No Zombie Jesus: The Vatican and Roger Haight

[struggle4progress]

By Jason Von Wachenfeldt
April 10, 2009

In 1999 Orbis Books published Jesus Symbol of God, a book by systematic theologian Roger Haight, S.J. Before the year was out, Haight was made aware that he and his book were under investigation by the Vatican. He was told that while the inquiry was ongoing he could not teach at the Jesuit faculty where he was then teaching, nor any Catholic university. The investigation lasted more than five years, during which the Vatican sent objections to specific points in Haight’s writing, and he in turn defended his positions. There were two rounds of this and each time his responses were found unsatisfactory.

This outcome was in some ways inevitable: the Vatican insisted on a repetition of ancient theological language and Haight’s project was intended for a current intellectual context. In March 2005, he was declared not to be a Catholic theologian and forbidden to teach Catholic theology—which effectively meant he was forbidden to teach in a Catholic institution until he used the prescribed language. At that time he had been at Union Theological Seminary for a year, an ecumenical institution, but Rome maintained the pressure on Haight. The most recent measure, announced last spring, decrees that he can no longer teach anywhere or publish, though he is allowed to honor his contract at Union for academic year 2008-2009 ...

... Haight was affirming the continued relevance of Christianity to the contemporary philosophical and social context that has posed such challenges to the legitimacy of certain traditional Christian claims. A lack of adequate response to these challenges has resulted in many people leaving the Church. Haight saw himself as responding to reasonable critique with a reasonable response — he was doing what he was supposed to do as a priest and as a theologian ... Haight would say that resurrection can only be understood from a personal standpoint. It starts with our hopes regarding our own death and the deaths of our loved ones. The common hope is that we do not die, but continue to exist in the sphere of God. Understanding Jesus’ resurrection can only begin on the basis of hope. Following from this, Haight would affirm that the resurrection was not an historical event that happened physically and empirically in the space-time continuum ... Haight would stress the resurrection is a difficult idea to understand because we have no sensory referent. Whenever we talk about things in this world, we have an imagination that works on our behalf. But with the resurrection, the imagination fails and actually begins to work against us ...

http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/religionandtheology/1318/no_zombie_jesus:_the_vatican_and_roger_haight

[laconicsax]

1. That's disappointing. What's the official position on the zombie invasion of Jerusalem?

Matthew 27:51-53

⁵¹And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; ⁵²And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, ⁵³And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.

If Church (or any church) wanted to reach out to a younger generation, they could back a zombie movie based on this.

[MikeE]

2. Oh, great idea, with the zombie worshipers

saying a magical incantation over ordinary foodstuffs, changing them into the actual flesh and blood of their zombie lords, who they then proceed to ritualistically canibalize :rofl:

[laconicsax]

6. No need to mock the transubstantiation.

Zombie movies are usually big at the box office. Using the Gospels as a source could lead them to put 'based on true events' on the poster and advertisements. Think about it. A zombie movie 'based on true events' is potentially a box office gold mine.

Whenever an entertaining movie claims historical origins, people go out and try to learn more about it. I think that a kick-ass zombie movie based on that short line in the Gospels would spur a lot of interest in Christianity. A church could capitalize on this.

[MikeE]

7. Well, they could always get some Hatian zombie powder

and... Oh nevermind LOL Still, it definitely could also give birth to a whole round of jokes about why the fundies tend to be stupid: What is a zombies favorite food? Brains of course and so the reason for the idiocy of the fundies is because their zombie lord ate their brains. :rofl:

Seriously, I don't want to mock anyone's beliefs as long as they don't push it on me or mock mine, but it is interesting to look at something from the outside and see it from a completely different angle.

[struggle4progress]

3. The article in the OP will be of interest to those who have followed the official Roman reactions

to various theologians over the last quarter century

I suppose your reaction means that such issues are of no interest to you: if so, I suggest you might devote your time more profitably to matters that you consider interesting

[pnwmom]

4. Unfortunately, I think your title line will attract exactly that kind of response.

The mockers and the ridiculers.

I almost didn't read the OP because of the word zombie, but I'm glad I did. I hope Haight's treatment by the Vatican will serve to increase interest in his books.

[struggle4progress]

8. Sorry. Habit from LBN of using the actual headline. eom

[laconicsax]

5. I read the article before posting.

You have shown a certain skill at presenting numerous links quickly, I assumed that you would have a link addressing that issue.

[Occam Bandage]

9. "Haight would affirm that the resurrection was not an historical event that happened physically"

Um, obviously he wouldn't be allowed to teach Catholic theology. If you were to be an aspiring Ulema, and were to write that Muhammad did not actually receive revelation from God, you probably wouldn't find yourself successful either.

And if you were to be an aspiring Buddhist, and were to write that the Buddha never existed...well, then you'd be on the right track.

[struggle4progress]

11. I haven't read the book, and I don't know how accurately the student represents his views

Dermot Lane at the Mater Dei Institute of Education, Dublin, gave it a good review here: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb6404/is_2_61/ai_n28779491/

... Mater Dei Institute of Education ... was established in 1966 as a third-level Catholic College of Education specialising in the academic and professional formation of Religious Educators and Teachers for post-primary schools in Ireland. The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin is the Patron of the Institute ... http://www.materdei.ie/the-institute/

The underlying issue may be whether one can glean anything worthwhile from the texts without necessarily first adopting the whole traditional Christian theology, and Orbis has sometimes done some innovative publishing wor in this regard, bringing to the public texts that interpret Christianity from unusual perspectives: Orbis publications examining the Bible from a Marxist point of view led me to reconsider Christianity in a time when I had essentially become an atheist, and I still have a significant respect for their efforts to take seriously the task of trying to read those old texts seriously from unconventional angles

[damntexdem]

10. He can teach anywhere that hires him. The Church just doesn't want him to.

If he truly believes in his interpretations, he should ignore the Vatican's objections to his teaching, writing, and publishing.

[struggle4progress]

12. He may intend to keep the SJ after his name