Demystifying the Mystical...
Friday, 15th September 2006

Dear friends,

Do we have something for you to get your teeth into today! The following is taken from my intro to the commentary Theologos is offering us today...

Theologos has been on retreat this week. He submitted his commentary for today before he went on retreat in order to help us Demystify the Mystical. That is his title. I am not sure that he achieves that as I've been working on it for four days now trying to make head from tale in this Alice in Wonderland World he is writing about so that I might present it here in an accessible way. I can assure you though, Dear Readers, that as with Peregrinus' comment the other day regarding PJPII's Apsotolic Letter, Salvifici Dolores, perseverence does bring its rewards. My own scepticism about miracles is well known — see my comment last night in the forum following the broadcast of the Catalyst program on ABC Television — but at the end of my days of study of this commentary by Theologos I think I'm close to agreeing with his take on miracles and mysticism. Or he's coming around to my way of thinking LOL. Have a read of his commentary and I present some further thought-starter questions at the end of it.

By the way, we missed an anniversary five days ago. Today is the 105th edition of our daily email. (Yes I know it's numbered 94 but in the early stages we had a different way of designating the emails.) I am also pleased to report that we are now financially secure for at least another six weeks — another 42 editions — and with the further messages of moral support from bishops that came in yesterday and the funding developments from lay people I'm pretty confident it won't be too long until we can say we're able to look forward to a whole year of endeavour. Thank you sincerely to all those who have been sending us these messages of support and those who are now beginning to provide the financial capacity to enable this endeavour to have significant impact.

Demystifying the Mystical This week our resident Biblical scholar, Ian Elmer, seeks to strip away the pietistic myths that have built up around the Holy Family over the centuries. He is seeking to take us back to establish a more historically honest understanding of who Jesus really was based on the extant evidence and how this might influence our understanding today of who Jesus continues to be as both Son of God and Son of Man. [more]

Tomorrow, Ian Elmer, continues our exploration for the historical Jesus this week asking "What was Jesus’ world like?". Cindy is also back tomorrow with her critical Sacristan's eye. On Sunday Kate is taking a break this week but our Washington Attorney, Dawn Bowie, is filling in with something that I am sure is to be provocative judging by her recent contributions to the forum.

Best wishes for a great day wherever you happen to be ... in life, and in our world.

Brian Coyne
Editor and Publisher
Catholica Australia