While notable Catholic mainstream figures like Jesuit author and LGBTQ activist Father James Martin devote their lives to making Catholicism palatable to modern culture – and even remaking Catholicism in the modern and postmodern mold – Barron seeks to distinguish Catholicism from modern culture in order to magnify its most controversial claim: that Jesus is Son of the living God.
The inaugural episode of Barron’s landmark Catholicism documentary series (“Amazed and Afraid”) is devoted to examining the disorienting nature of Jesus as God Incarnate.įor a mainstream obsessed with inclusivity, Barron’s insistence on the primacy of Christ is anathema. He regularly decries what he calls a “beige Catholicism” that caters to popular culture at the expense of spiritual vitality, and which too often slips into moral relativism.īarron’s preaching portrays a strange and disconcerting Christ, as opposed to the kindly spiritual guru often depicted in mainstream culture. Despite his heavy media presence and genial manner, Barron is no Catholic Oprah. What’s more, Barron is not part of mainstream American spirituality. The release of the popular Word on Fire Bible drew particularly foul sneering for its accompanying commentary, which included the likes of Pope Francis, Thomas Merton, and von Balthasar himself.īarron also drew Rad-Trad ire by providing what they regarded as insufficiently orthodox responses during web interviews on the Church’s role in salvation and the civil legality of gay marriage with Ben Shapiro and Dave Rubin, respectively. His approval of theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar’s contention that we may hope for Hell to be empty has animated Rad-Trad Twitter for years.įor those committed to small-tent Catholicism, Barron’s emphasis on God’s mercy is a red flag, along with his evangelical efforts through his glossy and sophisticated media outfit, Word on Fire. On multiple scores, Barron is not a Churchman of the Left.īut Barron is also not a traditionalist.
His embrace of on-and-off conservative figures like Jordan Peterson for his patristic interpretation of Scripture, for instance, rankles devotees of the historical-critical method and the “post-conciliar spirit.” Each time Barron bemoans “wokeness,” he is met with comments from the Left expressing a vague “disappointment.”
In the Catholic media bubble, Bishop Robert Barron is more often defined by what he is not than what he is.
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