Another from St. Hereticus

In the chapter bearing the title Poetic Potpourri of a Priestly Peripatetic, he has this under the heading ‘A Theological Mother Goose’:

The Augustinian Blues

Ba, ba, black sheep,

Have you any will?

Yes, sir, no sir,

I can’t tell.

 

Won by my Master,

I’m in the church.

While the massa damnata

Is left in the lurch.

Robert McAfee Brown, ed. The Collect’d Writings of St. Hereticus. Including manuscripts that have not previously appear’d in print to which are annex’d two appendices on theological gamesmanship & one on researchmanship. (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1964), 113.

One more from St. Hereticus

In the chapter bearing the title Poetic Potpourri of a Priestly Peripatetic, he has this under the heading ‘A Revised Hymnary’:

Faith of Our Fathers, Wholly Faith

1. LIBERAL VERSION:

Faith of our fathers, once so great.

We must revise or be out of date,

We must distinguish kerygma from myth,

Or they won’t be worth bothering with.

CHORUS:

Faith of our fathers we accept

(Save for the parts that we reject).

 

2. ORTHODOX VERSION:

Faith of our fathers, keep it intact!

They wrote it down precisely exact.

Change no expression, no phrases delete,

Their propositions cannot be beat.

CHORUS:

Faith of our fathers, keep it pure,

Relevance is a sinful lure.

 

3. AMERICAN VERSION:

Faith of our founding fathers! We

Now can express with clarity:

“God’s on our side, he’ll hear every plea

If we’ll expand our economy.”

CHORUS:

Faith of our founding fathers! There

Is nothing quite like laissez-faire.

Robert McAfee Brown, ed. The Collect’d Writings of St. Hereticus. Including manuscripts that have not previously appear’d in print to which are annex’d two appendices on theological gamesmanship & one on researchmanship. (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1964), 115-116.