Flow of Consciousness

Unanticipated visitors

2011-12-22T06:56:00.000-08:00

To those who are reading this blog from the Vatican: Welcome! I am humbled.

22 Dec

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Holy See (Vatican City State)

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justinmartyr.blogspot.com

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i kiss her true lips gently in the morning

2011-12-19T05:19:00.000-08:00

i kiss her true lips
gently in the morning
it is the only spear
is the only arrow
the last blade
last amulet
against the raging foreigner
and narcissist shiva who devours
and that makes art dull
that makes souls shallow
makes the rich predatory
and buries true gemstones
that celebrates the death of true love on command
i kiss her true lips
gently in the morning
it is the only spear

The Ancients on Friendship- Marcus Aurelius Antoninus

2011-12-11T11:47:00.000-08:00

Whenever you desire to cheer yourself, think upon the merits of those who are alive with you; the energy of one, for instance, the modesty of another, the generosity of a third, of another some other gift. For nothing is so cheering as the images of the virtues shining in the character of your contemporaries, and meeting together as much as possible in a group. Therefore you should keep them ready at your hand.

-Marcus Aurelius "Meditations VI"

Free Love, the Oklahoma art scene, and all the Herman Cains out there

2011-12-02T13:16:00.000-08:00

The dirty secret behind the push for sexual freedoms is that it was not about freedom at all. On the contrary it was about convincing women by a long slow process to give up their ideals of commitment and make any romantic feelings they had seem inadequate, weak, and unsophisticated. Thus in the 1960s we see pop culture dismissing "sentimentality" in regards to marriage, religion, holidays, etc. It is not a coincidence that these are the very things that help cement the family experience.

The women I've talked to about this agree that the sexual and relationship power held by women is at its strongest within the context of the family traditions, courtship, and religion (with the understanding that "power" here does not imply a power struggle or antagonism). "Free love" and Hugh Hefner's playboy culture of the 1960s sought to discredit these areas where the female sense of commitment was actually confirmed and empowered.

If these traditional things which confirm and empower the female instincts of commitment could be discredited, then it will be far easier to increase the number of your sexual partners. No longer does a lecherous man have to labor at eroding a woman's sense of commitment. Most of the work has already been done for him. From a biological point of view, is it not typically the male who pursues and the female who determines whether or not sex happens? The effort in the 1960s was to change this dynamic and give men as much of the decision-making power as possible.

The world is full of Herman Cains. I know some myself: Wealthy men who understand how awkward it is to be asking for young girls phone numbers outside of clubs in a town where everyone knows he is married. The solution to this awkwardness? Get rid of the wife like one of these did. The next woman to step up is the local showcase of gullibility. All for the amusement of these wealthy men who throw money at desperate artists and pride themselves at traveling out of town with other men's wives. chris salyer

The best quote was recently sent to me by a mother after we discussed this topic- Not protecting our daughters from a permissive society allows them to be preyed upon in ways we have yet to understand.

Thoughts on Christian texts and their transmission

2011-12-01T08:41:00.000-08:00

When scholars speak of "tampering" and "interpolations" we may get the impression that Christianity has been inventing its own stories or making things up as it goes along. Indeed, popular culture reinforces this. I know from first hand experience that the art community insists upon it. However, when a text- or a set of pericopae covering similar topics- regardless of their origin, are reiterated together it is likely they are considered to have spiritual value along a common theme. These in turn may be further redacted or transmitted in altered forms in the same way scripture readings and hymns are re-set together in lectionaries. ("Apocryphal" doesn't necessarily describe the historic Church's treatment of extra-biblical texts so much as it describes modern scholars' and modern Christianity's treatment of them).

Consider an analogy: Archeologists may debate the process and details of glassmaking in colonial Williamsburg but one may also visit live glassblowing demonstrations and experience the process firsthand. A visceral experience, though out of time, may give the observer insights regarding the intentions and decisions made by colonial glass artisans in a way that scientific methodology cannot. Similarly, observing the liturgical and devotional use of ancient Christian texts (which can entail its own kinds of "tampering" and "interpolations") can offer insights into the intentions and decisions made by ancient authors. Conspiracy and nefarious legend-building fall away quickly when it is understood that the written word we see in manuscript form insufficiently reflects a tradition of building imagery through liturgical song and finding poetic beauty in ascetic practice.

Are Christian writings evaluated fairly?

2011-11-26T13:17:00.001-08:00

The Ehrman Project Blog addresses a question I've often wondered about; whether or not historical Christian documents are evaluated by the same standards of writings from other religions. The Ehrman Project is an evangelical site dedicated to providing answers- not to general critisms of New Testament reliability- but rather to Bart Ehrman's critique of New Testament scriptures. The site doesn't target Ehrman himself but is a response to be a media personality cult built around him. An inquirer poses this question:

"... Irish legends dating back to the middle ages tell of magical and powerful races that inhabited Ireland before the arrival of the Gaels. Scholars consider this to be how that culture "remembered" historical waves of migration on the island. Also stories of Mesopotamian gods and patriarchs (such as Cain and Abel) record the rivalry between the farmer and the herder. In other words it seems to be generally accepted that the mythological stories so important to ancient cultures have some basis in historical fact, thought the details may be lost.

The exception seems to be New Testament scholarship. Stories such as the Magi, the census in Luke, and the resurrection are seen as simple fabrications... The assumption seems to be that the Gospels have cobbled together a series of fabrications, unless of course the exact details are found in other (preferably) non-Christian sources... Are early Christian writings really evaluated by a different standard than writings from other cultures and other religions?

The Ehrman Project objects to the inquirer's implication that New Testament accounts are "on the same level" as cultural legends, this is, merely embellishments layered over kernels of truth. I honestly do not see how the people at the Ehrman Project drew that conclusion. The inquirer is simply drawing a contrast between two widely different forms of literature and how they are treated. The entire first section of the response preaches to the choir, trying to convince the inquirer of something he is already convinced of- that the New Testament is fundamentally different in nature from cultural legends. (Paul, too, insists that the core events of the Christian message—the death, burial, resurrection, and reappearance of Jesus of Nazareth—are not only significant; they are also verifiably true.) But the Ehrman Project continues with a response that should be very interesting to believers who intend to enter academia and those who casually read best sellers by pop-experts:

Many New Testament scholars do indeed seem to have a bias against New Testament “history” as being unworthy of that name. They seem to hold the New Testament documents to a different standard of reliability than they hold classical documents to. F.F. Bruce, professor of New Testament at the University of Manchester in England... did see a bias in the evaluation of the New Testament documents in Religion Departments at universities that he did not see in Classics or History Departments. By the standards employed in the latter departments, the New Testament documents come off looking much stronger in their claims to historical reliability than the accepted documents of ancient Greek and Roman history, and yet no one disputes the basic trustworthiness of these sources for conveying the gist of what happened.

Full post can be read here

Growing Up Conservative?

2011-11-05T12:55:00.000-07:00

I read with great interest the Circe Institute article entitled "Growing Up Conservative?" (posted Tuesday, September 20, 2011). It mirrored some of my concerns regarding the foundation of modern education.

There is much in this article to ruminate upon. Andrew Kern explores the "elephant in the room" that many conservatives refused to speak of publicly, that is, the innocent ignorance or willful disregard of conservatism's most esteemed contributors throughout history (i.e. Kirk, Burke, de Toqueville) in favor of the louder and more embarrassing voices of Glenn Beck, Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity, etc.

Edmund Burke 1729 – 1797

No wonder Rush Limbaugh represents conservative thought to our age. When you go to school, you learn something between the Whig and the French Revolution version of history and humanity... [The student will] be compelled to study analytical approaches to normative subjectives for years. If his soul survives at all, it will have a respect for tradition and simply tune out the hyper-analysis of the modern university. But it won’t have been given the good food it so craved.

But in a way, it’s the liberals’ fault that conservatives are so reactionary. We’d like better thinkers to follow, but they’ve convinced us there aren’t any, if only by removing them from the curriculum.

Kern begins to address a serious problem within the conservative side of modern politics but rather than giving a deeper analysis, he instead panders to the ego of a conservative readership. Why are conservative-minded people unaware of these great men; men who agreed on the self reliance of the individual and the promotion of a social liberty in which the individual is free to find a success or failure? According to Kern, it's all someone else's fault, not ours. Kern extols the virtues of those who wrote in the conservative tradition yet departs from their central philosophy as soon as the light of self introspection becomes too painful to bear. He adopts the banner cry of modern victim politics: it's all someone else's fault, not ours.

It must be pointed out that the Circe Institute's core mission is educational and it makes perfect sense that Kern would focus on the weaknesses found in modern curricula. And it is understood that his primary audience is concerned with reviving a superior mode of education. But the Circe Institute is also read by many non-educators and Kern's article had the potential for a greater impact, but by not fully addressing the very problem he brings to light (and courageously so, I must give him that), I feel he helps perpetuates the sad state of affairs. If we accept the philosophy of self reliance and rugged individualism, we must accept the responsibility for our own failures. The university system has never stopped anyone from entering a library and reading Kirk or Burke.

