Interesting, short piece that discusses James Joyce's short story, "The Dead." "The hunger experienced by millions as a natural response to a lack of food was not caused by nature but political decisions. This artificiality was and still is the core of Empire. What this means is the famine's dead are also the ghosts of the people sleeping on our streets, or who are bused from rich cities to poor ones. In the way that starvation was imposed, the homelessness of our times is also imposed."
https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2017/12/22/25652094/why-the-dead-by-james-joyce-is-the-greatest-christmas-story?fbclid=IwAR3_aZoDFcZXm8HYFCV88RbF2knGGm5H2oGaaW0IrYze-acFOSCUugIdu0I
Wednesday, December 26, 2018
Tuesday, December 25, 2018
Barth's Dogmatics, §2, the Task of Prolegomena
Back to blogging, after a crazy and busy end of the semester...
My blog project for 2019 is to take notes on Karl Barth’s Church Dogmatics. My folks purchased the whole English-language set for me forty years ago, and subsequently I wrote my doctoral dissertation on a portion of Vol. III, part 2. For this blog project, I’ll study the Dogmatics by paragraphs, taking notes. See my December 2, 2018 post for Barth's overall plan for his series.
I’m in Volume 1, part 1, “The Doctrine of the Word of God.”
Paragraph 2 is “The Task of Prolegomena to Dogmatics”: “Prolegomena to dogmatics is our name for the introductory part of dogmatics in which our concern is to understand its particular way of knowledge” (p. 25). Arnold Cone, in his book An Introduction to Barth’s “Dogmatics” for Preachers,” writes of this section, “Dogmatics is the church’s speaking about its speaking, testing the latter’s authenticity against the norm of Jesus Christ. So the first task is to explicate this special way to knowledge in Jesus Christ—not as a bridge to unbelief but as a correction of heresy” (p. 89).
In the section “The Necessity of Dogmatic Prolegomena” (I/1, 25-36), Barth comments that prolegomena to theology has to do with the distinctive way of knowledge of that science. Dogmatic work in each time period is connected to the situation of the Church in that period. Although Emil Brunner, for instance, contests the self-sufficient and self-assuring rationality of the modern spirit that opposes the Word of God, Brunner still affirms a point of contact for God’s revelation, which Barth rejects.
Barth does not believe that “the tragedy of modern godlessness” is “anything out of the ordinary” in church history (p. 28). But still, the task of dogmatics is not apologetics toward the modern situation but the distinctive talk of the Church measured against its standard, the divine revelation. Although dogmatics takes unbelief seriously, Barth does not think that apologetics and polemics are more effective than good dogmatics that is faithful to its standard.
Dogmatics also has to do with heresy. He considers Roman Catholicism in its Counter Reformation form, and also Protestant rationalistic and pietistic Modernism, as heresies, and Evangelical faith be true to faithful dogmatics with awareness of the heresies of these kinds of faith.
In the section “The Possibility of Dogmatic Prolegomena” (pp. 36-44), Barth discusses Modernism—which sees faith and church “as links in a greater nexus of being” (p. 36)—and asks whether this nexus (and the foundational piety of which Schleiermacher writes) is superior to the being of the Church and the divine revelation. Regarding Roman Catholicism, Barth discusses the way divine grace becomes an available relationship in the rites of the church, and the way the analogia entis (analogy of being), which affirms a divine likeness in the world, so that God is the ontological presupposition of faith and knowledge. Both of these, Barth claims, undercuts the freedom of God—“Jesus Christ… the free Lord of [the church’s] existence” (p. 40).
Barth writes that he will not only discuss the doctrine of Holy Scripture, but the doctrine of the Word of God, in order to lay a proper foundation for the dogmatics that follow.
My blog project for 2019 is to take notes on Karl Barth’s Church Dogmatics. My folks purchased the whole English-language set for me forty years ago, and subsequently I wrote my doctoral dissertation on a portion of Vol. III, part 2. For this blog project, I’ll study the Dogmatics by paragraphs, taking notes. See my December 2, 2018 post for Barth's overall plan for his series.
I’m in Volume 1, part 1, “The Doctrine of the Word of God.”
Paragraph 2 is “The Task of Prolegomena to Dogmatics”: “Prolegomena to dogmatics is our name for the introductory part of dogmatics in which our concern is to understand its particular way of knowledge” (p. 25). Arnold Cone, in his book An Introduction to Barth’s “Dogmatics” for Preachers,” writes of this section, “Dogmatics is the church’s speaking about its speaking, testing the latter’s authenticity against the norm of Jesus Christ. So the first task is to explicate this special way to knowledge in Jesus Christ—not as a bridge to unbelief but as a correction of heresy” (p. 89).
In the section “The Necessity of Dogmatic Prolegomena” (I/1, 25-36), Barth comments that prolegomena to theology has to do with the distinctive way of knowledge of that science. Dogmatic work in each time period is connected to the situation of the Church in that period. Although Emil Brunner, for instance, contests the self-sufficient and self-assuring rationality of the modern spirit that opposes the Word of God, Brunner still affirms a point of contact for God’s revelation, which Barth rejects.
Barth does not believe that “the tragedy of modern godlessness” is “anything out of the ordinary” in church history (p. 28). But still, the task of dogmatics is not apologetics toward the modern situation but the distinctive talk of the Church measured against its standard, the divine revelation. Although dogmatics takes unbelief seriously, Barth does not think that apologetics and polemics are more effective than good dogmatics that is faithful to its standard.
Dogmatics also has to do with heresy. He considers Roman Catholicism in its Counter Reformation form, and also Protestant rationalistic and pietistic Modernism, as heresies, and Evangelical faith be true to faithful dogmatics with awareness of the heresies of these kinds of faith.
