Matthew Boylan > Recent Status Updates

The Grand Inquisitor - brilliant.

Rereading one of my favourites

Feeling heavy reading burnout

“Somewhere, and I can’t find where, I read about an Eskimo hunter who asked the local missionary priest, “If I did not know about God and sin, would I go to hell?” “No,” said the priest, “not if you did not know.” “Then why,” asked the Eskimo earnestly, “did you tell me?”

“We estimate now that only one atom dances alone in every cubic meter of intergalactic space. I blink and squint. What planet or power yanks Halley’s Comet out of orbit? We haven’t seen that force yet; it’s a question of distance, density, and the pallor of reflected light. We rock, cradled in the swaddling band of darkness. Even the simple darkness of night whispers suggestions to the mind.”

Sheds an incredible scholarly light on the historical basis of Orthodox Christianity, which was in constant battle with Gnosticism on accusations that intuitive spiritual knowledge consisted of heresy, while only the Apostles held spiritual validity. The Orthodox adopted doctrines into their canon and excluded others based on a hierarchical power structure that best served the early rise of the Catholic church.