The thesis here pretty much reflects the heresy described and condemned by the Catholic Church as "modernism". Pope St. Pius X described Modernism as "the synt

The thesis here pretty much reflects the heresy described and condemned by the Catholic Church as "modernism". Pope St. Pius X described Modernism as "the synthesis of all heresies", and it's often insidious and difficult to pin down. Because if at its core, it says "there can be no universal truths" that is already an inherent Liar's Paradox, and any subsequent claims are just as questionable if one truly adheres to Modernism. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modernism_in_the_Catholic_Church https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modernism_in_the_Catholic_Chur... https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-x/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-x_enc_19070908_pascendi-dominici-gregis.html https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-x/en/encyclicals/documen... It is so strange how Brin tiptoes around mentioning any church or pope or the existing terms such as "Modernism", or how much the concept resembles his (rather appropriately) neologism-coined gobbledygook, but his words and phrasing seem to indicate that he's well aware that the same controversy has raged since the late-19th-century, (take note, he is of Eastern-Bloc Jewish descent) and merely wants to avoid cluing anyone in about the parallels.