Shucks, I came here this morning intending to comment on your attempted synthesis between Orthodox asceticism and Individualism, but I read this instead! ;)
I was pleasantly surprised at the bishop's collective response during covid. The only "canonical" bishop I am aware of who set up a shallow "Faith vs. Reason {or Reality}" dichotomy was Isaiah of Denver (GOARCH), though others such as the de facto heresiarch (IMO) Peter Heers did as well, and these sorts usually have very strong social media presence and thus influence.
That said IMO there is a real "Crisis of Competency", which is a crises of *authority* both within and without the Church presently. While it has its political consequences obviously, it is mostly centered around two core aspects: 1) the lack of consensus as to what exactly "science" is and is not, itself consequence of the tension/conflict between Baconian methodological materialism and Cartesian individualism (the two legs of modernism). These two rest on non commensurable *metaphysics* (not epistemology as is often asserted), though western intellectual history of the last 500 years is in large part the story of various attempts at a synthesis (Kant as just one example). Indeed, it could be said that western "liberal" modernism is the "ontology" of this tension - the lived "being" of these two dogs and cats trying to lie together :)
For the Church, as well as for modern American politics, this crises of competency/authority is most visible in in the anthropological issues. Many modern medical doctors, psychological and social scientists, and moralizers (political, clerical, etc.) now often tell me that my moral position vis-a-vis my neighbor is now defined by Hegelian/Marxist metaphysical understanding of what a human being is and what is moral in society (i.e. "systemic racism", DEI, LBGQwerty, etc.). I recall at the height of the BLM riots the UOC-USA bishops recommended that I 'search my own heart for my systemic bias' (that's a paraphrase - I'm not going to look up the exact wording of the statement).
More recently my current Metropolitan (SABA, Antioch) has nothing but "questions" to the historic novel ordination of a women to the modern diaconate. He strikes me as a man who is utterly without answers, neither anthropological, theological, or ecclesial. He sheepishly looks to "studies" and "science". To put it bluntly, he is a man without (spiritual) *authority* (which is to say impotent) in my eyes.
In this essay I believe you have competently refuted the "science" of the young earth creationist, the snake handling "Faith Healer" - I was not aware of St. Augustine's and St. Gregory's work on this! However, is not the modern Church and society not characterized by a much deeper and more complex crises of metaphysics, anthropology and thus "competency"?
Shucks, I came here this morning intending to comment on your attempted synthesis between Orthodox asceticism and Individualism, but I read this instead! ;)
I was pleasantly surprised at the bishop's collective response during covid. The only "canonical" bishop I am aware of who set up a shallow "Faith vs. Reason {or Reality}" dichotomy was Isaiah of Denver (GOARCH), though others such as the de facto heresiarch (IMO) Peter Heers did as well, and these sorts usually have very strong social media presence and thus influence.
That said IMO there is a real "Crisis of Competency", which is a crises of *authority* both within and without the Church presently. While it has its political consequences obviously, it is mostly centered around two core aspects: 1) the lack of consensus as to what exactly "science" is and is not, itself consequence of the tension/conflict between Baconian methodological materialism and Cartesian individualism (the two legs of modernism). These two rest on non commensurable *metaphysics* (not epistemology as is often asserted), though western intellectual history of the last 500 years is in large part the story of various attempts at a synthesis (Kant as just one example). Indeed, it could be said that western "liberal" modernism is the "ontology" of this tension - the lived "being" of these two dogs and cats trying to lie together :)
For the Church, as well as for modern American politics, this crises of competency/authority is most visible in in the anthropological issues. Many modern medical doctors, psychological and social scientists, and moralizers (political, clerical, etc.) now often tell me that my moral position vis-a-vis my neighbor is now defined by Hegelian/Marxist metaphysical understanding of what a human being is and what is moral in society (i.e. "systemic racism", DEI, LBGQwerty, etc.). I recall at the height of the BLM riots the UOC-USA bishops recommended that I 'search my own heart for my systemic bias' (that's a paraphrase - I'm not going to look up the exact wording of the statement).
More recently my current Metropolitan (SABA, Antioch) has nothing but "questions" to the historic novel ordination of a women to the modern diaconate. He strikes me as a man who is utterly without answers, neither anthropological, theological, or ecclesial. He sheepishly looks to "studies" and "science". To put it bluntly, he is a man without (spiritual) *authority* (which is to say impotent) in my eyes.
In this essay I believe you have competently refuted the "science" of the young earth creationist, the snake handling "Faith Healer" - I was not aware of St. Augustine's and St. Gregory's work on this! However, is not the modern Church and society not characterized by a much deeper and more complex crises of metaphysics, anthropology and thus "competency"?