It isn't "the liberals’ " fault that conservatives are so reactionary. Conservatives are reactionary because they so freely give themselves over to these pop-conservatives and refuse to even question them. It is as simple as that. These lesser people are given a place of honor they have not earned. To be loyal is a lazy indulgence on the part of conservatives listeners.

Kern is accurate when he describes the modern approach to social sciences:

He’ll be compelled to study analytical approaches to normative subjectives for years. If his soul survives at all, it will have a respect for tradition and simply tune out the hyper-analysis of the modern university. But it won’t have been given the good food it so craved.

And later...

We’re only given the calculators (i.e. analysts, pragmatists, skeptics) to read.

Russell Kirk 1918 - 1994

This was my experience as a student of political science. However, I do not blame a curriculum or a university system for my lack of exposure. Any deficiency on my part I considered my fault if I refused to inquire further. In order to make the best grades possible, was it not my responsibility to do my homework and research as thoroughly as I could? It was the hunger for an older and higher excellence that was always just out of reach (and still is) which drove me into the arms of Aristotle, Cicero, Russell Kirk, and Shakespeare.

At this moment in American culture the pop-conservatives mentioned by Kern (Rush, Hannity, Coulter, Beck) carry more clout and are relied upon more heavily among the average conservative folks. In contrast, humanities educators are viewed with great skepticism especially those in the social sciences. So if we must blame someone other than ourselves, it makes little sense to point the finger at the university.

Kern's article gives us the perfect platform from which to ask why Rush, Hannity, Coulter, or Beck have never done an on-air study of G. K. Chesterton or Russel Kirk. Kern's article gives us the perfect platform from which to ask why Rush, Hannity, Coulter, or Beck have never debated Noam Chomsky as did William Buckley. The simple reason is that these modern opinion leaders simply do not have the intellectual ability despite their never ending, self-glorifying bombast. In order to maintain their media constructed image of "leader", they necessarily must avoid drawing listeners' attention to the greats. Kern's article is the timely platform from which to start openly discussing the fact that Rush, Hannity, Coulter, or Beck have more opportunity to impart virtue to their loyal followers than even the best curriculum, yet they do not.

If we are going to preach personal responsibility we need to practice it ourselves.

מר יעקב א בהעיה"ק - Mar/Mor Yaakov - St. James, Bishop of Jerusalem

2011-10-23T06:50:00.000-07:00

James the Greater (d. 61) was the first bishop of Jerusalem, heading the Early Church.

Yaakov\יעקב [Hebrew: "heel"] Iakobos adelphotheos - Ιακωβος ο αδελφοθεος (brother of G-d)

He seemed to fill the role of a high priest, highly respected by the Jews and went to the Temple every day.

He led the first synod decision at Jerusalem (Acts 15) which would seal the differences between Judaism and the messianic sect of Christianity. From this point on, their paths diverged quickly and widely. James' decision allowed the Gentile to be "adopted" without having to be circumcised, but having to respectfully fulfill the Noahide laws. His decision is most important because it enabled the Gentiles/Nations to enter the Covenant to the full.

The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem commemorates his day on November 4th/5th following the Julian old style calendar. In the West, it will be on Oct. 23rd, always starting with the evening prayers on the evening before (10/22). He was indeed considered as a צדיק - Just (tsaddik), having an ascetic way of living.

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Bart Ehrman and the authenticity of the New Testament

2011-10-22T07:24:00.000-07:00

Mike Heiser, Bibilical scholar, writes concerning Bart Ehrman:

My contention with Bart is that he’s a fundamentalist — someone who is unwilling to process an issue in any other way than the black-and-white, either-or fallacy that he himself has framed. I’m sympathetic to him only in the sense that some acute personal suffering appears to be behind his fundamentalism. While I wish there was something I could do to help in that regard, I also have to be honest and say that it seems quite clear that Bart’s personal pain has skewered his scholarship. He’s human.

My greater irritation is the way the masses (aided and abetted by a pathologically ignorant media) swallow whatever Bart says as though its some grand, now self-evident discovery, or think that no one can be looking at the same data and still believe in the reality of the Christ of the gospels. Wrong on both counts. There are many scholars who do what Bart does (textual criticism, New Testament studies) who draw conclusions contrary to Ehrman’s and, more importantly, are capable of judging his method and scholarship.

To illustrate this point regarding Bart Ehrman and popular culture Heiser discusses a recent topic in textual research; whether or not the phrase "Son of God" originally appeared in Mark's Gospel, the oldest New Testament book. Ehrman typically argues that the authentic texts of the early Christians did not describe Christ in divine terms, and any descriptions of Christ as being divine (phrases such as "Son of God" etc) were added by later generations by "orthodox" scribes who sought to alter scripture in order to make it support their newer, inauthentic, paternalistic theology.

Textual critic Tommy Wasserman takes quite a different stance. I had originally stated that Wasserman showed there is far more historical and manuscript evidence to support traditionally accepted view. This however would not be the most faithful explanation of his point. It would be more accurate to say the balance of probabilities is in favor of the long reading. Thank you to Dr. Wasserman for pointing this out. I recommend reading Dr. Wasserman's paper. It can be downloaded here:

www.orebromissionsskola.se/personal/wasserman
(scroll down to the article on Mark 1:1).

With this object lesson in mind, Mike Heiser continues:

... the issue is that there is more than one way to look at New Testament manuscript data. Ehrman isn’t discovering something new and unknown to scholars. He isn’t putting forth unassailable arguments that make the faithful run for the hills. He’s arguing his position based on how he sifts the data — i.e., his views are simply interpretations, nothing more — and other professionals in his own field might conclude other interpretations are more reasonable.

Entire article here:
http://michaelsheiser.com/TheNakedBible/2011/10/bart-ehrman-vs-the-son-of-god-in-mark-11-a-response/

I beheld the Codex Climaci Rescriptus with mine own eyes

2011-07-23T08:23:00.000-07:00

As most of the Biblioverse knows, the Codex Climaci Rescriptus was purchased by Steven Green, owner of Hobby Lobby, and placed within a larger collection entitled Passages which is currently on the first leg of its tour in Oklahoma City.

I am not sure what I expected, but I thought perhaps I would see the codex highlighted and surrounded by a few other items shown on the Passages website. This was not the case. Whether by lack of marketing were whether by intentional understatement, the extent and quality of the collection is both surprising and overwhelming to the degree that the Codex Climaci Rescriptus is almost swallowed up.

The one weakness of this exhibit is that there was no master list of display items. Had this been available I think the collection would have made a bigger splash; not necessarily for you academic types, but moreso for local pastors and knowledgable lay people who are aware of manuscript, translation, and printing history but have seen historical items only as photos in textbooks or on the internet. It is wonderful to find a high resolution scan of an ancient codex, but it is another thing altogether to read words on the living page.

In the absence of an official exhibit list, I offer here my own incomplete and hastily written list of items on display at the Passages exhibit. Judge for yourself whether the Codex Climaci has found a worthy home. But be aware, my list represents only about a third of the actual exhibit...

"Evanis" Gospel illumination

Circular menorah hewn from a single stone. Most likely used in the 2nd temple, according to the display.
Multiple medieval Torah scrolls- Yemenite, Sephardic
Dead Sea Scroll fragment (was not able to get detail, maybe later)
Bodmer papyrus XXIV
Evanis Gospels, Greek, c. 1000.( illuminated on parchment. One of the earliest and smallest examples of calligraphic minuscule.)
Multiple Greek papyri- 2nd-5th centuries
Codex Climaci Rescriptus- only two leaves on display, one showing the underlying Greek text (with a handwritten "5" in the corner), the other showing the CPA palimpsest (the rest of the Codex is stored off site, in the possession of the Green family).

"St. Cecilia" Latin Bible

van Hattem Bible (Latin)
St. Cecilia Bible (Latin)
Several Vulgates from 1200s (handwritten margin notes in Latin visible :) )
Greek parchment "Letter from Theon", 3rd cent.
Coptic papyrus Psalms 112 (111 in Protestant/Masoretic reckoning), 4th cent.

Khabouris Codex, (open to show the Acts of the Apostles, ch 3) 11th cent.
Multiple medieval French and German Bibles & prayer books
Rosebery Rolle Bible
Anglo Saxon printed gospels 1573
Conveyance document (transfer of property title), signed by John Wycliffe's brother Robert and including his seal. 1393
1454 Gutenberg "noble fragment" of Romans
The Anti-Christ and 15 Signs of the Doomsday
1462 Gutenberg Bible printed by apprentice Peter Schöffer, 1 of 4 surviving copies.
1480 Latin Bible with papal seal, taken by Napoleon
The Anti-Christ and 15 Signs of the Doomsday (Der Antichrist und die fünfzehn Zeichen). Block-book. Nuremberg: Hans Sporer, 1470. Only surviving copy.

1493 Nuremberg Chronicle
1470 edition of "Antiquity of Jews and the Jewish Wars" by Josephus (Latin)
1471 edition of "Postilla Litteralis super Bibliam" by Nicholas de Lyna
1476 Venetian edition of "Summa Contra Gentiles" by Thomas Acquinas
"The Imitation of Christ" by Thomas a Kempis, 1st edition. c 1418.
Genoa Polyglot Psalms, 1516 (Greek, Aramaic, Hebrew, Latin, Arabic). Psalm 19 includes a margin reference to Christopher Columbus's voyage to the New World and the prophetic character the Gospel being carried around the world: Et in fines mundi verba eorum, Saltem teporibus nostris ... mirabili ausu Christophori Columbi genuensis, alter pene orbis repertus est christianoremus cetui aggregatus.

