"What would Raymond Brown say?"!?!

Commonweal -Between Theology & Exegesis: "This is not, however, what a substantial majority of American Catholic Bible scholars wants to hear. I venture to guess that their silent question about this book is: “What would Raymond Brown say?”" I have unexpectedly been added to a Commonweal mailing list. This was not really intentional, and can make for some scary reading. The most recent email I received was a review about the Pope's book, Jesus of Nazareth. The line above summarizes the review. It was largely dry and critical as only an academic review can be. It put me back into a world that I knew, not in theology, but in psychology. I could get my blood pounding reading issues about the structure of personality. Things that to anyone in daily life, are largely irrelevant, but were pretty important to me in my little academic world. My academic discussions centered around mental life, but often had little to say that was directly relevant to actual living. Such is the nature of the academy. The problem with this attitude in theology is that one is in danger of leaving faith out of the study of God. So we get all the academic trappings, but none of the prayer, none of the holiness. It looks like it can become a lot like the English department. With discussions of what the received view is and how something does or does not fit with that view. It puts me in the mind of the warning of St. Francis to St. Anthony "It pleases me that you teach sacred theology to the brothers, as long as in the words of the Rule you "do not extinguish the Spirit of prayer and devotion" with study of this kind." The attitude presented in the review can suck the life out of faith, and lead one down dangerous roads. Roads that lead one to criticize a pope leading and teaching his flock, because he has not kept up with the latest trends in the academy. It can take faith, and turn it into an academic battleground - trampling on the sacred in the road to academic fame (and what a low prize that). It makes a grand tempest in a teapot, appearing as nothing more than a lot of noise from the outside. The only clear message in the article is that "experts" think the Pope is wrong. Which feeds the liberal leanings of some, raises the traditional ire of others, and undermines the teaching of the faith to all. This pedantic position leads one to ask "what would Raymond Brown say" rather than "what would Christ himself say." I for one, will attend to Christ, listen to my pope and worry not about Fr. Brown.