WHY NO WOMEN PREISTS Rev. Ivan Cosby's Paper

Rev. Cosby's PaperCONCEPT

WHY NO WOMEN PRIESTS¹⁾

Reverend I.P.S.G. COSBY

II. HOW WE HAVE GOT TO WHERE WE ARE

3. ‘Critical Theory’ of the Frankfurt School
The philosophical genre, generally known as the Critical Theory of the Frankfurt School has, like the Hegelian philosophical concept of relativism from which it is descended, a direct bearing on how and why contemporary secular humanist society thinks the way it does and holds the values that it does. In short, the critical Theorists began as a movement of frustrated Marxist-Leninists. Apart from the failed German Putsch in 1923 and the Soviets revolution in Russia, the collapse of the capitalist world as predicted by Karl Marx and Engels failed to come about. The ‘critical theories’ that emanated from the Frankfurt School were an attempt to understand why this was so, and contemplated what needed to be done to bring about the overthrow of the capitalist world and its firmly entrenched establishments one of which was the Church. The movement’s proponents set about making critical investigations of the institutions, ideals and prevailing principles that sustained the Western Civilisation’s status quo. It was an attempt to undermine the infrastructure of the Capitalist West, by questioning the legitimacy of its institutions and established values.⁹⁾

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9) 　For a brief lucid introductory lecture on the subject, see: the L’abri Fellowship series of Friday Lectures, Christian Reflections on Critical Theory (Part 1: 17th July 2021, & Part 2: 24th July 2021.)

The movement began with the founding of the Institute for Social Research by Karl Grünberg (1861–1940) at Frankfurt University. He was a Marxist Philosopher of Law & History. Also important in the movement was Max Horkheimer (1895–1973) who was interested in authoritarianism. What concerned him was the ability of militarism and economic forces to cause disruption and the adverse effects these forces had on the public whom he called the Masses. This led to the development of his critical theories.¹⁰⁾ Other pioneers of the movement included Theodore Adorno whose critique of modern society was to influence the European New Left. Other prominent members of the movement were Erick Fromm, Herbert Marcuse and Sigmund Freud. Failing to appreciate that Humanism is itself a religion the school, in particular Freud, was dismissive of what it perceived to be religion, in particular Christianity.

These authors became required reading on the syllabi of most western universities, particularly during the post-World War II era, giving rise to a whole generation of uni versity graduates moving into positions of influence, such as teaching, the media, public relations and politics. The consequences of this has been that in western society at large there has evolved a quasi-intellectual class of professionals that sees itself as being progressive, mildly socialist, critical of tradition and of the Establishment. Such people tend to be dismissive of Christianity on the grounds that it is, more or less irrelevant, if not myth.

The phrase ‘opium of the people’ coined originally by Karl Marx, was much quoted throughout the 20th century as a remark dismissive of Christianity in particular. Christianity, if not dismissed as fiction, could only be contemplated as some form of deism or psychological crutch that degenerated into some expression of animism. The term ‘Gaia,’ the Greek mother goddess that is the living Earth, became avant-garde. With the collapse of the Soviet Union and the liberation of its satellite states in Eastern Europe and the Baltic, this genre of semi-intellectual liberal, quasi-socialistic political class suddenly dropped what Bernard Shaw once called ‘creeping socialism’¹¹⁾and became liberal-democratic in its politics instead.

Liberal enlightened society became overtly atheist in its religion, and saw ways to undermine deeply ingrained Christian values in particular. Not surprisingly, the Family as a concept came under the spotlight of adverse criticism. Faithful to the two com mandments (See pp. 96 & 97 above) of the Humanist religion, the concept of family was critically undermined when primacy was given to the individual over and above the family. Christianity, like other traditional societies and established ‘religions,’ has historically upheld the family as the basic unit of society, having an internal hierarchical yet intimate structure. This has largely given way to the individual being the basic unit of society, in accordance with the values originally unleashed by the French Revolution. Other factors have also played their part, such as increased social mobility.

