The Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine University

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Author QuotedJohn Maccquarrie
Title QuotedExtentialist Theology: a Comparison of Heidegger and Bultmann
Date (Year/Month/Day)1965/07/17
ImprintLondon : [s.n.]. 1955
Quotation"An important part of the witness of the Church, or in other words an important way of proclaiming the Word must be simply a manifestation within the Christian community of a spirit of fellowship and love which cannot be found outside it," writes McQuarrie in his critique of Bultmann (Existential Theology, p. 221). He recognizes organization as a "problem." Love is least in evidence when the Church is most organized, perhaps most in evidence when Christians were driven into deserts or catacombs. (This is a concession he makes.) He also admits the Church can usurp what rightly belongs to the person and make all his decisions for him (or try to). (Why the question of the bomb is an "exposed nerv" in the whole problem of renewal.) Here is where the Bishops (especially American) want to decide the whole question of war, etc. beforehand, instead of letting the faithful come to their own conclusions as the situation develops.
Quotation SourceDancing in the Water of Life: Seeking Peace in the Hermitage. The Journals of Thomas Merton, Volume 5, 1963-1965.; Edited by Robert E. Daggy. / San Francisco : Harper Collins. 1997, p. 271
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