Derek asks a good question

Before we get to Article I, I would like to continue narrating my faith journey. Derek of haligweorc fame spurred me to this by noting in the comments to the last post (forgive me for paraphrasing) that it seems that younger people generally are the ones who are bringing the pagan philosophers and Holy Tradition to bear on theology these days. By younger people, I suppose he means members of Generation X and Generation Y. I suspect he falls closer to X and I fall closer to Y.

One possible aetiology for this observation is that there is a sort of Reassessing Catholic community scattered around the Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Lutheran, and Anglican blogospheres. The Reassessing Catholics tend to be younger. First, because Reassessing Catholics either grew up in or came to Christ in reassessing churches or felt driven away from reassessing churches. But at the same time, while Reassessing Catholics recognized the justice or some other virtue inherent in reassessing churches, they also sensed a deep intellectual or spiritual vacuity within them that they found was best filled by Holy Tradition. Not all of the Reassessing Catholics are younger. AKMA and Father Haller are Reassessing Catholics. (Sorry, Professor Adam, you can't sit on the fence here. Your method is catholic, but your conclusions tend toward reassessment.) One mark of a Reassessing Anglo-Catholic is the willingness to brave the Titusonenine forums or to engage Al Kimel in debate. Well, it's an idea.

Note: There was a bit of spiritual autobiography here, but it doesn't seem quite germane.

One thing I will note is that I always have felt the odd one out among my peer group at church. That's not to say I haven't learned much about being a Christian from my peers. They've taught me a great deal. But I've always been tied more strongly into Tradition than anyone else in the community around me. There is, of course, one exception to that rule and his name is Randall Foster. But Randall is somewhat older than I am, and he's a reasserter. He is also a scholar of Patristics. Frankly, I couldn't beat him if I tried.

Let's close with a story. When I was junior in high school, I had a crush on a young woman in my Latin class. Sophomore year, we had read the Nicene Creed in Latin class. At the time, I pointed out discrepancies between the Greek and Latin versions of the text provided by the teacher. The Latin was the Niceno-Constantipolitan Creed with filioque , while the Greek was the original Nicene Creed. (I actually didn't know the difference until last year, I think.) One day, out of blue, my crush asked me, "That Nicene Creed thing we read last year, you actually believe that?" I answered in the affirmative. I always feel like I am a poor Christian, since I have sacrificed very little for the faith. The martyrs' faith led them into brutal torture and death. My faith just scares away girls.

The Holy Brothers Beg Your Leave For One Moment