Posted by Phil on October 28, 1998 at 08:27:07:
This past summer, the Vatican cast a cloud of darkness over the writings of Anthony de Mello. The document in question criticized some of his writings as being "radical apophaticism," and they provided specific examples.
What they mean by "radical apophaticism" is that Tony seems to be suggesting in many places that all our ideas about God are illusions, and the only way to truly experience God is to go beyond these ideas by dropping all attachments, cultivating awareness, and living in the NOW.
There's nothing wrong with any of this, of course, but the Vatican perceived his emphasis to be so extreme as to negate the "ketaphatic" dimension of Christianity, which affirms that God has revealed Him/Herself, that we can know something about God, that God is revealed not only through unknowing, but through symbol, concept, ritual, community, creation, etc.
I lament the whole business, for what will surely happen is that ALL of Tony's writings will be considered taboo, and the kooky Right will blast any who use so much as a de Mello joke during a talk. And woe to the writer who begins a sentence now with, "Fr. Anthony de Mello wrote. . ."
And yet, I have to agree with the Vatican that, toward the end, Tony seems to have crossed the line. As I listened to many of his talks toward the end of his life, I felt that he was looking at Christianity through more through Buddhist eyes--that a kind of paradigm shift had occurred in him. This is not to say that he was not still a Christian, or that I'm judging his faith. It is to say that a serious imbalance had set in--that the whole ketaphatic realm was looked upon by him as second-rate, if not to be ridiculed (which he did, at times).
Anyway, that's enough from me on this.
What do you think?