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To: pseudo-justin
Why not say this: they merely cited Kuhn's definition of paradigm because the they think the term is used by the New Age people in that sense? They were not at all saying that Kuhn himself was a New Ager.

Yes, they are saying that Kuhn's book is a "New Age Book."

http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/interelg/documents/rc_pc_interelg_doc_20030203_new-age_en.html
9 GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY
9.1. Some New Age books

William Bloom, The New Age. An Anthology of Essential Writings, London (Rider) 1991.
Fritjof Capra, The Tao of Physics: An Exploration of the Parallels between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism, Berkeley (Shambhala) 1975.
Fritjof Capra, The Turning Point: Science, Society and the Rising Culture, Toronto (Bantam) 1983.
Benjamin Creme, The Reappearance of Christ and the Masters of Wisdom, London (Tara Press) 1979.
Marilyn Ferguson, The Aquarian Conspiracy. Personal and Social Transformation in Our Time, Los Angeles (Tarcher) 1980.
Chris Griscom, Ecstasy is a New Frequency: Teachings of the Light Institute, New York (Simon & Schuster) 1987.
Thomas Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Chicago (University of Chicago Press) 1970.
....

20 posted on 02/04/2003 1:01:39 PM PST by Dajjal
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To: Dajjal; Scupoli
Dajjal, thanks for pointing out that they included Kuhn in the section on New Age books. That is definitely problematic. Just because the New Agers use the term paradigm does not make Kuhn a new age theorist. I did not look at the book list...

Scupoli, you say you can run a truck through some of the holes in the document. Well, ABC News reports: It is not considered to be the Vatican's final word on the New Age issue. A definitive document will be issued once the Vatican receives feedback from diocese to the provisional one issued Monday, papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said.

If you think you can run a truck through the holes, why don't you point out all, or at least the biggest, holes and submit what you think to the Congregation. Perhaps the final document will be better off for your having done so. I will certainly be writing to urge that Kuhn be taken off the book list.

Also, let us remember that the aims of the Congregation in producing the document are not always the aims that the reader has. The Congregation is trying to give a general guideline for discernment to Bishops, not produce a treatise on New Age thinking that gives academically precise refutations in all of the technical details. That job is up to experts among the faithful...

The criticisms that both of you raised remind me of the criticisms that were raised against Pascendi when it first came out. Pascendi was roundly criticized for not accurately representing the views of the modernists. But really, Pius X was not trying to give an academic treatise. He was out to summarize a movement, in a general way for the faithful, and resist the basic thrust. When it comes to Modernism and the New Age movement, the devil is not in the details.

As for the idea that the Church has no credibility right now because of all the scandals, I am not sure what to say. Do you think that the Vatican should stop issuing documents because the American Bishops are messed up? To say that the Church lacks credibility and therefore should not issue any documents is a view that, if acted upon, would ensure that the Church remains stuck without credibility. If they do nothing until the world first decides the Church is credible, then credibility will never be recovered, for people who do nothing lack credibility.

21 posted on 02/04/2003 2:57:00 PM PST by pseudo-justin
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