Dr. Charles Bobertz

I just wanted to post something here about our last C2BC speaker and give folks and opportunity to comment at their leisure. It would be a great help to the committee to get some feedback on the program as well as share thoughts and ideas about the presentation.

To give a brief summary:

I arrived late and missed Dr. Bobertz's introduction and beginning. Dr. Bobertz was trying to explain that scripture was written by people with a different worldview than our Post-Enlightenment thinking style. Dr. Bobertz made a terrific point that Biblical Fundamentalism and rejection of the Bible due to literal reading are both rooted in trying to read scripture through our scientific mindset.

Dr. Bobertz emphasized that the Catholic position encompasses both faith and reason, (directed people to Fides et Ratio), and maintains a tense balance between the two.

Joe Stiles made a comment during the Q&A that we are called to try to bridge the gap to people who misrepresent or erroneously assume the Catholic position.

Dr. Wilson commended Dr. Bobertz for maintaining faithfulness to the catechism in a field and academic culture not known for its fidelity. Dr. Bobertz shared a story from his early academic career where a professor as determined to undermine his faith and largely succeeded. Later on, Dr. Bobertz had an epiphany experience and now sees historical-critical method as a tool, but everything must be illuminated by faith, as the method alone is not in keeping with the spirit of the scriptural texts themselves.

There was another question about the press being generated by the non-canonical gospels. Dr. Bobertz drew an outline showing that the canonical gospels have a solid plot structure leading up to the Passion and Resurrection, emphasizing the physical incarnation of Jesus Christ. The non-canonical gospels overspiritualized Jesus, at times presenting him as a disembodied spirit. The groups who wrote these works saw matter and the body as evil. Dr. Bobertz mentioned the Heaven's Gate cult (suicide group who wanted their spirits to travel to a comet) as a modern example of how those ideas are still with us.

I dont want to write much more here. Want to keep this portion as an outline and leave the comments section for....comments!!

Have a great day.