Someone has recently charged that we do not know the Gospel, and
hence that would serve as an impediment to evangelisation.
Prima facie, this charge can be true and untrue at the same time.
It depends on the meaning of 'know the Gospel'.
At one level, it is true that we do not know the Gospel as some of
our Protestant brethren do, in the sense that most of us have no
inclination to memorise the Bible.
On the other hand, we do know the Gospel, but not from the 'head
knowledge' perspective. I have seen many poorly educated people who
have a lot more faith than I do, and who lead lives in fidelity to
the Gospel. By their actions, they serve as effective witnesses to
the Gospel.
In any case, I wonder if many of us suffer from what C.S. Lewis
calls 'chronological snobbery', whereby we think that only in our
'modern' times where education is widespread would more people know
the Gospel. Of course, attendant to this type of thinking is the
black myth that the Catholic Church disallowed people from reading
the Bible in the old days. Which of course ignored the fact that in
those days, most people were peasant who could not read. The
transmission of the Gospel was by word of mouth.
regards,
obiterdicta
