The Poem of the Man God, Maria Valtorta

No, quite the opposite. A house cat is a cat and a cathouse is a house. So, a man-god would be a God turned into a man and a god-man would be a man turned into a god.

 

A snip from the Catholic World report:
https://www.catholicworldreport.com...osity-a-case-against-the-poem-of-the-man-god/

The Poem’s fundamental flaw is its claim to compensate for the inadequacies of the Gospels. As Jesus himself explains to Valtorta, the New Testament needs to be supplemented (I: p. 432) because of the evangelists’ “unbreakable Jewish frame of mind.” Their “flowery and pompous” Hebrew style kept them from writing everything that God wished. (V: p. 947) So nineteen centuries later, he finds a worthy secretary in Valtorta, his “Little John,” to expand what the Apostle St. John and the others wrote. “There is nothing of my own in this work,” she insists. (I: p. 57) She presents herself as a mere transmitter of Divine content.

But Hebrew is no “flowery” language. Neither is the simple and concrete koine Greek, in which at least three of the Gospels were composed. Moreover, the evangelist Luke was Greek, not Jewish. Nevertheless, Jesus denounces future critics of the Poem who dare to search for mistakes “in this work of divine bounty.” (V: pp. 751-52) The Poem is self-authenticating and any discrepancies were put in it by Jesus himself. (V: p. 753)
Valtorta’s own prose, however, is flowery in the extreme. Consider her page long description of newborn baby Mary (I: p. 24-25) wherein her fists “are two rose buds that split the green of their sepals and show their silk within.” Her figures of speech monotonously feature flowers, jewels, and fabric. The literary effect is further hampered by her fondness for exotic words (“noctules” for bats) and translators’ clumsiness (a line of laden donkeys is rendered as an “asinine cavalcade.”)

The Poem also presumes to “correct” the received text of Scripture. Valtorta’s reading of John 2:4 adds a novel “still” to Christ’s remark concerning the wine at Cana: thereby making it a comment on their own relationship: “Woman, what is there still between me and you?” (I: pp. 283-84) But her reading has no basis in the Vulgate or in any translation into a modern vernacular from the original Greek. The Poem presumes to place itself above the Bible and “Little John” beyond criticism.

 

From the same article....

"What little she knows about first century Palestine and Jerusalem could have come from maps and study aids commonly bound in Catholic Bibles. Otherwise, it’s a flower-strewn fantasy world. Her landscapes, sets, props, and costuming recall soft, gilt-touched Italian holy cards. She is amazingly ignorant of the local living conditions. Her houses resemble Italian farmhouses with fireplaces, porches, and kitchen gardens. The rich enjoy jasmine pergolas and hedged gardens closed with iron gates. The countryside abounds with apple orchards. fields of rye, stands of cactus and agave. Apples are ubiquitous. Dates, figs, and olives seldom appear; lentils, chickpeas, or onions never. People routinely drink fresh milk, even honey-water and cider, but wine scarcely ever appears. The screwdriver and the iron horseshoe are in use, although they were unknown in ancient Palestine.

Valtorta acknowledges her confusion about the layout of the Temple, but still erroneously pictures it as having multiple gilded domes, angel-headed capitals, and a choir of maidens. Not only does Jesus have a bar mitzvah, a ceremony which didn’t yet exist, everything described is false, even to the name of the Bible book he reads as a “test” administered by a bored Temple functionary. Although speaking the Divine Name was taboo, Jesus himself says “Yaweh. “Jehovah”, a word unknown in antiquity, is freely used by other speakers, including Mary and Peter."

 

How so? What is the formula for that?

 

? It's a compound noun. The second noun is always what the thing is. A toothbrush is a brush. A bedroom is a room. A policeman is a man.

 

Hmm. A police man was first a man then police. The correct chronological order should be manpolice.

 

Google synopsis:

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI) reiterated the continuing moral force of the Index Librorum Prohibitorum in his January 1985 letter to Cardinal Giuseppe Siri regarding the multi-volume visionary work, The Poem of the Man-God by Maria Valtorta. [1, 2, 3]
In the letter, Ratzinger explained that the previous condemnation and placement of the text on the Index by the Holy Office retained its moral value, meaning that the faithful were still advised to avoid the spiritually dangerous publication, even though the Index itself had been abolished. [1]
Additional Context:

• The 1966 Abolition: While Pope Paul VI officially abolished the Index in 1966, the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith simultaneously issued the Notification regarding the abolition of the Index of books. This document explicitly stated that while the Index no longer carried the weight of ecclesiastical law or carried attached penalties, it remained "morally binding" as a guide for Christians to avoid texts that endangered faith and morals.
• Ratzinger's Reiteration: Decades later, while serving as the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Ratzinger explicitly relied on this principle to warn Catholics about the Poem of the Man-God. He emphasized that although the formal penalties were gone, the Index retained its moral force, particularly for the "more unprepared faithful".

In addition the second publishing of the work was published in direct disobedience, and we know where direct disobedience to the Church' authority comes from...

• Initial Condemnation (1959): The Holy Office placed the work on the Index of Librorum Prohibitorum (Index of Forbidden Books) because it was published without the required ecclesiastical permission (the Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur).

• The Second Edition (1961): Competent Church authorities specifically prohibited the printing of the work. However, the publishers went ahead and printed a second edition of ten volumes.

• Official Response (1961): The Vatican's official newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, published a prominent front-page article condemning this second printing for reasons of disobedience. [1, 2, 3, 4]

 

In a letter of 31 January 1985 to Cardinal Giuseppe Siri, regarding the book ThePoem of the Man-God, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (then Prefect of the Congregation,who later became Pope Benedict XVI), referred to the 1966 notification of the Congregation as follows: "After the dissolution of the Index, when some people thought the printing and distribution of the work was permitted, people were reminded again inL'Osservatore Romano(15 June 1966) that, as was published in the Acta Apostolicae Sedis(1966), the Index retains its moral force despite itsdissolution. A decision against distributing and recommending a work, which has notbeen condemned lightly, may be reversed, but only after profound changes that neutralize the harm which such a publication could bring forth among the ordinary faithful."

______________
Perhaps we think we know better than the Church.

Perhaps we think we know better than Cardinal Ratzinger.

Perhaps we believe we can ignore the fact that it was published in direct disobedience.

Perhaps we can rationalize the descriptions of Jesus using a screwdriver and the presence of nailed on horse shoes in the narative which did not exist untill many centuries later. Perhaps we can look past the inaccurate discription of the Temple.

Perhaps we can ignore that Maria maintained that the text was divinely inspired...automatic writing.

We are free to fill our minds with anything we wish...even if we have been warned it could cause us harm, and was not condemned lightly.

Itchy ears?

I prefer to read the Bible, the writings of the doctors of the Church, the Catechism.

 

The Word Incarnate would be more specific.

 

I am on volume 10. It has greatly edified my faith.

 

Thank you for this Non Sum Dignus. This is solid info under pinning my own misgivings. There are so many approved texts Like Mary of Agreda and Blessed Catherine Emmerich. And always the Bible first and foremost.

 

This video is interesting. I found it easier to follow if I muted it.