16 September, 2024
Dear Reader,
In our last issue I commented, I thought fairly eirenically, on some aspects of the history of Islam as an aid to our understanding of current events in the Middle East. Generally the response from readers was encouraging, apart from one who angrily asked me whether ‘the Dawson Centre gets monies from certain persons and institutes which are on board with the Zionist project (which is also the NATO project, so both Jews and Gentiles are complicit). If so,’ he added, ‘then enjoy the money for it represents the reward of Mammon.’ Sadly the answer to his question must be no, though the thought of receiving drafts of money from NATO-related bodies (or indeed from anywhere else) is attractive.
This week we have a guest article from Canberra-based priest, Fr John Parsons. It’s a very fine and quite moving meditation on the ‘family’ relationship between the three great ‘Religions of the Book’.
This newsletter is shorter than usual. I have been out of action with kidney stones (it probably serves me right) and unable to get to my laptop. Fr Parsons’s contribution more than compensates.
With best wishes to all, as ever,
David Daintree
SUMMER SCHOOLS
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MEDIEVAL LATIN & BIBLICAL AND KOINE GREEK
2023 COLLOQUIUM BOOK
WOKERY – A WAKE-UP CALL FOR THE WEST, the complete proceedings of last year’s Colloquium, is now on sale. The cost is $35 (postage included). ORDER ONLINE HERE or write to us at director@dawsoncentre.org.
GUEST ARTICLE: FAMILY PROBLEMS
FR JOHN PARSONS
David Daintree has suggested I write a few short words on the idea that there is a ‘family relationship’ between Judaism Christianity and Islam. I am glad to do so since much good, and much harm, comes from their relations, depending on the angle of approach.
Here is my approach. If someone were to say that ‘Christianity and Islam are the two great Jewish heresies’ people will, broadly, react in one of two ways. They were either take a historico-critical view and say that the remark is obviously true, or they will, implicitly or explicitly, reject the historico-critical approach and, as like as not, find the remark offensive.
To avoid the possibility of offending, many people interested in these matters now prefer inter-religious ‘dialogue’ in which nothing is ever true or false, and all beliefs are simply aired and shared respectfully for mutual understanding. While this is, doubtless, better than shouting at each other, or running away from all contact, it is not the approach for everyone; and not for me.
A critical approach can also abstain from making doctrinal judgements, but it refuses to avoid the appeal to historical research, and indeed it revels in it. ‘Critical’ here does not mean ‘negative’. It means asking how, and whether, we know what we assume we know. Well researched history is surely the common ground on which we can hope to meet. Like the ‘dialoguers’, it does not seek doctrinal disputation, but unlike them it does seek detailed, objective knowledge, that all parties hold in common.
For instance, it is lazily asserted that because Muhammad did not believe in the Trinity, his God is a non-existent fiction. But the Creed says that the God we believe in ‘has spoken through the prophets’ of the old Testament, who did not believe in the Trinity either. So the lazy assertion, which would also mean that Jews do not believe in God, will not pass the test of historico-critical coherence. Better still, if one manages to read the Quran right through, one finds there is no reference at all to a Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The ‘Three’ that Muhammad thought Christians worshipped as Gods are clearly what he himself believed to be the Creator, and secondly the sinless creature Jesus who was, somehow, ‘the Word of God, and the spirit from Him sent down upon Mary’, and thirdly the sinless creature his Mother who was ever Virgin. So his assertions that these ‘Three’ are not to be worshipped as gods, and that ‘God is not one of three’, are perfectly orthodox in intention – as far as it goes. Chapter 29 of the Quran says ‘Say to the people of the Book (Jews and Christians) your God and our God are one’. There is no doubt that the God Muhammad personally had come to believe in was the God of the Jews and Christians
The ‘family relationship’ of what Muslims call ‘the three heavenly religions’, because each of them stems from a genuine divine revelation, might be shown in a more quirky and personal way. One of the four minarets at the corners of the courtyard of the great Mosque in Damascus, built in the time of the Venerable Bede, is called the Jesus Minaret. When I asked why, the answer was that when Jesus comes again at the end of the world to judge mankind he will appear in the sky above that minaret. I asked what he would do, and was told he would kill the Antichrist (though there was no reference to his doing so ‘by the breath of his mouth’, II Thessalonians 2:8). This is to happen near Lydda which, it occurred to me, could now mean at Tel Aviv airport. Then what would he do? The answer was that he would marry a Jewish girl and settle down in Palestine. As I said to a priest friend in London once, ‘talking to Muslims is like talking to cousins who have been eating the wrong mushrooms; they are nuts but they are still family’.
To avoid ending on a frivolous note it might be better if we all said a simple prayer, that seems to me entirely worthy of a nihil obstat and an imprimatur:
Praise be to God, the Lord of the worlds,
the Compassionate, the Merciful, King of the Day of Judgement
Thee do we worship and Thine aid do we seek
Show us the straight path
The path of those with Thy grace upon them
Without wrath upon them and who go not astray.
Amen.
It is the first chapter of the first chapter of the Quran.
