These are ‘inside jokes’ that are best left inside the small sectarian circles in which they’re told.

Of course, Heidegger–early or late–cannot be fully reconciled with Christianity. However, even a cursory reading of, say, the first few chapters of Ratzinger’s “Introduction to Christianity” shows the fruits of one theologian’s willingness to dialogue charitably with Heidegger as an outside, secular thinker.

The Curran joke was alot of labor for a little fizz at the end. Knowing Balthasar’s–a thinker whom I adore, btw–unfortunate habit in later yeras of uncharitably polemicizing, the joke could have just as well been directed toward followers of Rahner or any of the liberation theolgians. But my experience of such snide humor ( and I was a culprit in engaging in such humor all too often in my zealous past ,whenever I was an even more sprited young man than I am now) is that it functions for lazier academics as an excuse to not read and treat fairly the works of those who are the butt of their dismissive, swooping, howevever joking treatment.

I find Catholics who don’t have a good sense of humor to be boring and therefore, missing the whole context of Christianity. This priest is so human that you just have to love him. One day I was going to him for confession and I saw the room full of smoke. I asked, “Were you smoking?!?!” And he said, “I told Jesus that if I become priest, he has to deal with me.” He’s also a great theologian so you can talk to him about Rahner, Moltmann, the place of hispanics in America, and at the same time walk with him during confession as he smokes; he calls it “street confession.” He’s a saint.

For what it’s worth, I got a chuckle out of the man-pig joke.

You are involved with C&L, I presume?

thanks, i’ll work on it.