In the section “The Possibility of Dogmatic Prolegomena” (pp. 36-44), Barth discusses Modernism—which sees faith and church “as links in a greater nexus of being” (p. 36)—and asks whether this nexus (and the foundational piety of which Schleiermacher writes) is superior to the being of the Church and the divine revelation. Regarding Roman Catholicism, Barth discusses the way divine grace becomes an available relationship in the rites of the church, and the way the analogia entis (analogy of being), which affirms a divine likeness in the world, so that God is the ontological presupposition of faith and knowledge. Both of these, Barth claims, undercuts the freedom of God—“Jesus Christ… the free Lord of [the church’s] existence” (p. 40).
Barth writes that he will not only discuss the doctrine of Holy Scripture, but the doctrine of the Word of God, in order to lay a proper foundation for the dogmatics that follow.
Sunday, December 2, 2018
Barth's Dogmatics, §1, the Task of Dogmatics
It's the first Sunday of Advent!For the past few years, I’ve used this blog as a platform for some year-long studies--often on Advent's first Sunday--undertaken as a spiritual discipline. One year I surveyed all of Bach’s sacred cantatas on the church days for which they were written; I studied saints of the church on or near their feast days; last year I studied all the books of the Bible. This last project became so intensive—filling over 200 pages when assembled---that I ended up neglecting this blog for a few months fter I finally finished the New Testament.
But beginning with this first Sunday of Advent and continuing through 2019, Lord willing, I want to take notes on Karl Barth’s Church Dogmatics. My folks purchased the whole English-language set for me forty years ago. Subsequently I wrote my doctoral dissertation on aspects of the Dogmatics, publishing it in 1994. As things turned out, my teaching career took different directions and I never taught Barth. But I continued to study the books off and on over the years, and Barth’s theology informed ways that I thought about the Bible as I wrote religious curriculum.
Now, I’d like to think through the Dogmatics as the year’s “spiritual project.” Perhaps I'll use these notes eventually to design a course on Barth. Studying his magnum opus carries a nostalgic value for me; I’ve had this set---and loved Barth’s theology---since college, when I was so excited about the prospect of divinity school and then doctoral work.
The Dogmatics was conceived to have five volumes:
The doctrine of the Word of God
The doctrine of God
The doctrine of Creation
The doctrine of Reconciliation
The doctrine of Redemption.
Barth was able to complete most of the doctrine of reconciliation, though leaving the fourth part unfinished. Volumes 1 and 2 have two parts (two large books), and Volumes 3 and 4 have four parts (four books for Vol. 3 and six books for Vol. 4).
Altogether, there are 74 paragraphs (i.e., sections), including the unnumbered final portion (the fragment Vol. 4 Part 4) that concerns Christian baptism. The first volume was published in 1932 and the last in 1967. Barth’s assistant Charlotte von Kirschbaum was indispensable for the progress of the Dogmatics.
During this project, I’ll take notes on the Dogmatics by paragraphs. Although there are many books about Barth's theology, one of my favorites is an older one: Arnold B. Come’s An Introduction to Barth’s Dogmatics for Preachers (Westminster Press, 1963). Come provides not only a nice discussion of the set but also a “quick tour.”
Here we go!
Paragraph 1 is “The Task of Dogmatics”: “As a theological discipline dogmatics is the scientific self-examination of the Christian Church with respect of the content of its distinctive talk about God.”
In “The Church, Theology, Science” (I/1, 3-11) theology is the work of the church, and because it is a human endeavor it is fallible, but is measured by the self-disclosure of God in Jesus Christ. Theology is a science, independent of other sciences, which does not have to submit to standards valid in other sciences. But theology as a science is in solidarity with other sciences while pursuing its own special responsibility.
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| Barth family grave in Basel |
In “Dogmatics as an Enquiry” (pp. 11-17), dogmatics as an enquiry carries the assumption that the content of Christian talk about God can be known. This talk must conform to the being of the Church, and thus to Jesus Christ. But that talk not only can be known, but must be known, because this talk is an act of obedience to the Lord. Because God is free, church dogma can never be considered infallible in the Roman Catholic sense, for God alone as disclosed in Christ is the truth of the church.
In “Dogmatics as an Act of Faith” (pp. 17-24), dogmatics is impossible to carry out without faith—without listening to and being obedient to Christ. As faith, regeneration, and conversion are part of the Christian experience, theology will be part of the calling of the church and the grace given to the theologian. Penitence and obedience and prayer are always part of dogmatics—but that fact, in turn, does make theology special among the sciences.
Friday, October 26, 2018
Article: The Far-Right's Near Monopoly on Political Violence
Here's an interesting article: "Why does the far-right have a near-monopoly on political violence?"
https://www.thenation.com/article/why-does-the-far-right-hold-a-near-monopoly-on-political-violence/
https://www.thenation.com/article/why-does-the-far-right-hold-a-near-monopoly-on-political-violence/
Monday, October 15, 2018
"He's One of Us"
This was an instructive article for understanding some of our current political climate.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/14/us/politics/trump-southern-voters-campaign-rallies.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/14/us/politics/trump-southern-voters-campaign-rallies.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur
Sunday, October 14, 2018
Ghost Signs: Cleveland
A neat article about signs in Cleveland:
https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2018/10/ghost_signs_of_cleveland_haunt.html
https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2018/10/ghost_signs_of_cleveland_haunt.html
Thursday, October 11, 2018
Interesting news items and opinions this week
"Right wing media isn't happy that women are protesting."
