THE
P RTAL
April 2016
Page 24
The reverse of a
genuine interest
in religion
Is the current fascination for TV programmes
and books about religion a genuine quest
for the truth, or, as Geoffrey Kirk suggests,
“a snobbish condescension”?
S
ome of you will remember, in far-off Anglican days, when every feast of the Church was
accompanied by a media outburst from Dr David Jenkins (erstwhile Bishop of Durham) denying or
attacking the doctrine in question. ‘A conjuring trick with bones’; ‘I wouldn’t put it past God to arrange for a
virgin birth if he wanted to; but I very much doubt that he would’; etc., etc.
Welcome, as Catholics, to the exciting world of déjà
vu, where a former editor of the Catholic Herald has
made an industry out of what for Jenkins was merely
a hobby.
roll call of absurdities
The list of Peter Stanford’s books is a veritable roll call
of absurdities. It was he who gave us an ‘in-depth’ study
of Pope Joan, complete with the obligatory television
programme. He it was who wrote the ‘biography’ of the
Devil. And now he has given us a more ‘sympathetic’
Judas, and to go with it a documentary presented by
the celebrity couch-potato Vicar, Kate Bottley. He
seems determined to mar every Easter with a crass
piece of populist revisionism.
‘Teach Yourself’ Catholicism
More dangerously, Stanford is responsible for ‘Teach
itself, but a good deal about contemporary attitudes
Yourself ’ Catholicism.
to religion. For publishing success, it appears, the
approach must be oblique, the tone questing and
‘Catholicism: A Complete Introduction is
sceptical. This is religion as a cultural artefact. We have
designed to give you everything you need to
entered a world where people go in search of things in
succeed in your studies, all in one place. It covers
places that are exotic or merely telegenic: ‘I have come
the key themes and topics that you are expected
to Jerusalem to uncover the truth about Judas’. And
to understand, outlining the basics in clear
the far-flung destination, unsurprisingly, proves to be
jargon-free English, and then providing addeda place where the prejudices and preconceptions of the
value features like key ideas, quotations, and
even lists of questions you might be asked in your zeitgeist are obligingly confirmed.
seminar or exam.’
The publishing success of such books – and
beginners’ guide to Heaven
Stanford has not been short of enthusiastic reviewers
Stanford has even capped his achievements with a – shows the reverse of a genuine interest in religion,
beginners’ guide to Heaven.
even less a genuine thirst for faith. It demonstrates,
rather, a snobbish condescension. The faith of the
What we learn from all this literary activity is very ages is tragically reduced to a branch of historical
little about Pope Joan, the Devil, Judas or Heaven anthropology.
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