes of all time. | ||
| {{Msg:Stub}} | |||
Revision as of 08:35, 3 July 2004
Modernism is, according to the teachings of the Catholic Church, a heresy. First condemned in 1910 by Pope St. Pius X, Modernism is characterised by an unwillingness to accept defined Church dogmas accompanied by claims for the possibility of the evolution of dogma - a notion subtly distinct from Cardinal Newman's teaching on the "development of doctrine".
Modernism was a term given by clergy, theologians, and popes such as Pius X, to describe series of movements and beliefs of other Catholic and Protestant theologians, clergy, and bishops. It should be noted that almost none of the "modernists" called themselves that or saw themselves as a unified group, this label was applied to them by the popes and others.
Modernism in the Catholic Church is the result of a few certain memes and schools of thought popular in the Catholic and Protestant Churches around the turn of the 20th century:
- Textual Criticism of the Bible. In other words, attempting to reevalute the meaning of the Bible by focusing on the text alone and ignoring what others have historically taught about it, especially with the assumptions that the miracles described within couldn't have possibly happened and attempting to piece together what really happened and why the writers might have written about what they did. This way of looking at the Bible became quite popular in the Protestant churches and found its way into Catholic churches. It was an offshoot of the concept of sola scriptura, since that doctrine describes the ability for an individual to learn all necessary religion by reading the Bible alone.
- Secularism and other enlightenment ideals. The ideal of secularism, essentially meaning the best course of action in politics and more is to organize everything on what desperate groups and religions share as a view of what is "good". In other words, that Church and State should be seperated, and that the laws of the state should generally only cover the "common ground" of beliefs between the various religious groups that might be in the state, for example the prohibition of murder, etc. From the secularists point of view, it was possible to distinguish between political ideas and structures that were religious and those that were not. Many Catholic theologians at the time did not believe that such a distinction was possible, they believed that all aspects of society had to be organized with the final goal of heaven in mind. Secularism was first started by certain English philosophers who attempted to create a "universal relgion" based on the "common denominator" of all other religions. Secularism further spread through the enlightenment secret societies such as the Freemasons, the Illuminati, and the Carboreri.
- The modern philosophical systems, such as Kant. One of the main currents in modernist thought was to attempt to synthesize the vocabularies/epistemologies/metaphysics and other features of certain modern systems of philosophy with Catholicism, in much the same way the Scholastics earlier attempted to synthesize Platonic and Aristotlean philosophy with Catholicism.
The combination of these three currents usually led to other conclusions which were common in Modernist thinking:
- That religion is primarily a matter of irrational emotions: Since textual criticism teaches that miracles did not really happen, and the philosophical systems in vouge at the time taught that the existence of God and other things could never be known, then religion must be primarily caused and centered on the feelings of believers. This plays into secularism as it weakens any position that would support the favoring of one religion over the other in the state, since religion is primarily about the individuals feelings it would self defeating to do something to hurt those feelings.
The Evolution of Dogmas
The final overall teaching of Modernism, is that dogmas (what is taught by the church and what its members are required to believe) evolves over time, rather then being the same for all time. This aspect of thought was what made Modernism unique in the history of heresies in the church. Previously, a heretic (someone who believed and taught something different then what the rest of the church believed) would either claim that he was right and the rest of the church was wrong because he had recieved new revalation from God, or that he had understood the true teaching of God which was previously understood but then lost. Both of those scenarios almost necessarily led to an organizational seperation away from the church, a schism, or being kicked out of the church, an excommunication. With this new idea that doctrines evolve, it was possible for the modernist to believe that the old teachings of the church AND his new seemingly contradictory teachings were both correct, each had their time and place. This system works with almost any type of new belief that the modernist might want to introduce, and for this reason Modernism was labled the "snythesis of all heresies" by Pope Pius X.
Social/Anthropological causes for Modernism according to Catholics
Catholic historians and theologians also have social explanations as to why Modernism developed as it did and became so popular:
- Working with the modern philisophical systems was trendy, it allowed theologians to work with non-Catholic philosopher contemporaries, and not to be looked down upon as "ancient" for an exclusive following of philosophers such as Aristotle.
- In the Americas, especially in the United States, priests bishops and theologians were surrounded by a culture and laity fully enraptured with the concept of secularism. Anti-Catholic uprisings in the early colonies and later caused a desire for priests and bishops to "fit in" and to "prove their loyality to the American way". Embarassing encylicals such as the Syllabus of Errors (which condemned most of the ammendments in the Bill of Rights) were largely ignored by these priets and bishops. The modernistic trend of injecting secular values into Catholicism itself would allow for a much smoother relationship in these areas. Also, the downplaying of the doctrines taught by the Church contrary to the Constitution led them to be virtually unknown by succeeding generations of Catholics, causing newly ordained priests and bishops to almost automatically have secularist beliefs.
- The evolution of dogmas theory, much like certain interpretations of being saved "sola fidei", allow for a constant updating (critics would say "loosening") of standards of morality. As moral standards shifted heavily during the 20th century, previously a Catholic would have had to deny his faith to engage in some of the actions of his contemporaries. Now, citing that dogmas can change, it was possible to update Catholic morality while not being concerned with possible contradictions.
Church Officials Response to Modernism
The Pope Pius the Xth was the first to label Modernism as a movement. He wrote many encylicals condeming the ideas of Modernism. He was greatly concerned with the ability of Modernism to allow its adherents to believe they are strict Catholics yet have a markedly different belief as to what that means (this was enabled by the evolution of dogmas theory). Due to this, he instituted the Anti-Modernist Oath to in a way force people to come to clear terms with what they believe. He also, more controversially, introduced a secret McArthyist soceity called the Solidatium Pianum to spy on seminaries to see if Modernism was taught in them. Catholics reason that this had to be done because of the dangerous structure of modernist thinking.
As the 20th century wore on however, most modernist ideas became accepted by the vast majority of all Catholics. Today, the attacks against Modernism were seen as stifling some of the best theologians of the time, and Pope St. Pius the Xth has been listed as one of the worst popes of all time.