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/right-wing-media-isnt-happy-that-women-are-out-there-protesting_us_5bbe026be4b0876edaa4504c?ncid=tweetlnkushpmg00000067&__twitter_impression=true
"Americans don't like political correctness"---but an interesting breakdown of different political and social views of different demographics.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/10/large-majorities-dislike-political-correctness/572581/
"The threat of tribalism" upon the constitution and democracy
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/10/the-threat-of-tribalism/568342/
"Georgia's GOP secretary of state (who's also running for governor) is preventing thousands of black residents from registering to vote"
https://theguardiansofdemocracy.com/georgias-gop-secretary-state-preventing-thousands-black-residents-registering-vote-also-running-governor/
"Nearly all states slashed college funding over the last decade"
https://www.educationdive.com/news/nearly-all-states-slashed-college-funding-over-last-decade/538941/
Too late now, but the Washington Post had urged a No vote on the Kavanaugh confirmation.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/vote-no-on-kavanaugh/2018/10/04/23495e3a-c7f3-11e8-b1ed-1d2d65b86d0c_story.html?utm_term=.83e783f15ea7
A potentially positive outlook on climate change
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2018/10/10/dont-panic-over-intergovernmental-panel-climate-change-report-editorials-debates/1595137002/
North Dakota court makes it harder for many Native Americans to vote
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/10/supreme-court-makes-it-harder-for-tribal-north-dakotans-to-vote/
Deported parents may lose children to adoption
https://apnews.com/97b06cede0c149c492bf25a48cb6c26f
Chief Justice Roberts orders an ethics investigation about Kavanaugh:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2018/10/11/chief-justice-roberts-requests-tenth-circuit-to-investigate-kavanaugh-ethics-questions/?utm_source=FACEBOOK&utm_medium=social&utm_term=Valerie%2F#451db44b1877
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/right-wing-media-isnt-happy-that-women-are-out-there-protesting_us_5bbe026be4b0876edaa4504c?ncid=tweetlnkushpmg00000067&__twitter_impression=true
"Americans don't like political correctness"---but an interesting breakdown of different political and social views of different demographics.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/10/large-majorities-dislike-political-correctness/572581/
"The threat of tribalism" upon the constitution and democracy
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/10/the-threat-of-tribalism/568342/
"Georgia's GOP secretary of state (who's also running for governor) is preventing thousands of black residents from registering to vote"
https://theguardiansofdemocracy.com/georgias-gop-secretary-state-preventing-thousands-black-residents-registering-vote-also-running-governor/
"Nearly all states slashed college funding over the last decade"
https://www.educationdive.com/news/nearly-all-states-slashed-college-funding-over-last-decade/538941/
Too late now, but the Washington Post had urged a No vote on the Kavanaugh confirmation.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/vote-no-on-kavanaugh/2018/10/04/23495e3a-c7f3-11e8-b1ed-1d2d65b86d0c_story.html?utm_term=.83e783f15ea7
A potentially positive outlook on climate change
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2018/10/10/dont-panic-over-intergovernmental-panel-climate-change-report-editorials-debates/1595137002/
North Dakota court makes it harder for many Native Americans to vote
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/10/supreme-court-makes-it-harder-for-tribal-north-dakotans-to-vote/
Deported parents may lose children to adoption
https://apnews.com/97b06cede0c149c492bf25a48cb6c26f
Chief Justice Roberts orders an ethics investigation about Kavanaugh:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2018/10/11/chief-justice-roberts-requests-tenth-circuit-to-investigate-kavanaugh-ethics-questions/?utm_source=FACEBOOK&utm_medium=social&utm_term=Valerie%2F#451db44b1877
Sunday, October 7, 2018
Landscape: Frederic Edwin Church
I'm doing some research on the art of F. E. Church---and I keep forgetting where I found these two sources online. So I'm posting them here!
https://www.nga.gov/content/dam/ngaweb/research/publications/pdfs/frederic-edwin-church.pdf
http://www.brucebyersconsulting.com/the-art-of-ecology-a-pilgrimage-to-the-heart-of-the-andes/
Church, "The Heart of the Andes" (1859), Metropolitan Museum of Art. Copied under fair use principles.
https://www.nga.gov/content/dam/ngaweb/research/publications/pdfs/frederic-edwin-church.pdf
http://www.brucebyersconsulting.com/the-art-of-ecology-a-pilgrimage-to-the-heart-of-the-andes/
Church, "The Heart of the Andes" (1859), Metropolitan Museum of Art. Copied under fair use principles.
____
Update! Here are photos, taken when I finally visited the painting in March 2020.
This famous painting happens to be in the same room.
Two Views from Women about the Kavanaugh Hearings
If anyone wants a chance to read two views of women's responses to the Kavanaugh hearings, these two articles provide a fascinating comparison.
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/kavanaugh-confirmed-time-burn-down-201700261.html?soc_src=community
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/10/conservative-women-kavanaugh-ford/572023/
Personally, I'm on the side of the women of the first article, who seek change for women and a greater seriousness toward issues of assault, etc. The investigation of Mr. Kavanaugh was so short and rushed---especially compared to how exhaustively the GOP leaders went after the Clintons---and you could conclude that Mr. Kavanaugh did not get the benefit of a thorough conclusion because of it. And to see advocacy toward women in the words and actions of the president and many GOP leaders in Congress, is something I just can't see.
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/kavanaugh-confirmed-time-burn-down-201700261.html?soc_src=community
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/10/conservative-women-kavanaugh-ford/572023/
Personally, I'm on the side of the women of the first article, who seek change for women and a greater seriousness toward issues of assault, etc. The investigation of Mr. Kavanaugh was so short and rushed---especially compared to how exhaustively the GOP leaders went after the Clintons---and you could conclude that Mr. Kavanaugh did not get the benefit of a thorough conclusion because of it. And to see advocacy toward women in the words and actions of the president and many GOP leaders in Congress, is something I just can't see.