Johannes Frobens "Poor Man's Bible" 1491 (Latin)
Last Will and Testament, Martin Luther, Oct. 1518.
"Babylonian Captivity of the Church" by Martin Luther, 1520.
Papal Bull Condemning Martin Luther, Pope Leo X, 1520.
Papal Bull Condemning Martin Luther, Pope Adrian VI, 1523.
a 1525 indulgence
1522 Erasmus' Commentary on his Latin paraphrase of the NT
1516 Erasmus Greek NT (the one that was rushed to print)
1521 Erasmus Greek NT
Complutensian Polyglot, Vol IV, NT (whose typeface begat some of our modern Greek PC fonts)
1525 Daniel Bomberg Pentateuch (Hebrew text including Aramaic targum and Rabbinic commentary)
Martin Luther NT 1524 illustrated/painted/gilded
Tyndale Pentateuch 1530
Tyndale NT 1536
Coverdale Bible 1535
Coverdale NT English/Latin 1538
Taverner (Coverdale revision) 1539
Geneva NT 1557
Geneva Bible 1560
"Bishop's Bible" 1568
Rheims NT 1582
1611 1st edition KJV

relief book cover by Salvador
Dali (click on photo to enlarge)

several KJV folio editions
Stephanus Greek NT 1551
multiple KJVs from 1600s
"Wife Beater" Bible 1551
"Child Killer" Bible 1795
"Wicked Bible" 1631
"Vinegar Bible" 1717
multiple illustrated and engraved Bibles.
10th cent. Greek Psalter from Constantinople
Psalterium Gallicannus Ferriatum (?) 1420
Illustrated Psalter, Master of Jacques de Besancon 1480
Speculum Humanae Salvationis, 1370, Tyrol
Metal relief book cover by Salvador Dali for Sigmund Freud's Moïse et Monothéisme

See the NY Times "Passages image slideshow

Codex Climaci Rescriptus found

2011-04-02T09:45:00.000-07:00

You might remember two years ago Westminster College auctioned off the Codex Climaci Rescriptus with the help of Sotheby's. The Codex is a 6th century document and an important manuscript witness to the Greek text of the Gospels. It includes a Palestinian Aramaic Bible and Syriac works by St. John Climacus. The Codex will be touring Oklahoma City, New York, and the Vatican. See the official website here:

Passages: A Worldwide Traveling Exhibition

http://explorepassages.com/

Thanks for Fr. Mark Wallace for bringing this to my attention.

Notable sightings this week

2011-03-26T13:59:00.000-07:00

I cannot express my excitement at the opportunity I had to see some legendary wonders of nature this past week. These are things I have only seen on the internet or on TV, but thanks to our local university astronomy club I saw the following with my own eyes:

Sirius
Saturn and its moons
a bolide
Crab Nebula
M82
M42 (Orion Nebula)
Tony Sinclair, famous drag entertainer	Yes, I saw this legendary wonders of nature with my own eyes but he was at Panera Bread, not at the astronomy event (Sorry, I looked for a photo of Tony Sinclair but could not find any).

The photos are linked from other sites and were not taken by me. I include them here to give an idea of the visual quality of what I saw.

Learning Critical Thinking at home

2011-03-12T11:30:00.000-08:00

One of the best classes I ever took was Logic and Critical Thinking. I sometime think I would be further along in life if I had been exposed to that kind of discipline earlier.

I want this to be a part of my children's education. To this end, I've discovered some excellent resources on logic published by home-school and classical education groups. Unfortunately, these resources are expensive and designed for full time teachers. So my best option is to cobble together exercises I find on the interwebs, and distill them into something I can do in 10 to 15 minutes with my kids. Compounding the problem is that I might be able to provide the repetition they need- if it were the only thing I was trying to cover. But I am more sporadic than not because I have a narrow time span in the evening to help with their homework, supplement what they learn in school, and squeeze in some geography and classics.

That's why I was interested to learn that a local university hosts a skeptics' club. Since it is affiliated with a university, I hoped it would offer extra curricular activities related to skeptical thinking in the same way that science clubs do sciency things (like go hiking or look through telescopes); or the way a political science club observes congressional sessions. I am fully aware that "skeptic" is a misleading term... such groups are usually atheist (a different thing altogether). But that's fine, I can handle the atheist part.

After observing the club conversation on facebook for about three weeks, I didn't see anything extra-curricular. I understand that as a campus club, its purpose is to provide a social outlet for students, not for community folk. Still, my hopes for something accessible were dashed. I did find some of the typical condescending posts but thankfully the tone was less severe than what is offered by other, hipper atheist groups. As I've blogged about elsewhere, people are too quick to believe (!) that merely identifying with a skeptic group immediately gives them powers of deduction and immediately raises their intellectual capacity above people (usually religious) they have decided to align themselves against (usually for political reasons). It seems I am disillusioned by the claims of skeptics. So if I want my children to be exposed to logic and critical thinking, our best option is the classical and home-school organizations, most of which have a conservative religious orientation. And judging by the club's posts regarding the Bible, my kids will receive from home a broader and more complete understanding of the Bible, its place in Western civilization, and the literature it influenced. I figured all that syro-aramaic would come in handy one day.

"Atheist" and "skeptic" are two different things, though Webster's now lists "unbeliever" as a synonym of "skeptic". Still, the meaning of skeptic in English carries with it an attitude toward evidence and critical thinking. Despite Webster's, to call oneself a "skeptic" doesn't (or shouldn't) require a personal statement of unbelief, unless there's been a synod of atheists who've made a dogmatic statement about who can and cannot be skeptical.

What I mean to say is that anyone can be a skeptic. However modern atheists seem to be changing this by drawing firm boundaries around an "in-group", creating an unnecessary "us" and "them". Well, why not? Christianity did the same thing! Not really. Christianity (like most religions) defined its own beliefs based on a unique anthropology, for lack of a better term. But it did not say who could or who could not believe.

Truth claims notwithstanding, religions reflect differing concepts of humanity's relationship with the universe and, like it or not, are the result of centuries' worth of contemplation and philosophical inquiry. Belief in the transcendent is the consensus of the human experience. Claiming "atheist!" does not magically raise one's intellectual stature above the centuries of unwashed masses who adhere to a religion of some kind. Being an atheist is better described as a lateral move, from one outlook to another. It is an outlook that still needs to prove itself as a contributor to the human experience and not exist merely as club of provocateurs.

I will be taking my kids to science club events. But for the foreseeable future they will learn logic and critical thinking at home, as best as I can manage.

The Ancients on Friendship- John Cassian

2011-03-09T21:53:00.000-08:00

Thus according to the stated opinion of elders, love will not be able to remain stable and unbroken unless it is among men of like virtue and conduct. Therefore the opinion of the wisest men is absolutely right, namely that true harmony and indivisible companionship cannot endure except among people with improved characters of like virtue and conduct.

John Cassian, Conversation 16 "De amicitia"

The death of a child is particularly heart wrenching

2011-03-02T12:52:00.000-08:00

The death of a child is particularly heart wrenching.

I was unable to be part of the funeral for a two-year old child last night. But I did participate in the Closing of the Casket Service this morning.

It brought back memories, some I had not thought of in years.

When I was 7 my two-year old cousin died. We had gone to my uncle's home to visit and the child had a sever cold but was running around bare footed on wooden floors in the winter. He died a day or two later. I don't think my parents ever let me go barefooted in the house again.

A year later, when I was 8, my 16-year old cousin died while having his tonsils removed. They overdosed him with anesthesia. This happened in the middle of the week before Easter.

Every Memorial Day my parents went to the graves of their grandparents. Next to my dad's grandparents was a single tombstone with two names on it: Ralph and Leon. They had both died on the same day moments apart in 1911. They were buried in a single grave, one coffin on top of the other. They died during a flu epidemic. They were both younger than 15. Their mother also had the flu, was delirious from it, and did not learn her two sons were dead until days later, after they were buried. She never forgave her husband, my great-grandfather. Nor did she forgive her 7 year old son, my grandfather. She moved out and they never lived together as a family again. My grandfather, who had tended his two brothers and had witnessed them die and who was then blamed and abandoned by his mother, bore the pain of that all his life.

My aunt and uncle, who lost their 16 year-old son, hardly ever laughed again. They never opened the curtains in their home and let the light in.

My aunt and uncle who lost the two year-old had more children and went on with life. Some how they found a way to rebuild their lives and move on.

When I pastored a small country church I watched a 7 year-old girl die in a hospital room in 1980. She died from cancer. Her 5 year-old brother had the same cancer. A year later I watched her brother die at home and helped his parents carry their son's body to the hospital.

Because the cancer may have been genetic, they never had anymore children. Thirty years later they still battle the sadness of having lost both their children.

The death of those two children forever impacted my own life.

Two years ago, a young couple here at St. Elijah never got to take their baby home from the hospital. He died two months after he was born. It was absolutely the smallest casket I have ever see, barely larger than a shoe box.

