Theos-Talk Archives (October 1996 Message tl00147)

Maurice,

AAARGH!!!  That's one of the worst puns I've seen in a week and I'm surprised
no one thought of it sooner.
Anyway, the question of the Masters is a fascinating one.  Being someone of
my time and culture, I am biologically disposed to be cynical about everyone
and that extends in many ways to them as well.  The problem is how are we to
judge these matters and that is something each must answer for himself.
 Belief and faith are not options for me, though they may be for others.  I
need evidence and that evidence is lacking for much of the Masters' material.
 That combined with the fact that we have only one side of the conversation
(which makes interpretation difficult at best) and they were writing to
eccentric Victorians and thus had to sugar coat some things and possibly
outright lie about others to protect the readers from going into shock leads
me to seriously question the validity of much of the work.
It's a serious problem and one that does not lend itself to an easy solution.

In the meantime, as you know from reading Chesterton, we no longer chuck
heretics but crown them with laurels and buy lots of their books.

Chuck the Heretic