Monday, September 24, 2018
Landscape: Su Blackwell
From Twitter this evening:
#WOMENSART
@womensart1
21h21 hours ago
More Nature in Britain, 2012 by Su Blackwell, artist who creates paper art out of old books, often based on fairytale and the environment #womensart
(copied under fair use principles)
#WOMENSART
@womensart1
21h21 hours ago
More Nature in Britain, 2012 by Su Blackwell, artist who creates paper art out of old books, often based on fairytale and the environment #womensart
(copied under fair use principles)
Saturday, September 22, 2018
#whyIdidntreport
In the midst of the Kavanaugh hearings, and in the wake of the president's characteristic insensitivity, here is a really good piece about why women did not report sexual assault.
https://www.cosmopolitan.com/politics/a23366420/why-i-didnt-report-assault-hashtag-donald-trump/
https://www.cosmopolitan.com/politics/a23366420/why-i-didnt-report-assault-hashtag-donald-trump/
Monday, September 3, 2018
"Bible in a Year" in One Place
As the project developed, I followed my curiosity into both Christian and Jewish interpretation of the Old Testament, and also the reasons why the New Testament, though mostly written by Jews, seems so anti-Jewish (and became the root of later anti-Semitism). I also tried to show the many interconnections and contrasts among Bible books and sections.
I decided to put all the posts together into one place, which turned out to be 215 single-spaced manuscript pages, gosh. Here is the blog page where all those posts are arranged from Genesis to Revelation, instead of the backward way that posts necessarily appear in a blog:
http://paulstroble.blogspot.com/p/bible-in-year-notes-on-bible-for-my.html
Friday, August 17, 2018
Landscape: Alfredo Lazzari
Alfredo Lazzari (1871-1949), "Olvarría e Irala, La Boca". From Twitter, @FreeExhibition, August 17, 2018. Copied under fair use principles.
Landscape: Hasui Kawase
Hasui Kawase (1883-1957), "Mount Fuji Seen from Tagonoura in the Evening" (1940). From Twitter, @TheNewPainting, July 28, 2018.
Landscape: Amelia Lady Farmborough
Amelia Lady Farmborough (1772-1837), "View taken from the Grounds at Bromley Hill, Kent" Twitter, @FreeExhibition, August 17, 2018. Copied under fair use principles.
Saturday, July 28, 2018
"If War is Hell, Then Coffee Offers Salvation"
Here's an interesting article about the importance of coffee in the Civil War! 'The word coffee was more present in these diaries than the words "war," "bullet," "cannon," "slavery," "mother" or even "Lincoln."'
https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/07/25/485227943/if-war-is-hell-then-coffee-has-offered-u-s-soldiers-some-salvation
https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/07/25/485227943/if-war-is-hell-then-coffee-has-offered-u-s-soldiers-some-salvation
Sunday, July 22, 2018
Welcome Home, Taako!
Crazy cat people! We adopted our tortoise shell Taz in 2010, our lynx point Siamese Saki in 2012, and our seal point Siamese Maia in 2017—all of whom are represented by blog posts on this site.
One more cat has come to our family! Daughter Emily works at Bauhaus, the cat cafe in Maplewood, MO where we obtained Mia. Now we've adopted our little flame point Siamese whom Emily named Taako, after a character in a podcast that she likes. (His foster mom had given Western-themed names to several cats and had called him Widowmaker.) Taako has already settled in and become a “brother” of Maia.
Alas, both Maia and Taako are soon moving West with Emily as she begins graduate school. But he’s been a joy to get to know this summer—-and, of course, he’s still in the family, just in a different place.
As I wrote when we adopted Saki: A new pet isn’t as drastically life-changing as a baby. (Emily's birthday is coming up!) But they do introduce additional responsibilities into your day. If you’re a “pet person,” though, your very well being depends upon a little four-legged critter who is your special friend, a refuge and companion amid your tasks and challenges. A new pet is the beginning of a new period of your life, and the anticipation of many family stories and adventures.
One more cat has come to our family! Daughter Emily works at Bauhaus, the cat cafe in Maplewood, MO where we obtained Mia. Now we've adopted our little flame point Siamese whom Emily named Taako, after a character in a podcast that she likes. (His foster mom had given Western-themed names to several cats and had called him Widowmaker.) Taako has already settled in and become a “brother” of Maia.
Alas, both Maia and Taako are soon moving West with Emily as she begins graduate school. But he’s been a joy to get to know this summer—-and, of course, he’s still in the family, just in a different place.
As I wrote when we adopted Saki: A new pet isn’t as drastically life-changing as a baby. (Emily's birthday is coming up!) But they do introduce additional responsibilities into your day. If you’re a “pet person,” though, your very well being depends upon a little four-legged critter who is your special friend, a refuge and companion amid your tasks and challenges. A new pet is the beginning of a new period of your life, and the anticipation of many family stories and adventures.
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| "I can haz car tonight?" |
Monday, July 9, 2018
Art: Bertha Wegmann
Not a landscape, but lovely. Bertha Wegmann (1847-1926), "Last Greeting of Autumn" (before 1900). From Twitter, @TheNewPainting, July 8, 2018.
Landscape: Sohlberg
Harald Oskar Sohlberg, "Summer Night" (1899), from Twitter @VirtualArtSpace, July 7, 2018, and https://www.the-athenaeum.org/art/list.php?m=a&s=tu&aid=1316 Copied under fair use principles.
Saturday, July 7, 2018
Landscape: Mønsted
Peder Mørk Mønsted, "Landscape with Stream" (1902). From Twitter, @VirtualArtSpace, July 7, 2018.
Landscapes: Renato Muccillo
What beautiful landscapes by this contemporary artist! https://renatomuccillo.com/section/81016.html
Landscape: Károly Markó
Károly Markó (1793-1860), "Italian Landscape at Sunset, Fishermen" (1851), Hungarian National Gallery. From Twitter, @History of Painting, July 7, 2018.
