The dinkelberry gang want to run posters off

[giblets]

Apparently the "Catholics are pederasts" stereotype still hasn't filtered into the Beniverse.

[Ben Kenobi]

Are you suggesting that the Beniverse is significantly different from the catechism of the Catholic church?

[C0ckney]

ben you're a history teacher, right? does the catholic church have a special view on history, i mean we all know you have your own 'special' way of looking at history, but how does catholic history differ from regular history.

[rah]

A lot of those priests thought they were "teaching" those youngsters.

[Zoetstofzoetje]

Unfortunately, the boys in question swallowed the evidence!

[Ben Kenobi]

ben you're a history teacher, right? does the catholic church have a special view on history, i mean we all know you have your own 'special' way of looking at history, but how does catholic history differ from regular history.

Good question. See if I can answer it in a couple of paragraphs.

The Catholic Church is significantly older than most historical philosophies. Fr'nstance, Marxism. So, understanding the history of the Church using post- French Revolution ideologies doesn't really work.

I'm a von Rankean which in itself poses problems. Von Ranke has an excellent history of the Catholic church written from the perspective of a Lutheran. It was considered to be one of the best histories of the church written. I use that book significantly, and the in-house stuff much less so. Most of the in-house stuff, (at least the stuff that the diocese had access to), is pretty much completely from a modernist perspective, much that you are probably familiar with and unacceptable to me. I got permission after the first few weeks to significantly revise their curriculum, and do a much more thorough job.

To supplement von Ranke, I used a bunch of different Church historians, Eusebius mostly for the ancient stuff. For the medieval period, Pope Gregory and some of the stuff from Bede. There's just so much stuff out there that we just glossed over things.

With regards to specific questions, the Church takes several positions that aren't entirely obvious.

One, it looks at the universal church. The church in it's entirety is seen as a whole and undivided, and the Catholic identity supercedes others, such as say nationalism or class or race. The important thing is faith. There is more in common with German and French Catholics than between their compatriots.

Two, taking from that perspective, you look at the entire history of the church. The early period is very controversial, and you have no other option than to use in-house sources for this, (especially as von Ranke is a protestant). The Church teaches the following: that they are the Church founded by Christ. That there is a direct apostolic succession from St. Peter to the bishops that we see today. That the bible is accurate in the historical sense, Christ died, and was resurrected from the dead on a date that we can add to history like any other. Miracles are real and they have historical effects, etc.

Then you take in specifics. They use the entire apocryphal. They don't believe in the Vernacular as superior to the originals in Greek or Hebrew. They still use Latin for many ecclesiastical ideas and many concepts which are not expressed well in English. Get a sense of teaching that you are giving them the English take let alone anything specifically American. I chose to make one of my first classes about the link between the American founders and between the Catholic church, specifically along the lines of a defense of liberty and the concept of natural rights. This in itself could have been an entire month but I didn't want to spend too long discussing the somewhat complicated relationship between the to, but just to gloss over the main points in the constitution.

We spent much more time going over the Glorious Revolution, and Henry VIII than we did because of anything specifically American, which should give you an idea of what my course was like. We looked at the reformation as recent history and America, even more so. Talked about the dissolution of the monasteries, etc. That's probably the more controversial disagreement with mainstream historians, especially over the reformation and the role of the reformers. We spent time on Vatican I, the change in understanding of the Pope as the head of Christendom and the ruler of the Papal States, to the universal head of the Church through the Vatican. This is really significant to church history, and much less so to most secular historians.

We did quite a bit of theology, because I don't believe the Church keeps them divided into neat categories, the Church sees it all as a unified whole. The discussion as to how the theology was developed is something that happened over time and is historical, we have quotes from teh bishops and so involved as to many things that we take for granted today.

So it's a very different perspective.

Plus, other things took significant time, Dominus Exiguus and the change to AD/BC dating from Roman dating. We did a class on Roman/Greek dating systems and on Hebrew dating systems, and the shift away from them to the Christian system that we take for granted today. Days of the week, stuff like that. The ecclesiastical calendar, feast days shift to the Gregorian were all instituted by the Church in an effort to create a more accurate timekeeping system. I tried to spend time on everyday things that they all took for granted that the Church had a significant role in making what they are today.

[C0ckney]

thanks ben, although i would probably disagree with a lot of your approach and content if i looked in detail, that was actually interesting.

[dannubis]

Are you suggesting that the Beniverse is significantly different from the catechism of the Catholic church?

Yes. It is like everything that is inherently good in christianity is taken out and the crap that is left is through on a pile, you sad little man.

[The Mad Monk]

See, I think you'd be the FoxNews. DFG would be the WorldNetDaily.

No.

Weekly World News.

[Ben Kenobi]

thanks ben, although i would probably disagree with a lot of your approach and content if i looked in detail, that was actually interesting.

You might be surprised. I take a pretty conservative view in my role as a teacher. I told my students first day that I expected them to question everything and challenge evidence presented until they were satisfied.

[The Mad Monk]

The ban on incandescent lightbulbs is pretty stupid, though. The fluorescents are actually pretty annoying sometimes. They're a pain in the ass to throw away, and can take a while to warm up.

Incandescent ligthtbulbs are a perfect example of government regulations screwing things up.

[Ben Kenobi]

Yes. It is like everything that is inherently good in christianity is taken out and the crap that is left is through on a pile, you sad little man.

Do you believe, "turn the other cheek" is part of the inherent good? You are aware I am a pacifist and we did go over the whole sermon on the mount...

[dannubis]

Yes, it is easy to forgive those you understand.

Once you come across something you don't understand / are afraid of we get the dogmatic behaviour of a bunch of lemmings, consequences be damned.

[Imran Siddiqui]

that was actually interesting.

This

[DaShi]

Incandescent ligthtbulbs are a perfect example of government regulations screwing things up.

Not really.