FOR FURTHER READING
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND THE JEWS
A recent convert, Candace Owens, has spoken negatively of Jews and Judaism. This article by Andrew Doran and Mary Eberstadt is a brief but well-researched riposte, listing pronouncements from Callixtus II’s Sicut Judaeis (1120) to Vatican II’s Nostra Aetate (1965) by which the Church firmly distances itself from anti-semitism. Here’s Pope Pius XI: ‘Abraham is called our patriarch, our ancestor. Anti-Semitism . . . is alien to us, a movement in which we Christians can have no part.’ We like this story about the Tibor Baranski, who saved three thousand Hungarian Jews during World War II. When a Nazi held a gun to his head and asked why he, a Catholic, was helping Jews, Baranski replied, ‘You are either silly or an idiot. It is because I am Christian that I help the Jews.’
NEW ONLINE EDUCATION JOURNAL
Logos Australis will shortly launch its new journal Educere. Read about it here. Editor Sarah Flynn writes: ‘Classical Education in the Liberal Arts tradition has the capacity to powerfully renew, revitalise and reimagine education and culture.’ Educere will include book reviews, poetry, artwork and special features focusing on the Beautiful, the True and the Good.
FREE SPEECH IN DANGER
Here is a message from Dr Reuben Kirkham, president of the Free Speech Union. Excerpt: ‘Yesterday, the Government pushed out three Bills. Each, individually undermine Australians’ rights. Together, they form a full frontal assault on our most basic freedoms.’
MORE ON THE CLASSICS
Here is a charming conversation between a Wesleyan minister and an Orthodox priest. Gone are the days, thank God when Christians were at loggerheads with each other. A quote from St Basil of Caesarea‘s Address to Youth sets the tone which harmonises with Pope Francis‘s recent defence of imaginative literature: ‘Christian students are invited to read classical, non-Christian literature in order to boost their appreciation of wisdom and the values.’
THE UNDERBELLY OF MODERN EDUCATION
One of our readers, a secondary school teacher, writes:
‘Phones were banned in many Australian state schools from Term 1 2024 onwards. Sadly, the damage had already been done: kids and younger parents already have an addiction that easily manipulates the rules. I see it every day.
‘And here is the real issue at hand: schooling presents nothing better than what can be found on phones. School is a drag. Education – a term used loosely – is an exercise in mass compliance. It’s no match for the slick, glittery online world. And the powers-that-be know exactly what they are doing to the children and the teachers.’
She continues: ‘The darkness hovering over Australian education is a global issue, stemming from this rarely spoken of document.
The 2015 UN Ed conference outlined the global educational directives. ACARA language and goals are created from this document. I’m afraid that Australian education bodies are puppets. And it’s no conspiracy to communicate this connection. For those who have ears to hear and eyes to see, weasel words outline very clearly future directions of each group.’
COMING EVENTS
BRISBANE CLASSICAL AND LIBERAL SCHOOLS FORUM
A one-day event to be held on 24 September. Registration is free. We understand that this is now fully booked, but we understand there is a waiting list. Register here.
PROTEST MEETING, TREASURY GARDENS, MELBOURNE
SATURDAY 12 OCTOBER, AT 1PM
In loving memory of the babies lost in abortion in Victoria and to help end abortion in Victoria, and for better supports for pregnant women.
- The Victorian Abortion Law Reform Act 2008 effectively legalised abortion up to birth for any reason. It is one of the most brutal and extreme laws in the world.
- Babies born alive in abortion are left to die (by legal omission)
- Sex-selective abortion is legal.
- There are no safeguards for women considering abortion such as independent counselling.
- Doctors with a conscientious objection to abortion are compelled to refer for abortion.
- Babies are not anaesthetised prior to an abortion.Â
FAMILY-FRIENDLY EVENT WITH A PEACEFUL POLICE PRESENCE.
CHESTERTON SOCIETY ANNUAL CONFERENCE
At Campion College, Sydney, on Saturday 2 November. Details Here.
DAWSON CENTRE SUMMER SCHOOLS
JANUARY 2025
LATE AND ECCLESIASTICAL LATIN
Monday 6 to Friday 10 January 2025
Venue: Notre Dame Priory, Colebrook, Tasmania
The Latin school assumes some prior knowledge of the language and leads participants through a selection of important readings in poetry and prose, sacred and secular, from authors such as Augustine, Jerome, Bede, Peter Abelard, Aquinas, the Carmina Burana, and even Dante. In date our selections range from the poet Virgil to the abdication speech of Pope Benedict! There will also be a segment on palaeography when participants can handle real medieval manuscripts. Note that this course does not take any position on the liturgical use of Latin, but it recognises that Latin remains the official language of the western Church and acknowledges the insistence of the last four popes that Latin must be preserved! Accommodation may be available on request at the Priory. Enquiries to guestmaster@notredamemonastery.org.
BIBLICAL GREEK FOR BEGINNERS
Monday 13 to Friday 17 January 2025
Venue: Fr John Wall Memorial Library, 131 Tower Road, New Town, Tasmania
The New Testament and Koine Greek school is for beginners who want to experience the excitement of reading parts of the Bible in the original language. We shall read extracts from the Gospel and Epistles, as well as some important passages from the Septuagint (the ancient Greek version of the Old Testament), as well as some pieces from the early Fathers of the Church and the Liturgy of St John Chrysostom.
For all booking details and enquiries, email director@dawsoncentre.org