The Emerging Affection for Catholicism

Over at Jesus Manifesto.com, we find more Emergent admiration of Catholicism. The site provides partner links to New Monasticism, Duluth Catholic Worker and The Catholic Worker.

Contributor Jason Barr has been running an 12-part series on Anarchism, Christianity, and the Prophetic Imagination. In Part 6 he writes:

Anarchism is not about disorder and chaos, it is about creating a different kind of order. Catholic Worker co-founder and anarchist Peter Maurin often described the goal of the movement as to create a society where it is easier for people to be good. This is a far cry from the common picture of anarchy as chaos that would inevitably be characterized by lawlessness and vigilante action, a dog-eat-dog world where strong prey on the weak. Anarchism is about as far as that as you can get, as we will see when we get more into what it is.

Editor's note: Anarchy and social order built on a foundation of an imagination-driven religious system...history has several examples of this type of experiment, including monasticism.

Take a look at Communitarianism by Professor Amitai Etzioni, Director of the Center for Communitarian Policy Studies of the George Washington University, Washington, DC. See any similarities in Barr's thesis?

See also Praxis, Post-evangelical and Politics in the Emerging Church Movement, Is The Pope Emergent?, Is The Emerging Church Just Catholicism?