Background for _Vineland_?

[Paul Mackin]

On 5/22/2012 10:17 AM, Madeleine Maudlin wrote:
> I suppose you can't answer as to why Aquinas doesn't have his own
> Church.  Who knows.  But why be a Protestant?  What's it do.  What good
> is it.  Is it the Truth?  Path to eternal life in Heaven?  Do
> Protestants believe in heaven?  What is a Protestant?
>
> But more broadly, why be a Christian, is the question.

Because your parents were. Or more broadly because Western Civilization 
was. It's a tradition thing.

If you're Jewish, it doesn't mean you believe in the religious aspects 
or practice them.  So why not the same for Christians?

Aquinas didn't start his own church because he was quite happy with the 
one that was already there . Switching from one Greek philosopher to 
another doesn't really change Christian belief.  Philosophy is only a 
tool to try to clarify things with.

Any more of these deep questions need answerin'?

P


>
> At first when I came across it on here I didn't believe it was a serious
> vibration, but now I believe that people on here are actual Christians.
>   This is shocking to me, because I've always been largely under the
> impression that well educated and intelligent people are /not/ Christians.
>
> Does it fit your personality?  Are you interested in the architecture?
>   Do you really think Jesus, the supposed Son of God, was nailed to a
> cross and died for your sins?  As that the clincher?  Does that notion
> turn you on?  Do you repent yours sins?  Or is that just for Catholics...?
>
>
> On Mon, May 21, 2012 at 9:38 PM, Michael Bailey
> <michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com <mailto:michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>     buncha good questions, here's another: that school that Mr Pynchon
>     sent his son to and donated signed books to, isn't that a Protestant
>     institution - I'm thinking Episcopal...
>
>     anyway, I was just opining - the Immaculate Heart College kind of a
>     PR3 situation, struck me - I also do a lot of posting and not enough
>     researching, but the nuns working out a new order of things and then
>     getting shown the door and that wonderful college, of which I think I
>     saw that Mary Tyler Moore was an alum, getting closed down, and
>     liberation theology falling victim to conservatism, and the contras
>     supported by the right-wing beneficiaries of Vatican conservatism,
>     gunning down that dude serving Mass, and that wonderful priest who
>     tried to unionize his brethren getting read the Riot Act by the wicked
>     Archbishop of Nottingham...
>
>     well it's the kind of stuff Protestants protest about, is how it
>     struck me
>
>     the jealous guarding of priestly prerogatives, the harsh disciplines
>     and rigid hierarchies and the chauvinism
>     (and just perhaps, untoward side effects of celibacy...)
>
>     -- like the Senator from Utah who really thought the ERA would spell
>     the end of the Republic, McIntyres was (the man who squats behind The
>     Man who works the Soft Machine) the kind of person it's really
>     tempting to think ill of, the sender of emissaries like Brock Vond...
>
>
>
>     On Mon, May 21, 2012 at 10:25 AM, Madeleine Maudlin
>     <madeleinemaudlin at gmail.com <mailto:madeleinemaudlin at gmail.com>> wrote:
>      > I suppose I should have also inquired, is Pynchon a Protestant,
>     Aquinian?
>      >  Again, flying without clicking the links...
>      >
>      >
>      > On Mon, May 21, 2012 at 8:59 AM, Madeleine Maudlin
>      > <madeleinemaudlin at gmail.com <mailto:madeleinemaudlin at gmail.com>>
>     wrote:
>      >>
>      >> What's a Protestant do again?  Why be Protestant?
>      >>
>      >> I ask because I had reason to consider Christianity for a few
>     minutes
>      >> yesterday.  Now here's a passing question: you had neoPlatonism in
>      >> Christianity for what, the first half?  Then Aquinas brought in
>     Aristotle,
>      >> and made Christianity much, more sane, maybe, kind of like the
>     Protesters
>      >> did.  Why didn't Aquinas get his own branch of Christianity?  Or
>     did he?
>      >>  Are there Animist churches of Christ, is that the line they'd
>     be, are?
>      >>  Animist Catholics?
>      >>
>      >>
>      >> On Mon, May 21, 2012 at 2:26 AM, Michael Bailey
>      >> <michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com
>     <mailto:michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com>> wrote:
>      >>>
>      >>>
>     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisters_of_the_Immaculate_Heart_of_Mary
>      >>>
>      >>> Must say (as a Protestant, and you're free to say similar stuff
>     about
>      >>> John Calvin and most definitely Martin Luther if you're a Catholic)
>      >>> that McIntyre guy sounds like a real dick!
>      >>
>      >>
>      >
>
>
>
>     --
>     "Strength you will acquire naturally, if you do plenty of work; and
>     dexterity you will acquire unconsciously with practice; but style you
>     can only acquire by constant attention, and then only if you have a
>     clear idea of what to aim at." - A. F. Jenkin
>
>