What: What is Catholicism? It is a mixture of many intellectual and political themes over the last 1700 or 2000 years, depending on how you count it. The 2 major ingredients are a Roman governing structure and a Jewish moral sensibility. In practice it ends up being like Italian Salad dressing, that is 2 incompatible phases, oil and water. The 2 major elements are Roman authoritarianism and Jewish asceticism. Think about it; Catholicism is rich, Roman and very authority driven. It is Italianized Christianity. At its heart it's an Italian institution that's conjoined with the teachings an ascetic Jew who ran around in the desert with very little to his name. Did Jesus live in a Baroque palace? How can these 2 traditions coexist in the same institution?

Writer: LucretiaGermanica

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Date: Jun 28 2010 2:40 AM