That young couple got pregnant again and had another son born recently. We hope the future is bright for them.

And then today. He was two years old. He had been born blind. He underwent 13 surgeries and other complications. When he died and was taken to the funeral home, they removed all the I.V.s and tubes. It was the first time ever that he did not have a needle sticking in him.

He died this past Sunday. My granddaughter, Sophia Grace, was born this past Sunday. Mother and daughter are doing well. They are coming home from the hospital today. The two-year old who died is being buried today.

I have 7 children and 10 grandchildren. All healthy. I have been blessed beyond measure.

He makes the sun to shine on the just and the unjust; the rain to fall on the just and unjust. We say in our Communion Prayer that Christ came into the world to save sinners, "of whom I am chief." Sinner that I am, I have no explanation for the sun that has shone on me and mine. Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy.

May the souls of the departed children mentioned herein rest in peace. And may their memory be eternal.

Father Deacon Ezra
(reposted with permission)

Far better it is to dare mighty things

2011-02-22T08:36:00.000-08:00

Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.

- Theodore Roosevelt

Orthodox Stammtisch in Oklahoma

2011-02-15T10:20:00.000-08:00

Calling the St. John of Kronstadt Brotherhood...

Orthodox Stammtisch

Friday, February 18th 7pm

Royal Bavaria Restaurant and Brewery
3401 S. Sooner Road

Moore Oklahoma USA
http://www.royal-bavaria.com

The University of Oklahoma's Orthodox Christian Fellowship will be joining the parishioners of St. Elijah Orthodox Church and Holy Ascension Orthodox Church at Oklahoma's historic Biergarten to enjoy German cuisine, handcrafted beverages, and fellowship.

Zeitgeist- the movement

2011-02-15T08:14:00.000-08:00

One of the most recent and popular criticisms against Christianity is the idea that Jesus never existed but was a fabrication and the embodiment of several different myths and mystical systems from the ancient world. This idea is called "mythicism" and it is hugely popular among Generations X and Y.

Mythicism is the topic of a recent underground documentary "Zeitgeist: The Movie". Not only does it promote "mythicism" it has generated political activism. The "Zeitgeist Movement" has local chapters in many states. The rationale goes like this:

Our entire political system and culture is influenced by religion. Because Christianity is composed of people who want to impose a fascist morality, we must be politically active in opposing Christianity."

Links:

- http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Zeitgeist_Movement
- http://www.thezeitgeistmovement.com/
- http://zeitgeistoklahoma.wordpress.com/

Advocating for a fair and moral economic system is an excellent cause, especially if you are willing to do hard work to make it happen. However the assertion that the Christian values which pervade our culture are actually responsible for historic inequality is simply wrong and prejudiced. In addition, Zeitgeist's claim that the historicity of Christianity is fake hodgepodge of ancient myths is just as prejudiced. This has taken off to such an extent that New Testament scholars (both Christian and non-Christian) find themselves debating Mythicists. Fortunately, "mythicism" has little credibility among scholars. See the following:

- http://rdtwot.wordpress.com/2011/02/04/dont-quit-your-day-job/
- http://exploringourmatrix.blogspot.com/2011/01/round-up-my-blogging-on-mythicism-thus.html
- http://davefitzgerald.blogspot.com/2011/01/dialogue-with-dr-james-mcgrath-part-ii.html

As someone who used to have one foot in the art scene (and who is familiar with Aramaic), it bears pointing out that the vast majority of young people will never cross paths with a Biblical scholar. Sadly, neither will Christian young people. But Christians will certainly and frequently cross paths with "mythicists" just as they will cross paths with enthusiastic "new atheists". Do not underestimate the power of these two ideas which work conveniently together.

http://zeitgeistresources.com/index.php

My Birthday Wish List

2011-02-14T10:47:00.000-08:00

Just one of these would make a wonderful gift for my birthday! How exciting! More than one would be even better...

Book: Symbols of Church and Kingdom: A Study in Early Syriac Tradition by Robert Murray
Book: Great High Priest: The Temple Roots of Christian Liturgy by Margaret Baker
Book: The Heresy of Orthodoxy: How Contemporary Culture's Fascination with Diversity Has Reshaped Our Understanding of Early Christianity by Andreas J. Kostenberger
Book: Aristotle East and West: Metaphysics and the Division of Christendom by David Bradshaw
Columbia Hiking Boots
I was once an avid painter of gaming miniatures. A set of rare 25mm Star Trek figures would be wonderful.
Music: Gypsy Caravan- I received this CD for my birthday a couple years ago and it was the source of much inspiration. Sadly it has since been purloined. And I want another.

Via Meropia 70, Roma Italia

2011-02-07T23:18:00.000-08:00

Multi anni fa, habitavo in la sud de Roma. Mi strada al Google! Gente diceva a me che parlavo Italiano con un accento Romano. Scrivo cosi allora?

View Larger Map

Snow

2011-02-02T15:43:00.000-08:00

Christmas Caroling by the St. John of Kronstadt Brotherhood

2010-12-29T14:22:00.000-08:00

I am happy to offer a belated report on the most recent activity embarked upon by the St. John of Kronstadt Brotherhood. The Brotherhood went a-caroling the Sunday before the Nativity (by Gregorian reckoning) and in this way four homes were warmed with Christmas cheer and gemütlichkeit.

Some of those invited refused to participate because it seemed hokey. But we won't build happy memories for our children by sitting around with art-hipsters drinking liquor and decrying the naive hoi polloi, will we?

As if to prove all Scrooges wrong, an idea shared between two friends quickly grew until our caroling group totaled six adults and five children.

We observed the evolution of Yuletide folkways when Hark, the Herald Angels Sing was sung with "Loo loo loo, loo loo..." following the venerable Charlie Brown Christmas tradition. Also the English language version of Tis the Season experienced a "consonant shift" when "Fa la la la la" became "Fa ra ra ra ra".

The final stop provided our carolers with hot apple cider and cookies!

Note: The St. John of Kronstadt Brotherhood is the name sometimes used to describe the social and academic activities of inner city, working class Orthodox Christians in Oklahoma City. The St. John of Kronstadt Brotherhood has no formal membership, but operates rather like a Bat-signal, calling to action local men and women of courage. Nor does it have a webpage, as it would be inconsistent with our ethos. With hearts full of love and irony we offer comfort to those seeking nourishment for the soul through the reading of ancient books and the drinking of quality ales. Oh, and once the exact location of the Codex Climaci Rescriptus is discovered, St. John of Kronstadt Brotherhood will be its volunteer guardians.

Christ speaks to the Magi

2010-12-15T23:05:00.000-08:00

[Magi update: Note that in chapter 29, it becomes necessary for the Magi's experience to be validated through their contact with an apostolic figure and through participation in recognizable Christian worship. If the appended, 3rd person story treats Christ in a different manner than the original, then is it possible the addition also refers to the Magi with different terminology? Read full article here]

After blogging about a book I try to leave the topic and allow others to do their own exploring without ongoing commentary from me. However the Revelation of the Magi is making quite a splash. Patheos.com invited readers to submit questions, to which Dr. Landau responded on the Patheos blog. Within this exchange Dr. Landau identifies what is considered to be "the most pivotal verse in the entire text" in Revelation of the Magi. Christ says the following to the Magi:

And I am everywhere, because I am a ray of light whose light has shone in this world from the majesty of my Father, who has sent me to fulfill everything that was spoken about me in the entire world and in every land by unspeakable mysteries, and to accomplish the commandment of my glorious Father, who by the prophets preached about me to the contentious house, in the same way as for you, as befits your faith, it was revealed to you about me.

Indeed this is beautiful. I feel we will learn more about this portrayal of Christ as time gives us a chance to contemplate where this fits within ancient Christian literature and discover possible parallels with other texts. Until then we can watch RevMagi's journey unfold as popular culture becomes aware of this ancient narrative:

USA Today article

Radio interview with Brent Landau

Landau writes for Huffington Post

Perhaps Landau will present at the North American Syriac Symposium at Duke University in June? Finally, here is some independent research on the Magi...

Did the Magi wear mullets???

Syriac scholar Brent Landau and "The Revelation of the Magi"

2010-11-20T12:31:00.000-08:00

Oklahoma has been hiding one of its most interesting secrets for two years, namely its very own Syriac scholar. Dr. Brent Landau, graduate of Harvard Divinity School, is Assistant Professor at University of Oklahoma's Religious Studies Program.

Dr. Landau is noted for providing the first English translation of what has been named the "Revelation of the Magi", a Christian apocryphal work and the most extensive Magi account from the ancient world. The Syriac narrative is preserved in a longer work comprising Vaticanus Syriacus 162, a codex housed in the Vatican Library.

Landau estimates the original "Revelation of the Magi" (ROM) was composed in the late second or early third century and was written from the perspective of the Magi themselves. It was then redacted in the third or fourth century to include the Apostle Thomas in a third-person account. The Vatican manuscript used by Landau for his English translation is from the 8th century.

