"And listen, Gandalf, my old friend and helper!" he said, coming near and speaking now in a softer voice. "I said we, for we it may be, if you will join with me. A new Power is rising. Against it the old allies and policies will not avail us at all.There is no hope left in Elves or dying Numenor. This then is one choice before you, before us. We may join with that Power. It would be wise, Gandalf. There is hope that way. Its victory is at hand; and there will be rich reward for those that aided it. As the Power grows, its proved friends will also grow; and the Wise, such as you and I, may with patience come at last to direct its courses, to control it. We can bide our time, we can keep our thoughts in our hearts, deploring maybe evils done by the way, but approving the high and ultimate purpose. Knowledge, Rule, Order; all the things that we have so far striven in vain to accomplish, hindered rather than helped by our weak or idle friends. There need not be, there would not be, any real change in our designs, only in our means."
J.R.R. Tolkien on Douglas Kmiec
by Lydia McGrew
Comments (22)
Childish.
Posted by KC | April 11, 2009 5:42 PM
No thanks Sarauman, I'll Stick with Jesus, A blessed Easter to all W4 authors and readers !!!
Posted by Jack | April 11, 2009 6:08 PM
Oh KC if only it was. Then it would mean my blood won't be spilled. But alas Christians are baptised into Good Friday too.
PBXVI writes "Clothing gives a man his social position; it gives him his place in society, it makes him someone. His public stripping means that Jesus is no longer anything at all, he is simply an outcast, despised by all alike." When the Iowa Supreme Court is emboldened enough to call orthodox theology of sex and the body 'anti-homosexual animus' then this is a direct attack at the public respectability of Christianity - after this it won't be long before the crucifixion.
The Passion is recapitulated time and again in history - our memories are darkened and 'made in the image of God' is a great temptation for us to self-worship.
KC what is genuinely childish is stay unconscious to the massive philosophical and cultural apparatus designed to promote the belief that sex out of wedlock is morally neutral. This belief has now become so all pervasive that countless millions swim in it like a fish in water never even noticing the degree to which it is shaping and constraining them.
KC in Dr McGrew's post is the mind of the orthodox Christian community; the drawing of the battle lines of the 'mega cultural conflict of the next decade'.Si vis pacem para bellum if you want peace prepare for war. It is not charity to remain pacifist and allow people to destroy themselves and a nation's common life.
A shadow is rising. There are great ones who yet dip their bread in His cup and recline at table with him and who, to outside observers, are seen to kiss Our Lord in affection and respect but deliver Him over to his enemies. Prof. Kmiec has fear in his heart he can see what lies ahead, it would be better now for him to get out of the way rather than face the terrible condemnation 'it would have been better for that man to have never been born'.
Posted by Martin | April 11, 2009 8:31 PM
Good answer, KC. I'm impressed.
Posted by Sage | April 11, 2009 9:34 PM
Thank you, Lydia. That's catches the sense of things perfectly.
Posted by Bob LeBlanc | April 12, 2009 10:07 AM
Adultish
Posted by Francis Beckwith | April 12, 2009 1:05 PM
Let us hope
Posted by al | April 12, 2009 1:43 PM
I've been re-reading LOTR lately, had just gotten to the Council of Elrond, and was so struck by the aptness of that passage that I couldn't refrain from sharing it.
Posted by Lydia | April 12, 2009 3:13 PM
LOTR is one of the most eloquent and complex treatments of morality of the 20th century. A man could learn more about how to live life rightly from it than from any book or treatise on moral philosophy. I always saw Saruman as a good representative of the modern intellectual. He is unrivaled in rationally calculating probable outcomes and therefore abandons God when his own reason avails him not. He has no faith and even less hope, and this, coupled with his unparalleled knowledge, creates an evil that is only a little less than Sauron himself.
Also, like Kmiec, Saruman begins his existence as an intelligent and faithful servant of Truth. But he clings to his own survival and aggrandizement overmuch. Let us pray that Mr. Kmiec does not meet the same end, metaphorically, as his fictional counterpart.
If you see anything else that inspires you, please post it. LOTR is a never ending well-spring of wisdom.
Posted by Edward | April 12, 2009 6:58 PM
Posted by thebyronicman | April 13, 2009 12:18 AM
Ha!
Posted by Robert K | April 13, 2009 10:24 AM
Very sharp. And apparently, you've touched a nerve.
Posted by Albert | April 13, 2009 12:19 PM
Might you forward this to Fr. Jenkins?
Posted by Ben Reinhard | April 13, 2009 4:02 PM
It would be nice to think it would do some good...
Posted by Lydia | April 13, 2009 4:26 PM
God forbid you guys actually engage Doug Kmiec's arguments. Then again, I suppose it's much easier on the mind to just quote fantasy books instead.
Posted by KC | April 13, 2009 9:04 PM
Don't I know it!
Posted by Tim | April 13, 2009 11:23 PM
Most people here probably have read his arguments; they're garbage from start to finish. Also, to dismiss LOTR as a mere 'fantasy' book is to betray a lack of understanding of both its unparalleled beauty and depth. It actually says much about you, especially as a Catholic.
Posted by Edward | April 14, 2009 11:45 AM
To call something a "fantasy book" is not to call something a "mere fantasy book." Perhaps you are unaware that there exist such distinctions in our language, though.
Posted by KC | April 14, 2009 3:10 PM
Kmiec's so-called arguments are indeed the merest sophistry. Indeed, like most sophists, including Saruman, Kmiec trades in egregious factual error and confusions. What he says does more than verge on deception, since he must know better himself. Just one example of misdirection was Kmiec's implying, in the course of expressing his mild "disappointment" re. Obama's rescinding the Mexico City Policy, that the MCP had something to do with banning funding for non-abortifacient birth control. I can find no better response to Kmiec than Gandalf's own:
"Saruman, I have heard speeches of this kind before, but only in the mouths of emissaries sent from Mordor to deceive the ignorant. I cannot think that you brought me so far only to weary my ears."
Posted by Lydia | April 14, 2009 3:31 PM
Astute.
Posted by Sam | April 15, 2009 12:05 PM
KC, what you apparently don't understand is that Kmeic's arguments have been rebutted again and again and again, since long before November 2008. He's been engaged, he's been refuted, but -- to use another LOTR analogy -- Kmeic refuses to stop gazing into the Palantír. He's shut his ears to the truth and prefers the seductive whisperings of Obama & Co. Now all we can do is pray that he comes to his senses.
Posted by JoAnna | April 15, 2009 1:38 PM
"We can keep our thoughts in our minds and our feeling in our hearts" - much better I suppose...
Posted by Tolkien fan | May 5, 2009 9:56 AM