(Posted by Glaucon Jr)
In light of the posts and conversations and demands for the
Truth Faith, accountability, and ecclesiastic maneuvering about to come about (at least I hope), we need to say a quick word about the
word hermeneutics before we get to it
on the NCW on Sunday.
To perhaps overly simplify it, hermeneutics refers to how one interprets a text, particularly
Scripture. In a larger sense, it’s how one interprets the world. One’s
hermeneutic—whether when dealing with Scripture or not—tends to color
everything in the way you see things.
One of my favorite examples comes from Fiddler on the Roof. In the movie, amongst the colorful cast of characters,
a young Communist named Perchik (played by Paul Michael Glaser of Starsky and Hutch fame) comes to stay
with Tevye’s family in return for school lesson for the younger children.
Perchik tells the children the story of Jacob and Laban (Gen.29:15-28), and how
Jacob agreed to work for Laban for seven years in return for the hand of his
younger daughter Rachel. But after the seven years, Laban pulled the
switcheroo, and Jacob wound up marrying the older sister Leah. To get Rachel,
Jacob had to work another seven years
for her.
“And the moral of the children,” Perchik says: “You can
never trust an employer.”
It’s meant as comic relief, particularly since the village
is Jewish, and the story deals with the living out of the Jewish faith. Even so,
Perchik illustrates how his Communist hermeneutic of class warfare colors
everything, including how he reads the Scriptures.
It’s the same thing with the NCW. Kiko’s hermeneutic colors
everything, and it’s primarily responsible for why dialogue with the NCW is
virtually impossible, why their liturgy is aberrant, their Marian devotion
diminished, and their contempt for the Tradition and traditional Catholics so
great.
Until then.
