Odd Theologies

At the beginning of the conclave which elected the current Pope Francis, Cardinal Prosper Grech delivered a meditation. A portion of it follows:

THE SCANDAL OF THE CROSS
The proclamation of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God is made concrete in the proclamation of “Jesus Christ, and him crucified” (1 Cor 2:2). […] It is precisely this scandal of the cross that humbles the “hybris” of the human mind and elevates it to accept a wisdom that comes from above. In this case as well, to relativize the person of Christ by placing him alongside other “saviors” means emptying Christianity itself of its substance. It is precisely the preaching of the absurdity of the cross that in less than three hundred years reduced to the minimum the religions of the Roman empire and opened the minds of men to a new view of hope and resurrection. It is for the same hope that the modern world is thirsting, suffering from an existential depression.

I like this. However, the word "hybris" should not really be used to substitute for "arrogance" or "unheedful pride".

And the old notion that the Absurdity of the Cross had the ironically enormous power to affect profound change across the Roman Empire and beyond unfortunately neglects the numerous pagan gods that also were killed and eventually revived.

The logic employed here seems to imply that the mistletoe of Baldur  (who is to return after Ragnarok)  could have had a similar efficacy as the Cross.

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