With the Nativity approaching it is no accident that Harper Collins has released Landau's research entitled Revelation of the Magi: The Lost Tale of the Wise Men’s Journey to Bethlehem, based on his dissertation and edited for the wider audience in mind. The press releases and articles begin with the usual dramatic titles about lost scrolls and Christian origins. My favorite is...

an Ancient Manuscript Lost for Centuries in the Vatican Library Reveals Eyewitness Account of the Christmas Story

This ancient text sheds light on an aspect of the Nativity often taken for granted. Yet the ROM in no way stamps "solved" upon the story of the Wise Men. Just the opposite, it (happily for bibliophiles) raises more questions and suggests relationships with early Christian hymnody and other sources.

ROM is well-crafted and the narrative includes some intriguing points of interest such as; the Magi never refer to Christ by name, their food supplied by Providence appears to have hallucinogenic qualities (or at least that is how it might be described in modern terms), and the original author linguistically equates the Wise Men's title "Magi" with "silent prayer" in some unknown language.

Among the more surprising aspects is the notion that the star of Bethlehem followed by the Magi is far more than an astronomical event. Landau points out the star is actually the pre-existent Christ himself, "a literal representation of St. John's 'light of the world'”. The Johannine connection is certainly a strong one from our 21st century point of view. But when we also take into account the magi/silent prayer connection, the star-as-Christ motif seems to imply that the account is more than just legend and perhaps set within a larger theological context.

Landau recognizes within ROM similarities with Syriac baptismal hymns. I wonder if more light can be shed on these mysterious aspects if it were compared to other existing liturgical material. I cannot immediately recall if the Magi are mentioned in On the Mother of God by Jacob of Serug (trans. Mary Hansbury). If so, it might prove to be an interesting comparison.

If you are interested in seeing the Syriac text (nicely vocalized) and a more technical treatment of the ROM, Landau's dissertation can be downloaded here at Academia.com.

The Sages and the Star-Child: An Introduction to the Revelation of the Magi, An Ancient Christian Apocryphon

A critical edition will be available to the scholarly community when Landau publishes the Syriac text as part of Brepol's Corpus Christianorum Series Apocryphorum.

What does ROM's complex portrayal of the Wise Men tell us about early Christianity or at least about the Nativity itself? The appearance of the star-Child to the Magi is a clear statement of Christ's ability to reveal Himself to whomever He chooses. In other words, evangelization by humans is not always a necessary endeavor. ROM suggests the possibility that this revelation may be "but one of potentially many instances in which Christ has appeared to the people of the world". Indeed this is supported by the Acts of the Apostles. Beyond this, Landau proposes a more universal message, that the "revelatory activity of Christ as the primal cause of humanity’s religious difference." In other words, Christ could reveal himself in the person of Buddha, Mohammed, or as any religious identity.

Even with ROM's atypical treatment of Christ, the concept of a revelation within other religions brought to mind the ancient and ubiquitous "Christ Pantokrator" icon which, like all icons, communicated Christian belief through visual imagery. Not necessarily a triumphalist symbol, Christ Pantokrator suggests that the various religious traditions are echoes of the truth, and Christ, with His unending love for all humankind will at any time abruptly appear in time and space to anyone for the purpose of affirming His identity, as opposed to equating it to all other iconic identities within the world's religious milieu. A traditional perspective doesn't necessitate that other religions are always antagonistic.

Though the message of the Magi as presented by Brent Landau is more ecumenical than many traditional Christians would be comfortable with, he treats conservative Christian beliefs with great respect and sensitivity both on paper and in person. I hope Brent Landau's expertise will be valued and sought out in a state where Christianity is so predominant.

I generally do not purchase pop culture books written by biblical scholars. But in this case I made an exception and was happy to do so, and for several reasons: it is a work by a recognized Syriac scholar in Oklahoma (the only one) and as an Oklahoman, I am intensely proud of this. Secondly, one gets the impression that the full value of ROM is yet to be discovered. The real story of the Magi will continue to unfold.

Klezmer coming to Oklahoma City- the Fabulous Shpielkehs

2010-10-26T07:52:00.000-07:00

Mother and daughter Elaine and Susan carry on the centuries old tradition of klezmer music from the villages and ghettos of Eastern Europe. All concerts are free but seating is limited so plan to arrive early.

* Sunday, November 7 2:00 pm Downtown Library
* Monday, November 8 1:00 pm Warr Acres Library
* Monday, November 8 7:00 pm Edmond Library
* Tuesday, November 9 1:00 pm Bethany Library
* Tuesday, November 9 7:00 pm Midwest City Library
* Wednesday, November 10 10:30 am Capitol Hill Library
* Thursday, November 11 7:00 pm Belle Isle Library
* Friday, November 12 10:30 am The Village Library
* Friday, November 12 2:00 pm Del City Library

details here:
http://www.metrolibrary.org/mls/mls_promos/our_world.htm

2010-10-24T23:22:00.000-07:00

When I was younger
I saw my daddy cry
And curse at the wind
He broke his own heart
And I watched
As he tried to reassemble it

-Paramore The Only Exception

Christianity, oppressing women for 2000 years

2010-10-18T23:26:00.000-07:00

Here are some related thoughts roughly cobbled together. I recently saw a blog post on the commonly accepted idea that after the death of Christ, Christianity quickly devolved into a misogynistic tool of male dominance. The conversation asked, "What woman would want to subject herself to such a religion?" My reaction was too long for a comment. So I will paste my thoughts here, as unpolished as they are.

The idea that women and families were reduced in status through a Christian-invented male hierarchy is a historical fabrication. Few people will argue that pagan Rome "empowered" women. Still, since Christianity is always the culprit, then it bears pointing some things about about the ancient world.

One example is the institution of the Vestal virgins, young women committed to serving the goddess Vesta through a life of chastity. If a vestal virgin was caught in a relationship outside of wedlock, she was executed. Keep in mind this *pre-dated* Christianity. Now, there were influential women in Roman politics, usually wives of Senators or emperors acting as consorts to their husbands, but it wasn't until after the spread of Christianity that the Roman Empire had full fledged Empresses (Irene, Theodora).

With the advent of Christianity, women were given a concrete method of "opting out" of the male dominated world: Christianity began with central ethic of personal asceticism. When Christianity was legalized and turned fashionable, those seeking to retain the core of asceticism left the cities and established intentional communities for men and women (monasteries). Keep in mind that in the pre-Christian culture, a woman's role was identified with property and ultimately her destiny was determined by men, so when women *established their own monasteries* (called convents in the West), they kept no personal property, thus removing themselves from the civic control of males. To this day, when my priest visits an Orthodox convent, he must kiss the hand of the Abbess because she is entitled to the same honor as a male bishop. This is *NOT* because the Orthodox Church has embraced "progressive" theologies. Just the opposite: it is an ancient Christian tradition.

If you recall from the Da Vinci Code, Mary Magdalene's role was "covered up" and erased from history by a hierarchy obsessed with turning Christianity into an ol' boys club. It begs the question: If her prominent role was covered up because of misogyny, then why does the church openly celebrate her (with commemorations on *her* feast day) as *Mary Equal To The Apostles*?

Regarding families in general: In "Meditations" emperor Marcus Aurelius mentions pedophilia in a disturbingly nonchalant manner. Sodomizing boys by rich men may have been uncouth, but it was very much accepted within pagan Roman society. In addition, Tertullian wrote sarcastically to the pagans in his "Apologeticum", "We share everything except our wives - you share nothing except your wives." I suppose when pagans share wives it is called "polyamory" and "sexual exploration". But if ancient Christians shared their wives, we would call it "exploitation" and "oppression", wouldn't we?

If Christianity is the culprit, then why has Japan- with Shinto and Buddhist heritage and notoriously resistant to Christian conversions- continued to be one of the most male-centered cultures in the world? Chinese culture is very much the same way. Hindu and Buddist India- is far more dominated by males than the Judeo-Christian western cultures. (Thought India is admired world-wide for its female political leaders)

The difference is that when people single out Christianity it is called "fighting oppression". But the reason why we never see anyone point out the same (and worse) failings in other cultures because to do so would be "showing intolerance" toward them.

Male domination is not a product of a sinister Christianity, it is a product of our evolutionary biology, where higher levels of testosterone and gender-specific neurophysiology predispose males to being highly competitive, aggressive, and protective over "clan" relationships. This is evolution, pure and simple, and expresses itself in every culture. Finding fault with one-specific religion is not honest history, it is product of *our* culture obsessed with victim-hood and which champions evolution only when it serves our progressive outlook.

Facebook outage was biggest ever (CNN)

2010-09-24T14:22:00.001-07:00

big deal.

An Update on the Codex Climaci Rescriptus

2010-09-22T10:43:00.000-07:00

If you like old books- I mean reeeaallly old books- you might remember that last year Westminster College in Cambridge, England auctioned off the Codex Climaci Rescriptus with the help of Sotheby's. I first read the news on Steve Caruso's Aramaic Blog (his post here). The announcement on Forbes can be viewed here. And I posted a frustrated note here.

Just as a reminder, the Codex is a 6th century document and an important manuscript witness to the Greek text of the Gospels. It includes the Palestinian Aramaic Old and New Testament and a Syriac copy of writings by St. John Climacus, one of the most important spiritual authors in the Eastern Church. It is thought by some that the Syriac translation was copied directly from the saint's autograph. Based on the combination of languages (Greek/Syriac/CPA) and its original home (St. Catherines monastery on Mt. Sinai), someone could assume the Codex originates from within the Antiochian patrimony.

