The burning Cathedral and the burning circus: when Good Friday came on Monday. By Rev. Fr, Omokugbo Ojeifo
In Introduction to Christianity, a 1968 book that has been adjudged as his greatest theological work, Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) opens with a narrative about the crisis of faith today. He tells the famous story first told by the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard about a burning circus in Denmark. According to this story, “a travelling circus in Denmark caught fire. The manager thereupon sent the clown, who was already dressed and made up for the performance, into the neighbouring village to fetch help, especially as there was a danger that the fire would spread across the fields of dry stubble and engulf the village itself. The clown hurried into the village and requested the inhabitants to come as quickly as possible to the blazing circus and help to put the fire out. But the villagers took the clown’s shouts simply for an excellent piece of advertising, meant to attract as many people as possible to the performance; they applauded the clown and laughed till they cried....