What is a "Court of the Gentiles?"

On Dec. 23 on 2009, I posted an article dealing with Pope Benedict's idea for a modern-day "court of the Gentiles" in which unbelievers would be allowed to enjoy a measure of fellowship with the Roman Catholic church despite their unbelief in Jesus Christ. I remarked that this was not altogether surprising given the Vatican's desire to expand its influence over as many people as possible, regardless of convictions.

In this article, generated by the church's premier social doctrine think tank, we see a fuller embellishment of the idea. In the end, however, the church's "court" still remains hazy. Although the author is careful to clarify that it will not be merely "philosophical and academic discussions with non believers, or round tables held in cathedrals," he does not truly define what it will be. Toward the end of the article he suggests that perhaps Catholic social doctrine itself should serve as the court--an religion-less theology for religion-less men. Ultimately, the "court" will be some kind of dialogue, some gray area in which the church can engage the secular world without having to resort to religion. "The itinerary. . ." the author writes, "is never from reason to faith, but from faith to reason."

What is clear is that Benedict has proposed something new and potentially revolutionary in the Vatican's dealings with the secular world. How it will work and what methods it employs still remains to be seen.

This article comes from the website of the Cardinal Van Thuan Observatory for the Social Doctrine of the Church.

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THE “COURTYARD OF THE GENTILES” AND THE SOCIAL DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH

Rt. Rev. Giampaolo Crepaldi

Archbishop of Trieste, President of the Observatory

Benedict XVI has made it customary for us to expect very important reflections in his annual address to the Roman Curia on the occasion of the exchange of Christmas greetings. This year proved to be no different and the pope did not disappoint our expectations. Drawing upon his three journeys to Africa, the Holy Land and the Czech Republic, the Holy Father spoke of the “Courtyard of the Gentiles”. What was this “courtyard”? According to the prophet Isaiah the temple had to be a place of prayer for all peoples (“My temple will be called the house of prayer for all peoples”). Isaiah announces the true and only God (“I am the first and I the last, outside of me there are no other gods”), not idols fabricated by men and created on purpose to allay their fears (“Who fabricates a God or forges an idol without seeking advantages therein?”). The Courtyard of the Gentiles was the space of the temple to which all peoples enjoyed free access, not only the Israelites, to pray the God still unknown to them, even if they couldn’t pass into the temple itself and hence fully celebrate the mystery. Jesus had chased the money changers and dove sellers away from that courtyard, knocking over all the tables as we read in the Gospel. What is the religious status of these ‘Gentiles’? They are those, says the pope, who are unhappy with their gods, rites and myths because they realize that stemming there from may be no true salvation insofar as they are fashioned by the hands of man. Even if they do not know Him, they await the one, true and great God, the God who is truth and love, and wish to pray to Him. They are all those persons who feel that far from making them free, the irreligiosity of their time has led them to new and apparently liberator myths, but not really liberating ones. They know not the true God, but were they to find a connection they would clasp to it. Nowadays the Gentiles are those for whom “religion is something extraneous”, and yet they don’t want to merely remain without God while being so tired and perhaps nauseated by the gods that irregilosity has placed (or imposed) before them.

In times past the Gentiles were the ‘peoples’ other than Israel, and later became the peoples that had yet to know Christianity. And today? They are those, says the pope, who are unhappy with their gods, rites and myths because they realize that stemming there from may be no true salvation insofar as they are fashioned by the hands of man. Even if they do not know Him, they await the one, true and great God, the God who is truth and love, and wish to pray to Him. They are all those persons who feel that far from making them free, the irreligiosity of their time has led them to new and apparently liberator myths, but not really liberating ones. They know not the true God, but were they to find a connection they would clasp to it. Nowadays the Gentiles are those for whom “religion is something extraneous”, and yet they don’t want to merely remain without God, while being so tired and perhaps nauseated by the gods that irreligiosity has placed (or imposed) before them.

The pope asks for “Courtyards of the Gentiles” to be created today as well in order to permit these peoples to draw closer to God “at least as the Unknown One”. This is undoubtedly a new proposal and depicts vast horizons of action and dialogue with non believers. In order to more clearly understand the Holy Father’s indications I will take the liberty of making three observations.

First of all there is the fact that in the current situation of modern irreligiosity man is once again consigned – just like the Gentiles during the time of Israel – to myths and idols: new myths and new idols, very secularized myths and idols, but equally irrational and consistent in acting as insurance against our fears. Evident here is a very strong judgment on modern irreligiosity, almost a decree endorsing its failure: born in order to free man from the religious myth it has fallen into paler yet no less powerful versions of myth. All the dignity of today’s irreligiosity seems to be seen in karstic tension towards the Unknown God. Rereading Ratzinger’s addresses and speeches provides a ready list of these new myths: ecologism, vitalism, scientism, materialism, psychologism, developmentism, Third-Worldism, pauperism, gender ideology, economicism, inclusivism, narcissism, and all the forms of reductionism.

Second of all there is an invitation to dialogue not in a neutral or impartial ambit with respect to the proposal of the Christian God, In fact, the Courtyard of the Gentiles was not outside the temple, but part of it. It was not a profane place, but already a sacred one. It is not yet a confessional, liturgical or ecclesiastical place, but is a religious place. The Holy Father does not call for something akin to no more than philosophical and academic discussions with non believers, or round tables held in cathedrals, etc. He says the new Gentiles would like to pray to God and adore Him as “Unknown”. He therefore asks for a proposal of faith and religion.

Lastly, evident in the proposal of the Courtyard of the Gentiles is Ratzinger’s idea that the God of Jesus Christ is the response to the profound expectations of humankind and, according to the pope, should be proposed as such. The proposal of faith and religion is therefore likewise a proposal of reason. The itinerary, however, is never from reason to faith, but from faith to reason. This is the principal newness embodied in the proposal of the Courtyard of the Gentiles.

I do believe that in this great design a very important role may be played by the Social Doctrine of the Church, which is to be found at the meeting point between reason and faith; in other words at that point where the Courtyard of the Gentiles laps the inside of the temple. The Social Doctrine of the Church itself is a sort of Courtyard of the Gentiles” insofar as it speaks to all men, including those for whom God is unknown. It speaks of God by speaking of man and the community of men.