Orthodoxy or Decorum? Missionary Discourse, Religious Representations, and Historical Knowledge
In 1873 an exhausted Catholic priest who had completed a successful mission reported to his bishop. Pleased with his priest's achievement, the bishop mused, “now that they are all in the grace of God, drown them in the river before they lose it.” How should we interpret this joke? It plays upon...
| Published in: | Church history |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Cambridge Univ. Press
2003
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| In: |
Church history
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| Online Access: |
Volltext (JSTOR) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Parallel Edition: | Non-electronic
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| Summary: | In 1873 an exhausted Catholic priest who had completed a successful mission reported to his bishop. Pleased with his priest's achievement, the bishop mused, “now that they are all in the grace of God, drown them in the river before they lose it.” How should we interpret this joke? It plays upon the belief that earthly life pales in importance to life after death. Even a cruel end such as drowning would be a small price to pay for eternal life. The joke also toys with the burdensome duties of the missionary as a supernatural agent of redemption. A mission demands exhausting days of preaching, exhortation, prayer, hearing confessions, and offering the Eucharist. The task, to lead sinners toward a state of grace, is onerous. So bishop and priest chuckle together. Murdering the laity—at the proper moment, before they sin again—would ease their pastoral load. |
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| ISSN: | 1755-2613 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Church history
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1017/S0009640700097353 |