Tuesday, October 03, 2006

"A Canonization of Subjectivity"

Mark Gauvreau Judge reviews Andrew Sullivan's new book, The Conservative Soul. Conclusion:

"While Sullivan praises 'the marking of nuance, the weighing of things from different perspectives, the desire to understand something as it is, and not as we would like it to be,' his thirst for knowledge falls short when it comes to the teachings of his religion. This champion of the supposedly hungry and expansive mind can't be bothered to honestly engage with ideas with which he disagrees. He touts his Catholicism and pushes homosexuality and gay marriage but can't be bothered to tackle John Paul II's Theology of the Body, the late pontiff's massive and revolutionary work about the meaning of sex and the human body. His engagement with Benedict and other thinkers he disagrees with is superficial and dishonest. Apparently for the thinking, reading, praying, ever-expending conservative like Sullivan, there's just no time to read things one disagrees with, or engage opposing argument honestly. Sullivan is like Jesus' friend Mary—that is to say, like Mary in Sullivan's version of the story. He sits at the feet of Jesus, not listening."