Bridging the Great Divide: Musings Of a Post-Liberal, Post Conservative Evangelical Catholic

by Robert Barron

Bridging the Great Musings of a Post-Liberal, Post-Conservative Evangelical Catholic represents a pivotal moment in the life of the Catholic community. As the Church seeks to maintain its unique witness, nurture the faithful, and evangelize, a new generation of American Catholics has emerged. No longer the "next generation," these new leaders came of age after the Second Vatican Council and, like many others, no longer find compelling the battles between the liberals and conservatives throughout the post-conciliar period. Today's faithful are searching for an expression of Catholic Christianity that is vibrant, colorful, provocative, counter-cultural, deeply rooted in the tradition, and full of the promise of the Good News. In this timely and prophetic book, Father Robert Barron―himself a member of the younger generation―has minted a new vernacular and blazed a new way that goes bridges the great divide and gives voice to the concerns of post-liberal, post-conservative, evangelical believers.

Genres: Catholic, Religion, Theology

312 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Bishop Robert Emmet Barron is an acclaimed author, speaker, and theologian. He is the former Francis Cardinal George Professor of Faith and Culture at Mundelein Seminary near Chicago and also is the founder of Word On Fire (www.WordOnFire.org).

Bishop Barron is the creator and host of CATHOLICISM, a groundbreaking ten-part documentary series and study program about the Catholic faith. He is a passionate student of art, architecture, music and history, which he calls upon throughout his global travels in the making of the documentary.

Word On Fire programs are broadcast regularly on WGN America, Relevant Radio, CatholicTV, EWTN, the popular Word on Fire YouTube Channel, and the Word on Fire website, which offers daily blogs, articles, commentaries, and over ten years of weekly sermon podcasts. In 2010, Father Barron was the first priest to have a national show on a secular television network since the 1950s.

Fr. Barron received his Masters Degree in Philosophy from the Catholic University of America in Washington DC in 1982 and his doctorate in Sacred Theology from the Institut Catholique in 1992. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1986 and has been a professor of systematic theology at the nation's largest Catholic seminary, the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary since 1992. He was visiting professor at the University of Notre Dame in 2002 and at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in 2007. He was also twice scholar in residence at the Pontifical North American College at the Vatican.

In addition, Fr. Barron lectures extensively in the United States and abroad. Cardinal Francis George calls Fr. Barron “one of the Church’s best messengers.

Fr. Barron was baptized at Queen of All Saints Basilica in Chicago and grew up at St. John of the Cross parish in Western Springs, Illinois.
WordOnFire.org - Fr. Barron's website launched in 1999 and currently draws over 1 million visitors a year from every continent. Fr. Barron posts weekly video clips, commentaries and radio sermons and offers an audio archive of over 500 homilies. Podcasts of his sermons are widely used by tens of thousands of visitors each month.
TV - EWTN (The Eternal Word Television Network) and CatholicTV broadcasts Fr. Barron's DVDs to a worldwide audience of over 150 million people.

Radio - Since 1999, Fr. Barron's weekly Word on Fire program has been broadcast in Chicago (WGN) and throughout the country (Relevant Radio - 950 AM Chicago) to 28 million listeners in 17 states. Fr. Barron also is a regular commentator on the "Busted Halo Show" on the Sirius satellite radio network based in New York.

DVDs - Fr. Barron's DVDs are used as powerful faith formation tools in universities, schools, churches and homes around the country. The series includes Seven Deadly Sins, Seven Lively Virtues; Faith Clips; Conversion: Following the Call of Christ; and Untold Blessing: Three Paths to Holiness.

YouTube - With over 180 online video commentaries by Fr. Barron, over 1 million viewers worldwide have made him the most popular of any evangelist on YouTube. These frequent, high-quality productions include brief and lively theological reviews of contemporary culture, including movies such as No Country for Old Men, Apocalypto, and The Departed, a three-part critical review of Christopher Hitchen's book God is Not Great, The Discovery Channel's The Jesus Tomb, the HBO series "The Sopranos", "Rome" and more.

Missions - MISSION CHICAGO features evangelization lectures by Fr. Barron at the behest of Cardinal George. These special missions and presentations throughout the Archdiocese are centered in downtown Chicago and attract business, civic, and cultural leaders.
Books - His numerous books and essays serve as critical educational and inspirational tools for seminarians, priests, parishioners and young people worldwide. His published works are also central to the numerous retreats, workshop and talks that h

Reviews

[Brett Salkeld]

Readers should be aware, off the hop, that this book is a collection of essays and not a thorough-going argument that moves us in the direction of the title. The first three essays (and especially the very first essay) deal with this question more explicitly but the rest of the book is much more representative of the sub-title.

That said, the book itself is very worthwhile. Father Barron is an excellent communicator and deeply steeped in the Christian tradition. Because the essays were mostly published independent of one another there is sometimes quite a bit of overlap so that someone who has read the whole thing knows Father Barron's prime concerns and favourite metaphors quite intimately. But they are, overwhelmingly, justifiable concerns and useful metaphors.

My suspicion is that the book will be more successful in winning conservatives to a broader and more coherent Catholicism than it will be with liberals, but there's nothing wrong with that.

Finally, all of the essays are accessible and insightful. Some of them are absolute gems.

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found the book interesting and challenging. It is frustrating that he uses so many Latin terms and then fails to translate them for the reader. And there are times you come away with the impression that his word choice is more intended to impress than to communicate. Most frustrating for me was his repeated assertion that God is not a Supreme Being or even a Being, but rather the mere act of to be. This statement not only contradicts the Baltimore Catechism, but leaves one in a quandary to understand how the mere act of to be said, "I am Yahweh" in Isaiah 42 or who told Abraham to come no closer to the burning bush, or who gave Moses the Commandments or who spoke to Adam and Eve in the Garden or who divided the Red Sea or why Jesus taught us to call God "Our Father" rather than "The act of to be."

[aj · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting book with much commentary. However, some passages were more engaging than others. That said, it is an interesting and thoughtful book.

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Accessible and engaging effort to move beyond the tired conservative / liberal debates within the church by renewing theology'a gaze on the central mystery of Christ. Barron's work is well researched, fair, and introduces the reader to many key theologians both ancient and contemporary without excessive jargon.