Thursday, April 16, 2015

Gavin D'Costa comes across as professionally unethical.His irrationality would not be accepted by academics in England

Gavin D'Costa as a Catholic professor of theology at Bristol University, England has to project factually incorrect information, false reasoning and a non traditional interpretation of Vatican Council II to be approved by the bishop in the diocese of Clifton or the cardinal-archbishop of Westminister.The deception has to be approved by the local ordinary and only then they are allowed to teach theology in Britain I mentioned in a previous blog post.1
Gavin D'Costa cannot say that the Catholic Church in Vatican Council II ( AG 7,LG 14) indicates that the Prophet Muhammad and all Muslims at his time were oriented to Hell ,since they did not have 'faith and baptism'(AG 7). The Quran shows that they knew about Jesus and the Church but did not enter. According to Vatican Council II ( LG 14) those who 'know' and yet do not enter are on the way to Hell.
As a Catholic this is my Catholic belief and this the teaching of the Catholic Church according to magisterial texts before and after Vatican Counci II, and including Vatican Council II.
If Gavin D'Costa, as an objective Catholic professor spoke the truth he would be saying that Vatican Council II does not contradict the centuries old interpretation on outside the Church there is no salvation.Since there cannot be any exception to the dogma.Invincible ignorance and the baptism of desire are not exceptions.So if a pope, cardinal or bishop claims it is an exception then it is irrational. It is not real.
In other words there is no known salvation outside the Church in 2015.So all need to formally convert in the present times to avoid Hell.We do not know any one saved with the baptism of desire this year.
Yet instead, an otherwise rational professor of theology at an accredited British university  in Bristol, infers that there is salvation outside the Church and this salvation is defacto known to us in the present times.In other words the dead now saved in Heaven are physically visible to us on earth, to be exceptions to the traditional interpretationm of the Catholic dogma on salvation.
This is not genuine scholarship. It is also unethical.He places this reasoning before students at the university.
This Catholic professor is not going to tell Muslims at the university, those of  the  University of Bristol Islamic Society  or the Bristol Muslim Cultural Society that the Chuch teaches in Vatican Council II, and  in other official documents, that all need to formally enter the Church to avoid Hell. As a Catholic I feel this is dishonesty and he is projecting a wrong image of my Catholic Faith.
On the website of the University of Bristol,U.K , Prof. D'Costa says on a video "People are not damned if they are not Catholics" (5:09).
This is factually incorrect since:-
1.According to Vatican Council II (Ad Gentes 7) 'all' need 'faith and baptism' for salvation. The Catechism of the Catholic Church also says all need to enter the Church 'as through a door', it also says the Church knows of no means to eternal beatitude other than the baptism of water (CCC 1257).The video does not state this.
2.There is no Church-text, which states there are known exceptions, in the present times, to the Ad Gentes 7 teaching i.e all need faith and baptism.The video does not state this.So we have a personal view by a professor at the University of Bristol, which is being projected as official rational Catholic theology.
3.Gavin D'Costa does not know any one personally who does not need to enter the Catholic Church with 'faith and baptism' to avoid Hell.There is no such case in Britain who will be saved without 'faith and baptism'.Yet he does not mention this.
As a professor of theology he uses the following irrational three points to reject the traditional teaching of the Catholic Church.Professionally this is unethical.This would not be accepted by non Catholic academics in England.It is so far out.
1. The physically dead for us, who are now saved in Heaven in invincible ignorance or with the baptism of desire are considered exceptions to the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus.Even though they are not known or visible to us on April 16,2015.Yet salvation in Heaven is objectively seen on earth for D'costa and others, to postulate these cases as living exceptions to the dogma.Ghosts are exceptions! Vatican Council II (LG 16,LG 8,UR 3, NA 2 etc ) cannot refer to exceptions since these cases would only be known to God.Yet they are exceptions for D'Costa and many other Catholics.
2. Similarly someone who allegedly died centuries back without the baptism of water would not be an explicit exception to the dogma on exclusive salvation in the Catholic Church today, April 16,2015.A hypothetical case cannot be a defacto exception today.A theoretical case of the past cannot be objectively seen today.So D'Costa cannot consider a case of the past as being a defacto case and an exception in the present times.Yet he does. This would be philosophical reasoning gone wrong.Yet this is being done at the University of Bristol's Department of Religion and Theology.
3.Similarly the University of Bristol faculty would not personally know of someone today April 16, 2015 who would be saved in future, without faith and baptism and so would not need to be a formal member of the Catholic Church, to avoid Hell as the dogma teaches.They cannot posit someone living today in Britain as being an exception to Ad Gentes 7 ( all need faith and baptism) and Cantate Domino, Council of Florence 1441, which says outside the Church there is no salvation (extra ecclesiam nulla salus).Yet this irrationality is maintained by the Faculty in this department.
This is a profesional, academic issue.It is not  just an issue of having different opinions or religious beliefs.Since last year I have been asking Gavin and the University to do something about this.2
In an e-mail I received from him he has said that no one at the university is interested in 'any of your thoughts'. These are not my thoughts only . This is the official teaching of the Catholic Church interpreted without the irrational premise ( the dead are visible on earth) and irrational inference ( these deceased in Heaven are explicit exceptions on earth to the traditional interpretation of the dogma).
Gavin D'Costa presents Muslims with a Vatican Council II, interpreted with an irrational premise and inference.This is not Catholic.All this academic and professional irrationaity is created with an irrational premise.It becomes the basis for his fantasy theology.This is unethical for a professor.
Instead of correcting the objective error he has written a book using this same irrational reasoning.This is bad theology. It also becomes a lie when it is repeated after being informed.-Lionel Andrades
 
1.Joseph Shaw is not going to tell Muslims at Oxford that the Chuch says all need to formally enter the Church to avoid Hell. Neither is Gavin D'Costa going to say this in Bristol.
 
2.
When the University of Bristol permits Prof. Gavin D'Costa and the faculty to use an irrational premise, it is a secular lie.

No comments: