The Teaching Auxiliary of L.A.

Seeds of the Word: Finding God in the Culture

Barron, Robert

(2015-03-11). Word on Fire. Kindle Edition.

"And therefore I believe that it is the task of the coming generation of Catholic intellectuals to offer a convincing apologetic for the basic narrative of the faith." (Kindle Locations 2326-2328).

When I told a friend I was reading Bishop-elect Robert Barron's book Seeds of the Word, he told me that since I had seen so many of the YouTube videos from which the book was drawn I need not have purchased it. 

Indeed, there are very few of the chapters of the book which I had not already encountered on YouTube and which I did not remember quite well. Nonetheless, for Robert Barron fans I would say that this book serves much the same purpose as the marvelous collections of Pope Benedict's Wednesday Audience talks. They gain a life of their own when printed in sequence. The reader has a freedom the viewer does not. 

With that caveat, I highly recommend the book. Barron, even though just short of a decade younger than I am, has a very different world view precisely because he was born into things which I saw come into being. Although he may still be on my side of the "amice barrier" as they say, his is a world which gets me to sit up and take notice. It is a matter of intellectual vitality or vivacity, which for him I thank God.

Barron's world does not necessarily go down well with a more traditionalist outlook, but the joy would be in finding room for a knock down drag out or two within the house of orthodoxy. I hope all who read that phrase take it benevolently and remember the times when Mother Church in her great wisdom has refused to resolve differences between different theological schools by declaring one or the other the winner.

We hope and pray that Robert Barron will continue to use his talents to further the dialogue and ..."offer a convincing apologetic for the basic narrative of the faith."