instruere...inlustrare...delectare Disputations

Wednesday, November 04, 2009

Don't know much about art

Kathy Shaidle defines "social justice" as "the stubborn application of unworkable solutions to imaginary problems."

There's some truth to that; any fool can claim they're "working for social justice," and many of them do.

This is a shame, as I've said before. It keeps good Christians from learning about and supporting workable solutions to real problems of social justice.

I was reminded of this when I came across this prayer service proposed by some Dominican Sisters for use (inter alia) in celebrating the Feast of St. Martin de Porres, Patron of Social Justice.

To me, it reads more like a fundraising letter for a pacifist political action committee than a prayer service, but what really stood out for me was the interpretation of the Lord's Prayer:
Our Mother and Father, who art in heaven...
I guess this has been going on for as long as people have been daft enough to think calling God the Father "Mother and Father" is a good idea, but I just noticed it now:

Is there a less happy conjunction than the neologism of "Mother and Father" with the archaism of "art" (with, no doubt, all the "thy"s that follow)?

If you're going to rewrite a prayer to make it sound like 1989, why would you keep the parts that make it sound like... well, every other year since Modern English emerged?

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