Thursday, July 5, 2018
Landscape: Corot
"The Forest of Fontainebleau" by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (1846). From https://www.mfa.org/collections/object/forest-of-fontainebleau-31016 Copied under fair use principles.
"The Forest of Fontainebleau" by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (1834). From https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.46584.html Copied under fair use principles.
"The Forest of Fontainebleau" by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (1834). From https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.46584.html Copied under fair use principles.
Tuesday, June 26, 2018
Dude Fire
Some Arizona anniversaries today. On June 26, 1990, Phoenix hit an all-time record heat of 122 degrees F, and Tucson hit its all-time record of 117. We lived in Flagstaff, which didn’t hit its record (97 F back in 1973), but the day was quite hot for Flagstaff, where home air conditioning is less common because of its normally cooler climate. My Beth was pregnant with our daughter Emily.
Also on June 26, the catastrophic Dude Fire near Payson, AZ took six lives—five inmates from a state prison who were fighting the fire, and one of their guards. We had spent the weekend in that area not many weeks before.
https://www.azcentral.com/story/behind-the-lens/2015/06/26/dude-fire/28981819/
Also on June 26, the catastrophic Dude Fire near Payson, AZ took six lives—five inmates from a state prison who were fighting the fire, and one of their guards. We had spent the weekend in that area not many weeks before.
https://www.azcentral.com/story/behind-the-lens/2015/06/26/dude-fire/28981819/
Monday, June 18, 2018
Trump's Grip on the GOP
A favorite writer in The Atlantic has this recent article about President Trump's grip on the Republican Party. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/06/cult-or-not-trumps-grasp-on-the-republican-party-is-stronger-than-ever/562991/?utm_source=feed "The GOP spent the Barack Obama years protesting that the president was busy turning his back on America’s allies—remember the fracas when Obama dared to even relocate a bust of Winston Churchill?—and naively conferring with America’s nemeses, especially Iran. Obama was assailed as a traitor at worst and a bumbling fool at best for bowing to foreign dignitaries (and even a robot). Some of these critiques are more valid than others, but regardless, nearly all of them apply to Trump this week." He goes on to point out that although Trump is unpopular in the country, he has sufficient influence (including acquiesce from GOP leaders) in primary elections.
Given the president's many lies, inflammatory rhetoric, support for dangerous people along with contempt for allies (and for Americans exercising their right to protest), and other objectionable qualities, this evolution of the GOP--in process for many years--continues to be distressing. This essay, though, suggests possible trends: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/18/opinion/trump-base-midterms-moderate-republicans.html?action=click&module=Ribbon&pgtype=Article I can't imagine that celebrities declaring "Fuck Trump!" is helpful at all and is, in fact, detrimental.
(One of the president's lies is the claim that Democrats are to blame for separating children from families at the U.S.-Mexico border. https://www.npr.org/2018/05/29/615211215/fact-check-are-democrats-responsible-for-dhs-separating-children-from-their-pare)
Given the president's many lies, inflammatory rhetoric, support for dangerous people along with contempt for allies (and for Americans exercising their right to protest), and other objectionable qualities, this evolution of the GOP--in process for many years--continues to be distressing. This essay, though, suggests possible trends: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/18/opinion/trump-base-midterms-moderate-republicans.html?action=click&module=Ribbon&pgtype=Article I can't imagine that celebrities declaring "Fuck Trump!" is helpful at all and is, in fact, detrimental.
(One of the president's lies is the claim that Democrats are to blame for separating children from families at the U.S.-Mexico border. https://www.npr.org/2018/05/29/615211215/fact-check-are-democrats-responsible-for-dhs-separating-children-from-their-pare)
Racist Trope
Here's an interesting article in the NYT, about the tenacious and racist trope, "ape caricature of blackness," that comedienne Roseanne Barr recently invoked. The writer discusses how the trope still pervades our legal system.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/17/opinion/roseanne-racism-blacks-apes.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/17/opinion/roseanne-racism-blacks-apes.html
Saturday, May 5, 2018
A Favorite Quotation
This must be one of my favorite quotations, because I've used or cited it in about four of my writings. “In a profound sense, Psalm 104 puts us humans in our place---with springs and hills and trees and creating things. If our motivation for facing our own future and the future of the earth were to glorify God, we might even have the humility to ask ourselves what it would really mean to live in partnership with a tree or with a wild goat or with the thousands of species whose disappearance causes hardly a ripple of attention, primarily because we are convinced the nature exists to serve humanity. Quite simply, Psalm 104 asserts that this is not the case. Rather, to serve God will mean ultimately to serve God’s creation…” (J. Clinton McCann, Jr., “The Book of Psalms,” in The New Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. IV (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1996) 1099-1100).
Thursday, April 5, 2018
Wednesday, April 4, 2018
Jesus Christ Superstar 2018
On Easter Sunday evening, we enjoyed catching the live broadcast of "Jesus Christ Superstar" with John Legend, Sara Bareilles, Brandon Victor Dixon, Norm Lewis, and Alice Cooper, among others.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt6874964/ I loved the combined 1980s/2010s vibe, and the cast was very diverse, which in turn softened the anti-Jewish aspects of the Passion story.
Facebook friends were discussing the broadcast I recalled purchasing the original concept album, which I got when I was 14 or 15, and played some of the songs on the piano. We friends agreed that the music was really important to us, perhaps more than we'd realized. Wonderful to hear this music again after a lot of years.
http://www.theatermania.com/new-york-city-theater/reviews/whats-the-buzz-about-nbc-jesus-christ-superstar_84634.html?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=02apr2018
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt6874964/ I loved the combined 1980s/2010s vibe, and the cast was very diverse, which in turn softened the anti-Jewish aspects of the Passion story.
