archives

By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
Lugano, Switzerland

A leading New Testament scholar, and former Catholic priest, has criticized Pope Benedict XVI’s 2007 book on the Gospels, Jesus of Nazareth, saying that its insistence on identifying the historical Jesus with the Christ of traditional Christian faith has “turned back the clock” on modern scholarship.

The comments from Geza Vermes, author of the acclaimed book Jesus the Jew and a longtime professor at Oxford, came during a summit of leading Western intellectuals May 16-17 in Lugano, Switzerland, devoted to the theme of “truth.” The gathering was sponsored by the Balzan Foundation, which awards the Swiss-Italian equivalent of the Nobel Prize.

By David Finnigan
Religion News Service

LOS ANGELES -- The election-year fallout from last week’s ruling by the California Supreme Court to allow same-sex marriage has both sides of the religious and political landscape building their barricades.

Gay marriage advocates are jubilant but cautious as they hold onto their landmark court victory, while the opponents hope to make it a major issue in the November elections.

You know how sometimes we don’t know what to say to people who’ve been terribly hurt, shocked or injured by an ongoing trauma? We don’t want to, in any way, accidentally distress them further. So, we might say nothing, and just hope they know our good intentions, that our prayers are with them.

But, long ago, the how-tos about helping injured people were laid out in an ancient document. In the 8th century B.C., an old man poet named Yeša-yáhu, was married to a woman called “The Prophetess,” who no doubt influenced him to the good, for he wrote a wildly compassionate list of how to proceed with people who were strong, but who had also been hurt by being at war, even though they’d finally made it home again.

‘Right off, first thing,’ the old poet said, ‘Believe.’
Believe the words, tone of voice, touches needed for helping and healing the wounded will be put into your heart. Believe. Then, proceed within your purview to leave no wounded person stranded.

But in our time, leaving wounded soldiers returned from war stranded seems exactly what the military arm of the U.S. government thinks ought be done.

By John Thavis
Catholic News Service

GENOA, Italy -- Pope Benedict XVI called for a "strong and credible" international accord against cluster bombs, and he offered prayers for their victims around the world.

The pope made the remarks in the northern Italian city of Genoa May 18, on the eve of a major international conference on cluster munitions in Dublin, Ireland.