{"id":7269,"date":"2005-04-11T12:05:59","date_gmt":"2005-04-11T19:05:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2005\/04\/11\/perspective-of-history.html"},"modified":"2005-04-11T12:05:59","modified_gmt":"2005-04-11T19:05:59","slug":"perspective_of","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2005\/04\/11\/perspective_of.html","title":{"rendered":"Perspective of History"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m quite dubious, as an historian, about calling the late Pope John Paul II “the Great,” as some folks are already beginning to do<\/a>. I’m very much opposed to fast-tracking sainthood for him, as is also being discussed.<\/p>\n

There’s a reason why there’s traditionally been a long gap between a person’s death and canonization. Part of it is because history may reveal, over time, aspects of the person and his ministry that were, well, unsaintly. Part of it, related, is because greatness (and sanctity) is best judged by history and (in the case of a saint, by a lengthy period of miraculous intercessions), outside of the euphoria and political pressures of the moment. <\/p>\n

That’s not meant to be a specific judgment on the question one way or the other. But if John Paul II really was “Great,” he’ll still be that way in a few decades. If he’s not, then the title will be an embarrassment (or, worse, a line of division in church politics, which, frankly, seems to be one of the reasons for the push now). And that’s even more true for sainthood.<\/p>\n

Time will tell. And we should let it do so.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m quite dubious, as an historian, about calling the late Pope John Paul II “the Great,” as some folks are already beginning to do. I’m very much opposed to fast-tracking…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-religion"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8124,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2005\/05\/13\/the_cult_of_per.html","url_meta":{"origin":7269,"position":0},"title":"The cult of personality","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 13-May-05 3:56pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Pope John Paul II may have been the greatest pope in the history of the Papacy, and he may have walked on water every day and twice on Sundays. But...","rel":"","context":"In "Religion"","block_context":{"text":"Religion","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/religion"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":38101,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/07\/02\/instant-sainthood.html","url_meta":{"origin":7269,"position":1},"title":"Instant Sainthood","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 2-Jul-13 7:33pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Sorry -- I'm a big believer in letting history judge. \u00a0Don't build civic structures and name them after live people. \u00a0Don't vote on \"The Best\/Worst President\" including anyone who was in office the last twenty-five years. \u00a0And for saints -- I'd say wait a century and see; the Church can\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":341,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/04\/30\/is_a_bear_polis.html","url_meta":{"origin":7269,"position":2},"title":"Is a Bear Polish?","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 30-Apr-03 11:48am","format":false,"excerpt":"You are Pope John Paul II. You are a force to be reckoned with. Which Twentieth Century Pope are You? Heck, I'll bet even my Mom tries this one....","rel":"","context":"In "Personality Tests"","block_context":{"text":"Personality Tests","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/personal\/personality-tests"},"img":{"alt_text":"To the Popemobile!","src":"\/blog\/images\/ptest\/JPII.gif","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3064,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2002\/08\/15\/well_they_do_ha.html","url_meta":{"origin":7269,"position":3},"title":"Well, they do have a contract …","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 15-Aug-02 10:44am","format":false,"excerpt":"US bishops have issued a statement that Jews don't need to be evangelized: Citing teachings dating back to the Second Vatican Council, and statements by Pope John Paul II throughout...","rel":"","context":"In "Religion"","block_context":{"text":"Religion","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/religion"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32778,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/03\/13\/new-boss-same-as-the-old-boss.html","url_meta":{"origin":7269,"position":4},"title":"New boss, same as the old boss?","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 13-Mar-13 1:37pm","format":false,"excerpt":"The first Jesuit, the first South American, and the first Pope to take the name Francis.On the other hand, it doesn't look like we can expect any significant changes in policy, at least on some of the more controversial social issues. \u00a0How he will handle the church's governance, push for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11628,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/07\/28\/bt07_more_fantastic.html","url_meta":{"origin":7269,"position":5},"title":"BT07 – More Fantastic","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 28-Jul-07 11:29am","format":false,"excerpt":"Fantastic Four Visionaries - John Byrne, Vol. 6\u00a0(Marvel) [collects #276-284, Thing #23, SW II #2)] w\/a.\u00a0John Byrne\u00a0 Writing New reader? Art Non-comics reader? John Byrne's run on FF was...","rel":"","context":"In "Blogathon"","block_context":{"text":"Blogathon","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/blogathon"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/stars3.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7269\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}