Word quickly spread around the blogosphere and academic circles were afraid the lucky buyer would simply separate the leaves and resell them individually to wealthy dilettantes looking to impress their friends with historic wall hangings. You can see a discussion of the Codex at the Hugoye Syriac Studies group here.

Here is the update: Just last week I just came across this online article. Here are some excerpts:

Leaders of the Oklahoma-owned Hobby Lobby retail chain have acquired hundreds of Bible artifacts and are helping to open a museum. Portions of the Codex Climaci Rescriptus, one of the earliest near-complete Bibles, will be featured in the National Bible Museum...

The museum is a nonprofit organization co-founded by historian Scott Carroll, a [former] professor at Cornerstone University in Michigan, along with D. Jonathan Shipman and Daniel Centurione...

Carroll said Wednesday the museum collections will include one of the earliest-known, near-complete Bibles, recently acquired by Hobby Lobby. He said items destined for the museum are being housed in Oklahoma City...

He said Hobby Lobby recently acquired several items for the museum, including portions of the Codex Climaci Rescriptus, which he said is one of the earliest near-complete Bibles in the world.

("Oklahomans help acquire items for Bible museum" BY CARLA HINTON Oklahoman, Published: April 1, 2010)

Notice the article is several months old yet I am just now finding it. So the Codex Climaci Rescriptus is being safely kept somewhere within my home town, Oklahoma City. This relic and icon of the ancient church sits within a small radius of where I now sit, waiting for a museum to be built. I am tempted to go poking around local warehouses. I think of the final scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark

How would someone go about pulling the right strings so that people could view the this Codex? There is a handful of local academics, clergy, and readers of Greek and Syriac that would love to see it.

Antiochian Old Believers

2010-08-20T07:16:00.000-07:00

Antiochian Patriarchal Stavropegic Diocese

has a nice ring to it

"Too many rocks"

2010-08-14T06:15:00.000-07:00

"like my sins". And I am weighed down by them.

The Ancients on Friendship- Aristotle

2010-07-07T14:46:00.000-07:00

Those who love one another for utility love the other not in himself, but only in so far as they will obtain some good for themselves from him. The same goes for those who love for pleasure; they do not like the witty person because of his character, but because they find him pleasing to themselves. So for those who love for utility are fond of the other because of what is good for themselves, and those who love for pleasure because of what is pleasant for themselves, not insofar as the person they love is who he is, but insofar as he is useful or pleasant.

... Such friendships are thus easily dissolved, when the parties to them do not remain unchanged; for if one party is no longer pleasant or useful, the other stops loving him.

...So when the reason for their being friends has gone, the friendship is dissolved as well, since it existed only for that reason. This kind of friendship seems to come about among older people in particular, because at that age they are pursuing what is useful, not what is pleasant, and also among those in their prime of their youth who are pursuing their own advantage.

- Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Book VIII. Ed. Roger Cris. Cambridge University Press, 2008.

Thoughts related to Independence Day

2010-07-03T11:44:00.000-07:00

We often know very little about even the most famous Americans from the 1700s. Their lives are surrounded by controversy and myth, and every academic gets to publish their own version of the facts. When it comes to my ancestors, who were not famous statesmen, it is far more difficult to tell their story. They can seem like mere names on a list. But thanks to having genealogists in the family, we have pieced together some details.

Colin Campbell- I first became aware of Colin Campbell when I was about eleven years old. My mother (Betsy Buck) showed me his name in a blue membership directory for the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). I saw my great grandmother’s name printed with her DAR membership number, with the associated ancestor "Colin Campbell".

Colin Campbell was born in Scotland on January 27, 1749, four years after Charles Stewart’s uprising. Colin married Jean McPherson on his 24th birthday in 1773, three years before the Declaration of Independence was signed. In 1775 he was sent to the colonies as a commissioned officer in the British Army.

Upon finding that his brother William Campbell was an enthusiastic American patriot, Colin was persuaded to leave the Royal Army and join the Continentals in support of the colonial rebellion. Colin enlisted December 15, 1776 and was assigned to the 10th Virginia Regiment as Adjutant Major. William became the hero of the Battle of King’s Mountain, North Carolina where Loyalist forces suffered a critical defeat in 1780. "There Col. William Campbell, leader of the Virginians, a red-haired, 6-foot-6 giant married to the sister of firebrand patriot Patrick Henry, exhorted his men to ‘Shout like hell and fight like devils’... Loyalists were slain after they surrendered." (Smithsonian, July 2007, p44.)

Brother William later rose to the rank of General while Colin served until the surrender of Corwallis in 1781 and was paid off at Fort Pitt, Pennsylvania. Soon after Colin sent for his wife Jean McPherson and son Archibald and they settled near Abingdon, Virginia. Their son Archibald would marry the daughter of Henry Hawk (another Ft. Pitt soldier, see below) and served in the War of 1812. Colin died at the age of 85 on January 30, 1834.

Colin’s great grandson, Ota Hopkins Campbell would later serve in Confederate forces and fight at Gettysburg. There are two main sources of information for Colin; 1) Family Sheets on file with the DAR and 2) the PH Ropp Family Bible which is now stored in the Archives & Documents room at the Library of Virginia.

Henry Hawk- Also stationed at Fort Pitt was Henry Hawk (perhaps originally Hagg or Haugh), who is recorded as holding the rank of Corporal in the 7th Virginia Regiment. During the Revolutionary War, Fort Pitt served as the American headquarters for the western theater. Fort Pitt was originally built by the British in order to manage their volatile relations with the Delawares and Shawnees. It was abandoned to the locals in 1772.

A small brick building (called the Blockhouse) is all that remains of the fort in Point State Park, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Blockhouse was purchased and has been preserved by the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). Amy Carter (Mother of Greg Carter and Debbie Hester) applied for DAR membership under Henry Hawk. The DAR places a limit on the number of descendants that may join under any particular veteran. The limit for limit for Colin Campbell had been reached. We are not sure if Hawk was born in Pennsylvania or in Holland. He married Catherine Wren. Their daughter, Mary Polly Hawk, married Colin Campbell’s son Archibald. Other than this we know very little about Henry Hawk and his role in the American Revolution.

Nathaniel Vasser was born about 1757 in Amelia Co., Virginia. He fought at the 1781 siege of Yorktown and witnessed the surrender of British General Cornwallis. Cornwallis had fortified both Yorktown and a naval base at Gloucester Point, just on the other side of the York River.

In 1782 Nathaniel married Sarah Hudson, a descendant of the famous explorer Henry Hudson. Nathaniel died June 18, 1823 in Halifax Co., VA. When Sarah filed for a widows pension, she stated that Nathaniel served as a private in the Virginia Militia and "was engaged in many battles".

About eighty years after the historic battle of Yorktown, Nathaniel’s great grandson, John D. Vasser, would be stationed at Gloucester Point during the War Between the States. And ninety years after that, in the 1970s, David and Stephen Schneider (descendants of Nathaniel and John Vasser) would play on the Yorktown battlefields and regularly get their hair cut at Eddy’s Barber Shop on the Yorktown waterfront, located several hundred yards from Cornwallis’s Cave.

Hmm... What to wear to the Order of St. Ignatius dinner?

2010-06-30T14:13:00.000-07:00

Ever since a visiting teen at church told my wife she had a nice ass, I have not participated in events where multiple Antiochian parishes gather. This year however, I did cross the threshold at the regional Parish Life Conference. It was being held at a hotel not far from my home and was a great opportunity to attend nightly compline services.

Upon entering the conference area I was delighted to see displayed within the foyer book tables by Eighth Day Books and a monastery. So I was excited at the idea of returning with my checkbook.

The next day, I got home from work, put on a clean t-shirt and took my kids to see the books, the nun, and all the black cassocks. My arrival inadvertently but happily corresponded with the Order of St. Ignatius dinner. I was the only person wearing a band t-shirt. No, no... I was the only person wearing any t-shirt. The same goes for construction boots. I regret I was not able to help maintain the pristine ambiance an Order dinner demands but I was glad to contribute something of my own; a contrast with a particular beauty, however intangible, a contrast we need yet one that some rage against to protect feelings of "image" and exclusivity.

If you own a punk band shirt, chances are, your lifestyle will not result in the type of income required to be invited to an Order of St. Ignatius dinner for such an event is a celebration of not being one of the hoi polloi. Let them celebrate, and be thankful that we have people who can give to the Church and to worthy charities out of their wealth. But at the same time, if you would like to lend support by cheering them on from the wine bar in the foyer, I recommend creating the kind of juxtaposition such an event screams for. Let your freak flag fly, Antiochians.

The Ancients on Friendship- Cicero

2010-06-26T12:49:00.000-07:00

Let this, then, be laid down as the first law of friendship, that we should ask from friends, and do for friends, only what is good. But do not let us wait to be asked either: let there be ever an eager readiness, and an absence of hesitation. Let us have the courage to give advice with candor. In friendship, let the influence of friends who give good advice be paramount; and let this influence be used to enforce advice not only in plain-spoken terms, but sometimes, if the case demands it, with sharpness; and when so used, let it be obeyed.

