Dogma & Idolatry

In the first to today’s “On the Square” articles, R. R. Reno examines The Idols of Revisionist Theology . They are not the kind of idols Scripture condemns, but precisely the kind of dogmatic security more traditional Christians believe protects us from idolatry.

Perhaps unconsciously echoing Erich Fromm’s notion that human beings are constantly tempted by a desire to “escape from freedom,” he [Mark Johnston] observes that we are afflicted by an “existential anxiety” that seeks resolution by way of loyalty to inherited “truths.” Instead of facing the question “How am I then to live?”—a question he presumes we must answer for ourselves—we take refuge in authoritative dogmas. This turn to dogma—letting God answer the question of the meaning of life—is by Johnson’s reckoning the essence of idolatry.

Coming about 10:00 will be today’s second “On the Square” article, Gerald McDermott’s “Israel and the Vatican,” surveying the development of the Catholic Church’s thinking about the state of Israel, recently raised again by an eastern Catholic’s controversial comments.

Update: Gerald McDermott’s Israel and the Vatican is now up .