Facebook friends were discussing the broadcast I recalled purchasing the original concept album, which I got when I was 14 or 15, and played some of the songs on the piano. We friends agreed that the music was really important to us, perhaps more than we'd realized. Wonderful to hear this music again after a lot of years.
http://www.theatermania.com/new-york-city-theater/reviews/whats-the-buzz-about-nbc-jesus-christ-superstar_84634.html?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=02apr2018
Sunday, April 1, 2018
"Sing with all the saints in glory"
"Sing with all the saints in glory,
sing the resurrection song!
Death and sorrow, earth's dark story,
to the former days belong.
All around the clouds are breaking,
soon the storms of time shall cease;
in God's likeness we, awaking,
know the everlasting peace.
"O what glory, far exceeding
all that eye has yet perceived!
Holiest hearts, for ages pleading,
never that full joy conceived.
God has promised, Christ prepares it,
there on high our welcome waits.
Every humble spirit shares it;
Christ has passed th'eternal gates.
"Life eternal! heaven rejoices:
Jesus lives, who once was dead.
Join we now the deathless voices;
child of God, lift up your head!
Patriarchs from the distant ages,
saints all longing for their heaven,
prophets, psalmists, seers, and sages,
all await the glory given.
"Life eternal! O what wonders
crowd on faith; what joy unknown,
when, amidst earth's closing thunders,
saints shall stand before the throne!
O to enter that bright portal,
see that glowing firmament;
know, with thee, O God Immortal,
'Jesus Christ whom thou has sent!'"
Author: William J. Irons (1873), to the tune of Beethoven's "Ode to Joy"
from: https://hymnary.org/hymn/UMH/702 , our last hymn this morning at our church!
sing the resurrection song!
Death and sorrow, earth's dark story,
to the former days belong.
All around the clouds are breaking,
soon the storms of time shall cease;
in God's likeness we, awaking,
know the everlasting peace.
"O what glory, far exceeding
all that eye has yet perceived!
Holiest hearts, for ages pleading,
never that full joy conceived.
God has promised, Christ prepares it,
there on high our welcome waits.
Every humble spirit shares it;
Christ has passed th'eternal gates.
"Life eternal! heaven rejoices:
Jesus lives, who once was dead.
Join we now the deathless voices;
child of God, lift up your head!
Patriarchs from the distant ages,
saints all longing for their heaven,
prophets, psalmists, seers, and sages,
all await the glory given.
"Life eternal! O what wonders
crowd on faith; what joy unknown,
when, amidst earth's closing thunders,
saints shall stand before the throne!
O to enter that bright portal,
see that glowing firmament;
know, with thee, O God Immortal,
'Jesus Christ whom thou has sent!'"
Author: William J. Irons (1873), to the tune of Beethoven's "Ode to Joy"
from: https://hymnary.org/hymn/UMH/702 , our last hymn this morning at our church!
Saturday, March 31, 2018
A Holy Saturday Reading
"From an ancient homily on Holy Saturday
"Something strange is happening—there is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness. The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. God has died in the flesh and hell trembles with fear.
"He has gone to search for our first parent, as for a lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, he has gone to free from sorrow the captives Adam and Eve, he who is both God and the son of Eve. The Lord approached them bearing the cross, the weapon that had won him the victory. At the sight of him Adam, the first man he had created, struck his breast in terror and cried out to everyone: 'My Lord be with you all.' Christ answered him: 'And with your spirit.' He took him by the hand and raised him up, saying: 'Awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.'
"I am your God, who for your sake have become your son. Out of love for you and for your descendants I now by my own authority command all who are held in bondage to come forth, all who are in darkness to be enlightened, all who are sleeping to arise. I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be held a prisoner in hell. Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead. Rise up, work of my hands, you who were created in my image. Rise, let us leave this place, for you are in me and I am in you; together we form only one person and we cannot be separated.
"For your sake I, your God, became your son; I, the Lord, took the form of a slave; I, whose home is above the heavens, descended to the earth and beneath the earth. For your sake, for the sake of man, I became like a man without help, free among the dead. For the sake of you, who left a garden, I was betrayed to the Jews in a garden, and I was crucified in a garden.
"See on my face the spittle I received in order to restore to you the life I once breathed into you. See there the marks of the blows I received in order to refashion your warped nature in my image. On my back see the marks of the scourging I endured to remove the burden of sin that weighs upon your back. See my hands, nailed firmly to a tree, for you who once wickedly stretched out your hand to a tree.
"I slept on the cross and a sword pierced my side for you who slept in paradise and brought forth Eve from your side. My side has healed the pain in yours. My sleep will rouse you from your sleep in hell. The sword that pierced me has sheathed the sword that was turned against you.
"Rise, let us leave this place. The enemy led you out of the earthly paradise. I will not restore you to that paradise, but I will enthrone you in heaven. I forbade you the tree that was only a symbol of life, but see, I who am life itself am now one with you. I appointed cherubim to guard you as slaves are guarded, but now I make them worship you as God. The throne formed by cherubim awaits you, its bearers swift and eager. The bridal chamber is adorned, the banquet is ready, the eternal dwelling places are prepared, the treasure houses of all good things lie open. The kingdom of heaven has been prepared for you from all eternity."
From The Liturgy of the Hours, Vol. II, Lenten Season and Easter Season (New York: Catholic Book Publishing Corp, 1976), 496-498.
"Something strange is happening—there is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness. The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. God has died in the flesh and hell trembles with fear.
"He has gone to search for our first parent, as for a lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, he has gone to free from sorrow the captives Adam and Eve, he who is both God and the son of Eve. The Lord approached them bearing the cross, the weapon that had won him the victory. At the sight of him Adam, the first man he had created, struck his breast in terror and cried out to everyone: 'My Lord be with you all.' Christ answered him: 'And with your spirit.' He took him by the hand and raised him up, saying: 'Awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.'