Plain speaking is a cause of trouble, if the result of it is resentment, which is poison of friendship; but compliance is really the cause of much more trouble, because by indulging his faults it lets a friend plunge into headlong ruin. But the man who is most to blame is he who resents plain speaking and allows flattery to egg him on to his ruin.

It is virtue, virtue, which both creates and preserves friendship. On it depends harmony of interest, permanence, fidelity. When Virtue has reared her head and shewn the light of her countenance, and seen and recognized the same light in another, she gravitates towards it, and in her turn welcomes that which the other has to shew; and from it springs up a flame which you may call love or friendship as you please.

Cicero. Letters of Marcus Tullius Cicero: With His Treatises On Friendship And Old Age. Trans. Evelyn Shirley Shuckburgh, William Melmoth. Harvard Classics Volume 9, Collier, 1909. 25, 39, 42.

The Ancients on Friendship- Jesus ben Sirach

2010-06-16T13:56:00.000-07:00

When you gain friends, gain them through testing, And do not trust them hastily.
For there are friends who are such when it suits them, But they will not stand by you in time of trouble.
And there are friends who change into enemies, And tell of the quarrel to your disgrace.
And there are friends who sit at your table, But they will not stand by you in time of trouble.
Faithful friends are a sturdy shelter: whoever finds one has found a treasure.
Faithful friends are beyond price; No amount can balance their worth.
Faithful friends are life saving medicine, And those who fear the lord will find them.
Those who fear the Lord direct their friendship aright, For as they are, so are their neighbors also.

...Do not abandon old friends, for new ones can not equal them.
A new friend is like a new wine; when it has aged, you can drink it with pleasure.

-Wisdom of Sirach 6:7, 9:10

Spiritual lessons from an Antiochian ikon

2010-06-10T15:59:00.000-07:00

This morning Fr. Elia Khalife posted his third newsletter on the Antioch Centre website. It was anticipated this newsletter would also include information on re-discovered liturgical material... elements of prayers and debheh long forgotten in Antioch. If more detail on that is forthcoming perhaps I will post it here.

I paraphrase here some passages from Fr. Elia's article on the Trilingual Icon of Kaftun (from the ancient Monastery of the Dormition of the Theotokos in Kaftun, Lebanon) portraying the Theophany and adorned with Greek, Syriac, and Arabic...

This use of all three languages on the icon suggests to us the strong possibility that the residents and monks of Kaftun were familiar with each of these languages enough to understand such an icon. When one considers just how difficult each one of these languages is, to imagine that all three of them were used at the same time and in the same place is truly remarkable, and witnesses to the great heritage of the Antiochian Church and the work still required to uncover that heritage.

"It is important for us to remember that we are part of the Living Tradition, and that our witness is for the person Christ Jesus, rather than a specific text. While we must always try to repeat the letter of the text, we must also remember what Jesus Christ and the Apostle Paul have said, that the letter kills, while the Spirit gives life (John 6:63 and 2 Cor. 3:6). When Christ asked the lawyer, ‘How do you read?’ (Luke 10:26), He showed us that the Law is written in hearts and minds, as much as in words and books.

...the painter of the icon did not quote the Bible word for word, but creatively and artistically combined different Bible verses to communicate Jesus Christ to those looking on the icon in prayer. We must similarly familiarize ourselves with the Bible and works of the Fathers in order to both remain faithful to the Holy Tradition, and reproduce that Tradition in each unique circumstance that presents itself to us in our own lives.

I recommend downloading the newsletter. He includes beautiful photos and news of his fascinating work. www.antiochcentre.net/newsletter.php

Fr. Elia referenced this Trilingual Icon in a 2006 article in Parole de l’Orient, where he includes the following footnote:

I would like also to bring to attention to the recent and extremely important discovery of the ancient and wonderful frescoes in the Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus near the Monastery of the Theotokos in Kaftun. A project was set up to reveal and preserve these frescoes hidden under plaster. These frescoes contain a number of inscriptions in Greek, Syriac Chalcedonian, and Arabic. -Elia Khalifeh, “A project on the Antiochian Chalcedonian Orthodox manuscripts: Syriac, Arabic, CPA and Greek” Parole de l’Orrient 31 (2006) 1-9.

With some searching I found photos from Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus (taken by Mat Immerzeel) on Medievalart.org. Indeed, the saints are depicted in Byzantine style while their names are written in Syriac. Yacob (St. James, second from left) is clear, and on the far left is most likely Phillip, though part of his name is cropped out (notice the beardless face).

The Ancients on Friendship- Buddha

2010-06-09T13:35:00.000-07:00

A true friend, the one with whom a man may safely associate, will always stick closely to the right way, will worry secretly about his friend’s welfare, will console him and misfortune, will offer him a helping hand when he needs it, will keep his secrets, and will always give him good advice.

It is very difficult to find a friend like this, and, therefore, one should try a very hard to be a friend at like this. As the sun warms of the fruitful earth, so a good friend shines in society because of his good deeds.

The Teaching of Buddha. Tokyo: Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai, 2003.

The Ancients on Friendship

2010-06-06T14:13:00.000-07:00

So dear a thing is a good friend, that times and places are loved on his account. For as bodies that are luminous spread their radiance to the neighbouring places, so also friends leave a grace of their own in the places to which they have come. And oftentimes in the absence of friends, as we have stood on those places, we have wept, and remembering the days which we passed together, have sighed. It is not possible to represent by speech, how great a pleasure the presence of friends affords. But those only know, who have experience. From friends we may both ask a favour, and receive one without suspicion.

For, in good truth, a friend is more to be desired than the light; I speak of a true one. And wonder not: for it were better for us that the sun should be extinguished, than that we should be deprived of friends. It is better to live in darkness, than to be without friends. And I will tell you why. Because many who see the sun are in darkness, but they can never be even in tribulation, who abound in friends. I speak of spiritual friends, who prefer nothing to friendship. Such was Paul, who would willingly have given his own soul, even though not asked, nay would have plunged into hell for them- With so ardent a disposition ought we to love. And where is it possible that such a one should be found? Nay, it is not possible because we have not the will, since if we were willing it is abundantly possible.

Saint John Chrysostom. "The Homilies of S. John Chrysostom on the Epistles of St. Paul the Apostle to the Philippians, Colossians, and Thessalonians." Trans. J. H. Parker. Library of Fathers of the Holy Catholic Church Volume 14. Harvard University, 1843. 354, 355.

Justin Martyr

2010-06-01T11:00:00.000-07:00

O Justin, teacher of divine knowledge, thou didst shine with the rays of true philosophy and wast wisely armed against the enemy. Confessing the truth thou didst contend with the martyrs: with them ever entreat Christ our God to save our souls.

Pray unto God for us, Oh Holy Saint Justin, well pleasing to God, for I turn to thee who art the speedy helper and intercessor for our souls.

Aramaic Antiochian liturgy

2010-05-27T06:05:00.000-07:00

A scholar at Oxford's Bodleian Library has discovered a "new" Antiochian liturgy. The 12th century extant records in Palestinian Aramaic a Chalcedonian liturgy which apparently fell out of use and out of memory. Details are forthcoming. I will post a link when more information is available.

The extremist blogs

2010-05-25T05:50:00.000-07:00

I found it amusing that Aaron, the author of the Logismoi blog was labeled an extremist for his reflections on the canonization of St. Justin Popović.

The popularity of an idea does not determine its truth, often the crowd simply runs the wrong way. This was the case with some ancient heresies such as Arianism, where an idea wildly popular in the Church was later considered to be in error. The Church in retrospect has acknowledged the witness of a theological minority, and likewise recognizes the saints who stood their ground. Sometimes the minority was right; they were correct in their interpretation and expression of the Church’s belief.

Of course we don’t believe that every word of a saint is inerrant, but the beatification of St. Justin lends far more credibility to the argument that the ecumenical effort was misguided. I say “was” because I suspect the ecumenical movement has had plenty of time to prove itself worthwhile at even its own agenda, yet we are still wondering exactly what common benefit it has produced. There is little fruit beyond political commentary.

I recently came upon an old copy of the Orthodox Word (July-August, vol. 5 no. 4, 1969) which carried a reprint of an article simply entitled “Ecumenism” by Archbishop Vitaly of Montreal and Canada.

It would be easy to dismiss his remarks that seem out of time, such as the Russian royal family being the globe’s last line of defense against waves of evil or ”scoutism” as an arm of freemasonry, however, in the article (first printed in English in the Orthodox Life, Jordanville, NY, July/August 1969), he offers a few points we rarely see so cogently made. Some may label his views "extremist" but to set the article in context, it must be remembered that for a couple years previous, even one of the Church's more scholarly publications St. Vladimir’s Seminary Quarterly had been running articles on ecumenical dialogue such as “Closed Communion, Open Communion, Intercommunion” (1968, Vol 12, p.142).

Archbishop Vitaly quotes Archpriest G. Razumovsky who in 1948 made the following statement in response to the World Council of Churches’s invitation to the Ecumenical Assembly in Amsterdam:

… Has the patriarchate of Constantinople forgotten its honor as first among the Sees in the defense of the canons of the Orthodox Church and not maintained its authority? (152)

Razumovsky continues

We inform the World Council of Churches, in reply to the invitations received by all of us to take part in the Amsterdam Assembly in the capacity of members of it, that all Local Orthodox Churches participating in the present Meeting are compelled to refuse to participate in the Ecumenical Movement in its present form. (152)

Archbishop Vitaly tells us “the resolution was signed by the heads the Russian, Georgian, Serbian, Rumanian, Bulgarian, Polish, Albanian and Czechoslovakian Churches and by representatives of the Churches of Antioch and Alexandria.” (152, bold text mine.)

