Fear and Loathing In Georgetown: Is It Still A Problem?

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

FLG watched the first episode of The Borgias the other day, which made him wonder -- is simony still a problem with which one should be concerned?

Jacob T. Levy said...: No.

This has been another episode of "easy answers to easy questions."

Is there *any* modern church for which the problem is that *so many* people want to hold ecclesiastical office that the offices' implicit value rises far above the cost one pays in time-for-training? I suppose there could still be corrupt attempts to buy politically powerful positions in the hierarchy, but if the whole process selects for people who take the enterprise incredibly seriously, we wouldn't expect to see much of that. And when the lower ranks of religious authority demand massive costs in secular terms-- e.g. foregone income-- you're selecting for such seriousness.; January 22, 2013 at 6:48 PM
Withywindle said...: "The Harvard Number"; January 23, 2013 at 10:53 AM