"I am your God, who for your sake have become your son. Out of love for you and for your descendants I now by my own authority command all who are held in bondage to come forth, all who are in darkness to be enlightened, all who are sleeping to arise. I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be held a prisoner in hell. Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead. Rise up, work of my hands, you who were created in my image. Rise, let us leave this place, for you are in me and I am in you; together we form only one person and we cannot be separated.
"For your sake I, your God, became your son; I, the Lord, took the form of a slave; I, whose home is above the heavens, descended to the earth and beneath the earth. For your sake, for the sake of man, I became like a man without help, free among the dead. For the sake of you, who left a garden, I was betrayed to the Jews in a garden, and I was crucified in a garden.
"See on my face the spittle I received in order to restore to you the life I once breathed into you. See there the marks of the blows I received in order to refashion your warped nature in my image. On my back see the marks of the scourging I endured to remove the burden of sin that weighs upon your back. See my hands, nailed firmly to a tree, for you who once wickedly stretched out your hand to a tree.
"I slept on the cross and a sword pierced my side for you who slept in paradise and brought forth Eve from your side. My side has healed the pain in yours. My sleep will rouse you from your sleep in hell. The sword that pierced me has sheathed the sword that was turned against you.
"Rise, let us leave this place. The enemy led you out of the earthly paradise. I will not restore you to that paradise, but I will enthrone you in heaven. I forbade you the tree that was only a symbol of life, but see, I who am life itself am now one with you. I appointed cherubim to guard you as slaves are guarded, but now I make them worship you as God. The throne formed by cherubim awaits you, its bearers swift and eager. The bridal chamber is adorned, the banquet is ready, the eternal dwelling places are prepared, the treasure houses of all good things lie open. The kingdom of heaven has been prepared for you from all eternity."
From The Liturgy of the Hours, Vol. II, Lenten Season and Easter Season (New York: Catholic Book Publishing Corp, 1976), 496-498.
Friday, March 30, 2018
A Good Friday Reading
"From the Catecheses by Saint John Chrysostom, bishop
'If we wish to understand the power of Christ’s blood, we should go back to the ancient account of its prefiguration in Egypt. Sacrifice a lamb without blemish, commanded Moses, and sprinkle its blood on your doors. If we were to ask him what he meant, and how the blood of an irrational beast could possibly save men endowed with reason, his answer would be that the saving power lies not in the blood itself, but in the fact that it is a sign of the Lord’s blood. In those days, when the destroying angel saw the blood on the doors he did not dare to enter, so how much less will the devil approach now when he sees, not that figurative blood on the doors, but the true blood on the lips of believers, the doors of the temple of Christ.
"If you desire further proof of the power of this blood, remember where it came from, how it ran down from the cross, flowing from the Master’s side. The gospel records that when Christ was dead, but still hung on the cross, a soldier came and pierced his side with a lance and immediately there poured out water and blood. Now the water was a symbol of baptism and the blood, of the holy eucharist. The soldier pierced the Lord’s side, he breached the wall of the sacred temple, and I have found the treasure and made it my own. So also with the lamb: the Jews sacrificed the victim and I have been saved by it.
"There flowed from his side water and blood. Beloved, do not pass over this mystery without thought; it has yet another hidden meaning, which I will explain to you. I said that water and blood symbolized baptism and the holy eucharist. From these two sacraments the Church is born: from baptism, the cleansing water that gives rebirth and renewal through the Holy Spirit, and from the holy eucharist. Since the symbols of baptism and the eucharist flowed from his side, it was from his side that Christ fashioned the Church, as he had fashioned Eve from the side of Adam. Moses gives a hint of this when he tells the story of the first man and makes him exclaim: Bone from my bones and flesh from my flesh! As God then took a rib from Adam’s side to fashion a woman, so Christ has given us blood and water from his side to fashion the Church. God took the rib when Adam was in a deep sleep, and in the same way Christ gave us the blood and the water after his own death.
"Do you understand, then, how Christ has united his bride to himself and what food he gives us all to eat? By one and the same food we are both brought into being and nourished. As a woman nourishes her child with her own blood and milk, so does Christ unceasingly nourish with his own blood those to whom he himself has given life."
From The Liturgy of the Hours, Vol. II, Lenten Season and Easter Season (New York: Catholic Book Publishing Corp, 1976), 474-475.
'If we wish to understand the power of Christ’s blood, we should go back to the ancient account of its prefiguration in Egypt. Sacrifice a lamb without blemish, commanded Moses, and sprinkle its blood on your doors. If we were to ask him what he meant, and how the blood of an irrational beast could possibly save men endowed with reason, his answer would be that the saving power lies not in the blood itself, but in the fact that it is a sign of the Lord’s blood. In those days, when the destroying angel saw the blood on the doors he did not dare to enter, so how much less will the devil approach now when he sees, not that figurative blood on the doors, but the true blood on the lips of believers, the doors of the temple of Christ.
"If you desire further proof of the power of this blood, remember where it came from, how it ran down from the cross, flowing from the Master’s side. The gospel records that when Christ was dead, but still hung on the cross, a soldier came and pierced his side with a lance and immediately there poured out water and blood. Now the water was a symbol of baptism and the blood, of the holy eucharist. The soldier pierced the Lord’s side, he breached the wall of the sacred temple, and I have found the treasure and made it my own. So also with the lamb: the Jews sacrificed the victim and I have been saved by it.
