Last month’s “Snapshots” reported that Fr. Thomas P. Rausch, a Jesuit teaching theology at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, lambasted those he termed “the new apologists.” He named names: Scott Hahn, Peter Kreeft, Dale Vree, Thomas Howard, Sheldon Vanauken—and me. Rausch’s lecture was presented first at St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo, California, and then at the Los Angeles Archdiocesan Catechetical Congress, held in Anaheim. I understand it will be appearing in a national publication and later as a chapter in a forthcoming book.
At the seminary Rausch’s lecture was the third in a four-part series on apologetics. I was scheduled for the fourth slot, and I presume he took aim at me and at my fellow apologists precisely because he saw that I was part of the series. (Ambushes can be fun.) However that may be, on April 15 I had the opportunity to reply. My assigned topic was “Responding to the Fundamentalist Challenge,” but I felt forced by circumstances to devote much of my time to responding to my predecessor’s remarks, which I found ill-considered and ill-tempered. Excerpts from my talk will appear in a future issue of This Rock.
For now I just want to mention my impressions of the event and venue. I had not been to St. John’s before and didn’t know what to expect. The seminary is about an hour outside of Los Angeles, in Ventura County. Set in gently rolling hills and originally constructed in the 1930s, it is an impressive complex of buildings and includes both a college and a theologate. I arrived sufficiently early that I had time to attend the afternoon Mass.
Stepping into the chapel, I thought I had been transported to Oxford: The architecture was reminiscent of the chapels at Oriel and Trinity Colleges. Instead of pews facing forward, all seating was on monks’ stalls facing inward. The narrow nave was highlighted with fine stained-glass windows, walls patterned in felt, a canopy above the main altar, and wooden beams hand painted with abstract designs and fleurs-de-lis—this last feature a little odd, since the arches were Moorish and most of the other architectural elements were Romanesque, but no matter: The overall effect was impressive. A dozen priests concelebrated, with transitional deacons giving the readings and the homily. I was moved by the evident devotion shown in deep bows and full genuflections, and the male voices wonderfully matched the well-tuned organ.
My lecture was deliberately provocative—I advocated early dating of the New Testament books, the falsity of Markan priority, and the non-existence of Q—but the reception was warm, not just from “townies” who came up the hill for the talk, but from seminarians and even from faculty members (though the Scripture instructor had some reservations—fair enough).
I left St. John’s confirmed that apologetics no longer is an embarrassment but is an indisputable fact of Catholic life. That some feel compelled to speak against “the new apologists” implies that we’re on the right track—and that our opponents are worried.