I usually have a collection of books going at the same time. One that I picked up at a used book sale was the personal journals of Pope John XXIII. I am not a Roman Catholic. I don’t see any way I would ever be a Catholic but that is not because I cast them out of the Christian family. I don’t think I could ever be a Baptist either. The family of God is much bigger than my personal opinions.
But it caught my eye. One of the subjects I have taught on is the Protestant Reformation. I firmly believe that if the popes of that day had not been so corrupt and secular then Luther would have found his answers inside the church and Lutherans would be a Catholic order like the Franciscans and Jesuits. During my lifetime I feel the popes have been decent, godly men. I know that is big of me. It is just an observation, not an attempt to replace Arnold Toynbee. They have been seeking to serve God through their understanding, rooted in the Roman Catholic tradition.
So I am working through this book. I don’t know if I will finish it. I am skimming already. One strange feeling I get is that Pope John XXIII and Martin Luther would have been soul mates. The struggles that the pope is sharing sound like echoes of the inner turmoil that the reformer was dealing with. One became pope; the other a rebel.
Pope John XXIII, Journal of a Soul. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1965.
homo unius libri
Also, if the Catholics hadn't already been kneeling before icons, Islam would probably never have come to be and Muhammed might either have been a Catholic or a Coptic.
ReplyDeleteYou have obviously been doing your homework. The form of Christianity he was was totally alien to us.
ReplyDeleteGrace and peace.