"There flowed from his side water and blood. Beloved, do not pass over this mystery without thought; it has yet another hidden meaning, which I will explain to you. I said that water and blood symbolized baptism and the holy eucharist. From these two sacraments the Church is born: from baptism, the cleansing water that gives rebirth and renewal through the Holy Spirit, and from the holy eucharist. Since the symbols of baptism and the eucharist flowed from his side, it was from his side that Christ fashioned the Church, as he had fashioned Eve from the side of Adam. Moses gives a hint of this when he tells the story of the first man and makes him exclaim: Bone from my bones and flesh from my flesh! As God then took a rib from Adam’s side to fashion a woman, so Christ has given us blood and water from his side to fashion the Church. God took the rib when Adam was in a deep sleep, and in the same way Christ gave us the blood and the water after his own death.
"Do you understand, then, how Christ has united his bride to himself and what food he gives us all to eat? By one and the same food we are both brought into being and nourished. As a woman nourishes her child with her own blood and milk, so does Christ unceasingly nourish with his own blood those to whom he himself has given life."
From The Liturgy of the Hours, Vol. II, Lenten Season and Easter Season (New York: Catholic Book Publishing Corp, 1976), 474-475.
Thursday, March 29, 2018
A Maundy Thursday Reading
“From an Easter homily by Saint Melito of Sardis, bishop
“There was much proclaimed by the prophets about the mystery of the Passover: that mystery is Christ, and to him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
“For the sake of suffering humanity he came down from heaven to earth in that humanity in the Virgin’s womb, and was born a man. Having then a body capable of suffering, he took the pain of fallen [humanity] upon himself; he triumphed over the diseases of soul and body that were its cause, and by his Spirit, which was incapable of dying, he dealt [our] destroyer, death, a fatal blow.
“He was led forth like a lamb; he was slaughtered like a sheep. He ransomed us from our servitude to the world, as he had ransomed Israel from the land of Egypt; he freed us from our slavery to the devil, as he had freed Israel from the hand of Pharaoh. He sealed our souls with his own Spirit, and the members of our body with his own blood.
“He is the One who covered death with shame and case the devil into mourning, as Moses cast Pharaoh into mourning. he is the One who smote sin and robbed iniquity of offspring, as Moses robbed the Egyptians of their offspring. he is the One who brought us out of slavery into freedom, out of darkness into light, out of death into life, out of tyranny into an eternal kingdom; who made us a new priesthood, a people chosen to be his own for ever. He is the Passover that is our salvation.
“It is he who endured every kind of suffering in all those who foreshadowed him. In Abel he was slain, in Isaac bound, in Jacob exiled, in Joseph sold, in Moses exposed to die. He was sacrificed in the Passover lamb, persecuted in David, dishonored in the prophets.
“It is he who was made [human] of the Virgin, he who was hung on the tree; it is he who was buried in the earth, raised from the dead, and taken up to the heights of heaven. He is the mute lamb, the slain lamb, the lamb born of Mary, the fair ewe. He was seized from the flock, dragged off to be slaughtered, sacrificed in the evening, and buried at night. On the tree no bone of his was broken; in the earth his body knew no decay. He is the One who rose from the dead, and who raised [us] from the depths of the tomb.”
From The Liturgy of the Hours, Vol. II, Lenten Season and Easter Season (New York: Catholic Book Publishing Corp, 1976), 458-459.
“There was much proclaimed by the prophets about the mystery of the Passover: that mystery is Christ, and to him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
“For the sake of suffering humanity he came down from heaven to earth in that humanity in the Virgin’s womb, and was born a man. Having then a body capable of suffering, he took the pain of fallen [humanity] upon himself; he triumphed over the diseases of soul and body that were its cause, and by his Spirit, which was incapable of dying, he dealt [our] destroyer, death, a fatal blow.
“He was led forth like a lamb; he was slaughtered like a sheep. He ransomed us from our servitude to the world, as he had ransomed Israel from the land of Egypt; he freed us from our slavery to the devil, as he had freed Israel from the hand of Pharaoh. He sealed our souls with his own Spirit, and the members of our body with his own blood.
“He is the One who covered death with shame and case the devil into mourning, as Moses cast Pharaoh into mourning. he is the One who smote sin and robbed iniquity of offspring, as Moses robbed the Egyptians of their offspring. he is the One who brought us out of slavery into freedom, out of darkness into light, out of death into life, out of tyranny into an eternal kingdom; who made us a new priesthood, a people chosen to be his own for ever. He is the Passover that is our salvation.
“It is he who endured every kind of suffering in all those who foreshadowed him. In Abel he was slain, in Isaac bound, in Jacob exiled, in Joseph sold, in Moses exposed to die. He was sacrificed in the Passover lamb, persecuted in David, dishonored in the prophets.
“It is he who was made [human] of the Virgin, he who was hung on the tree; it is he who was buried in the earth, raised from the dead, and taken up to the heights of heaven. He is the mute lamb, the slain lamb, the lamb born of Mary, the fair ewe. He was seized from the flock, dragged off to be slaughtered, sacrificed in the evening, and buried at night. On the tree no bone of his was broken; in the earth his body knew no decay. He is the One who rose from the dead, and who raised [us] from the depths of the tomb.”
From The Liturgy of the Hours, Vol. II, Lenten Season and Easter Season (New York: Catholic Book Publishing Corp, 1976), 458-459.
Saturday, March 24, 2018
March for Our Lives STL
In spite of a gloomy and misty day where you couldn't see the top of the Arch, St. Louisans turned out in large numbers for today's "March for Our Lives STL" event in front of Union Station. The Post-Dispatch estimated the crowd at about 10,000. Several marches are happening today around the country in solitary with victims of gun violence and demands for action from Congress. http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/thousands-march-in-downtown-st-louis-for-gun-control-mccaskill/article_f4fd0379-3ca0-5dd7-b4a3-4d5ecd07f922.html
Some of my photos:
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