True, the individual in a Christian family has a unique relationship with God, but this also requires him to honour his Father and Mother (No. 5 of the 10 Commandments.) Where the Family is the basic unit of society, each individual is a fraction of the whole. Tax law was at one time skewed to favour and protect the concept of family. Since the latter part of the 20th century, this bias is gradually being removed in favour of treating all individuals the same. There was a time, for example, when members of the armed services and company employees would be paid a marriage allowance, in recognition of the fact that when no differential was made, the quality of life of a bachelor would be significantly higher than that of a married man if their salaries were the same. It also recognized that the married man carried a social responsibility that the bachelor did not.

The Critical Truth genus, arguably has been the underlying force, and the one most responsible for attempting to undermine the traditional roles assigned to the sexes in how they relate to each other and in what each expects and requires of the other. This is in part done by taking terms and alluding to them in either a purgative, condemnatory way or on the other hand in a favourable, wholesome, respectable beneficial way. Take for example the term ‘Patriarchy’ which is perceived to be wrong, anachronistic, and unrighteous to the point of being evil. Whereas, ‘Matriarchy’ is something wholesome, to be aspired towards, is progressive and a feature of future good order, even righteous.

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10) 　See, Eclipse of Reason (1947)
11) 　See, Schwartz, Pedro. ‘George Bernard Shaw & Creeping Socialism

4. Religion is Foundational, not Superficial
The consequential importance of the Ordination of Women is not that it instigated, but that it reflects and has given credence to the Principle of Relativism as being a foundational principle of western secular civilisation. Why so? The contemporary secular world would have us believe that Religion is a superficial matter. That is to say it is something personal, which has no place in public affairs or in the determination of national policy. The state is a-religious. This of course is patently untrue, as will be explained below when one asks the question: What is religion?

Religion is a philosophical construct or paradigm that provides an answer to the fundamental questions of life, for example: Is there life after death? Does God exist? How did life begin? How should we live? etc. Religion provides credible answers to those questions. On the basis of those answers, a moral order evolves, which determines, at a profound level what a people understand to be right as opposed to wrong. It is that moral infrastructure and the beliefs that underpin it which evolves into and is the foundation of what we understand a civilisation to be. In other words, religion is foundational, quite the opposite to what the Humanists would have us believe.

It demonstrates how facile is the observation made by Alistair Campbell, when speaking of politics at Westminster, said, “We do not do God.”¹²⁾More significantly, for our purpose, Humanism itself is as much a religion as is Christianity. The essential difference between the two religions, which in turn determines what each considers to be moral rectitude, is that Christianity believes GOD exists and that eternal life after death is a reality. The Humanist religion (WEH) believes that GOD does not exist and that there is no such thing as eternal life after death. As such it is dismissive of Christianity. To be so, the humanists have to believe that the Resurrection of Christ is fiction. This, WEH has never yet been able to demonstrate or prove.

As the western world increasingly subscribes to the Humanist religion of the Enlightenment, political legislatures are increasingly filled with members who subscribe to the Humanist religion, What were once Christian inspired Laws of the Land are steadily being replaced by laws that conform to the principles and morality of the WEH religion. Not only is this religion currently dismissive of Christianity, it is afraid of Islam, as the Salman Rushdie¹³⁾ and Charlie Hepdo¹⁴⁾incidents revealed. As stated above Liberal Christianity is about being relevant to the values of a secular world (humanism,) but as has been shown, that attempt to remain relevant actually translates into adopting humanist principles and finding an intellectual way to square those values with Christianity. That cannot be done without compromising the integrity of the Gospel. If one attempts to do so, the price is to go beyond the bound of both truth and reality. As those subscribers to WEH progress along their chosen path it will in the course of time become glaringly self-evident that they are living in and believing in a world of fiction and of unreality.

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12) 　Alistair Campbell, then Prime Minister Tony Blair’s Press Secretary and Director of Communications and Strategy made the comment on the BBC News programme on 22nd April 2014.
13) 　Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie, b. 1947 of Liberal Muslim parentage; Satanic Verses (1988) resulted in Fatwa being
declared against him; He has described himself as ‘hard-line atheist.’ (Bill Moyers on Faith & Religion – Bill
Moyers & Salman Rushdie PBS 2006). Knighted (2007), made a Companion of Honour (2022)
14) 　‘Charlie Hebdo’ is a secular satirical publication founded in 1970 whose satire is directed inter alia against religion in general, Roman Catholicism, Islam and Judaism in particular. In 2015, Islamists attacked the publication’s premises in Paris killing the publishing director and 12 others.