His eminence further explains how the ancient Patriarchates later joined the World Council Of Churches at the time when many clerics received their position through the patronage of the atheist Communist Party and when the movement itself was supported strongly by the political left in the United States. Archbishop Vitaly made them makes the following observations, and note the respect he pays toward the Protestant heritage:

Ecumenism, striving to destroy the boundaries of the Church of Christ, itself has no boundaries whatever. Already there is talk not only of uniting with all Christians and even with Jews, but that everyone living on the earth is a member of the Church.

If we look at the inner life of all the Protestant churches and at what ecumenism is introducing into them, we shall immediately see two currents of thought and life. The overwhelming majority of Protestant groups, having discarded their heretical doctrine and, not feeling in themselves any further stimulus so as to find anew in their religion their centrifugal force, give themselves over to ecumenism. They are completely indifferent to their one-time world-view, which was nurtured with blood and suffering, and they represent from within themselves an immense mass of people who are indifferent to Christ. The second contrary manifestation is sometimes to be noted, but it is always a very small in numbers or even purely personal-- this is the rare individuals in the Protestant world who from simple feeling of self-preservation do not wish yet simply to melt into the impersonal in loveless of mass and convert into a corpse what used to be Western Christianity. …To us Orthodox these Christians are nearer, even if they are in error, but still burning in their false faith, still preserving some signs of life. (155 -156)

The only theological fruit of the ecumenical movement is division among the Orthodox. I have often wondered why relationships among the sister Orthodox Churches were considered expendable in favor of relations with foreign confessions including those which espoused moral relativism. The answer is simple, as Vitaly points out:

Theologically ecumenism does not bear up under any kind of criticism, because it runs away from any kind of dogmatics of its own. It is spread not in the depths, but along the surface, along the layers of heresies which have outlived themselves; but it is supported by some secret resilient power which itself stands in the shadows. Behind it is likewise the vast material might with a clever politics of finance, skillfully giving help or by its gifts inclining to its side of the scale someone who is wavering war has not lost his sensitivity of conscience. (156)

Vitaly adds:

… As a last resolution we may indicate that it is indispensable that in all cathedral churches of our church on the Sunday of orthodoxy the rite of the Triumph of Orthodoxy be celebrated. (160)

Like the Holy Fathers who knew their words alluded to something greater which is realized only upon further contemplation, Vitaly’s small suggestion brings to the fore the great contradiction before the Church. A successful ecumenical movement will celebrate the triumph of something “other”. It compels us to ask ourselves why we bother to celebrate the Sunday of Orthodoxy at all.

John Sanidopoulos has recently pointed out in a blog comment:

my main problem is with Orthodox extremists who oppose dialogue to the point where they call every "official" exchange between Orthodox and Heterodox a "pan-heresy" (to exploit the term of St Justin) and all that other jargon. Ecumenical dialogue may be fruitless, but it is necessary and will always be necessary if the world is to understand where we are at and we where the world is at from their perspective. It still is missionary in the sense that it gives us a position in the world that we would not have without it, which always bugs me with anti-ecumenists who today are reaping the benefits of the work of Ecumenical dialogue yet altogether criticizing it at the same time. …But we should also look at it in light of the culture around us, especially in Europe and those nations where the majority of the population is secularized and reject religion altogether. This is no longer a world which Orthodoxy can stand alone as the only voice of reason in a growing secularized world of Barbarians. [read the entire exchange here]

I agree with John in that there are social reasons why a local church or diocese would participate in an “interfaith alliance” for civic action, such as coordinating charity efforts or opposing abortion. The Middle Eastern Council of Churches is a good example of where local confessions offer a united political voice on behalf of people whose rights, land, and livelihoods have been sacrificed for western and race-based foreign policies.

Yet I am not referring to community service but rather to those international forums where joint worship is proof of one’s tolerance and where “dialogue” actively seeks to close the belief gap through a series of semantic reformulations. Such activity dilutes the work of the ancient Councils and second-guesses the Saints who attended those councils and whose writings expressed the Church’s belief in clear and detailed terms.

As the Ochlophobist said in the same exchange, “They want to know how much they have to give in order for Orthodox to accept them on some level.”

The hope is that if we keep playing with language, we’ll eventually stumble upon a verbal formula that describes both our belief and theirs. Since there is no firm belief on the American side, they have plenty of creative latitude; plenty of room to maneuver with words- the same words they will only change in the future to mollify some other conservative hold-outs.

I suspect that forging closer relations with the venerable tradition of the Orthodox Church is seen as a means to legitimize their political activism. And at the same time, finding a happy medium of belief through the use of language helps neutralize the one thing the activists rage against- the moral and spiritual absolutes represented by the Church.

I may be wrong (a phrase you don’t see on Orthodox blogs) but I also suspect ecumenical efforts are the legacy of a certain generation within the Orthodox Church; of the converts who still live in the heady memory of the 1960s and “renewal”, and of the ethnic clans who still seek acknowledgment by the sophisticated and prosperous West. Those who have invested a lot of time and emotion may continue to advocate, but an upcoming generation is wondering why banal international dialogue was worth alienating our sister churches.

Jesus wept, then stole

2010-03-27T10:16:00.000-07:00

Today we celebrate Lazarus Saturday, when Jesus went to Bethany and raised His cousin from the dead. This event was public and spectacular; it was a messianic sign, proof that Jesus had power over death. Thus Christ knowingly brought about His own crucifixion (John 11:45-57).

It is said that Jesus stole Lazarus from death. One week later Jesus would not merely steal from death, but tear down its very gates.

Just as prophecies were part of the Jewish Bible, the idea of resurrection is also found in traditional Jewish prayers. Av Aleksandr Frenkel, an Orthodox Christian priest who serves a Hebrew speaking congregation, points out that the themes of resurrection are still proclaimed in the daily Jewish Benedictions (Amidah):

You, O Lord, are mighty forever,You revive the dead, You have the power to save. You sustain the living with loving kindnesses, You revive the dead with great mercy, You support the falling, heal the sick, set free the bound and keep faith with those who sleep in the dust.

Who is like You, O doer of mighty acts? Who resembles You, a king who puts to death and restores to life, and causes salvation to flourish? And You are certain to revive the dead. Blessed are You, O Lord, who revives the dead.

The believers celebrating Lazarus Saturday will sing this today: As many as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. (Galatians 3:27) Paul didn't write these words. It was a first century hymn Christians were singing before the New Testament was written. I've mentioned this before as it was intensely moving to me. (I need to include the source reference but I keep forgetting. It is from a critical Greek New Testament). Paul incorporated the hymn into the book of Galatians. It continues to be sung in the Orthodox Church.

The publicity surrounding Lazarus brought fulfillment to the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9. Tomorrow we reenact Palm Sunday in the Orthodox Church with a real procession, with real palm fronds (the Ethiopian ladies will wear their traditional white robes). One Orthodox hymn goes:

By Your word, O Word of God, Lazarus now leaps out of death, having returned to this life. Therefore the people honor You with their branches, O Mighty One; for You shall destroy Hades utterly by Your own death.

By means of Lazarus has Christ already plundered you, O death. Where is your victory, O Hades? For the lament of Bethany is handed over now to you. Let us all wave against it our branches of victory.

The publicity surrounding Lazarus also brought the ire of those who wanted to suppress the belief in Christ as the Messiah. Lazarus was living proof of Jesus's power, and he was actively pursued by the Sanhedrin: "the chief priests consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death; because that by reason of him many of the Jews went away, and believed on Jesus" (John 12:10,11).

"Lazarus" is a Greek rendition of the Hebrew "Eleazar". It is no coincidence that the village of Bethany is now called "al-Eizariya" in Arabic (the langauge of the local Christians). Lazarus's first tomb is today on the property of a Muslim family in Al-Eizariya who look after it. Many Muslims also consider Lazarus a saint.

So where did Lazarus go? Well, there is a legend originating on the island of Cyprus that says he came there fleeing persecution and served as the overseer or elder of the Christians at Kition (modern Larnaca). We might be tempted to discount vague legends, but local oral history concerning Lazarus on Cyprus is so specific, and is consistent with what is known about other early Christians, that it should not be ignored.

Local oral history says that St. John and St. Mary, Mother of Jesus, visited Lazarus in Cyprus in 52 AD, indicating that Lazarus lived another twenty years after his resurrection. Byzantine history records that imperial funds were used to build a church in Kition in the 800s, on the site of an older church containing Lazarus's second tomb. This local history has been accepted as authoritative by the Orthodox Church.

When people were no longer mentioned in the Gospel stories, they didn't cease to exist. They lived on and were intimately connected to the growth of the early Church. They were living witnesses for the next generation who would later on read Paul's letters. This is the case with St. Lazarus, a man who is barely mentioned in the New Testament, yet his existence was important enough to mobilize the Sanhedrin. More importantly his life, death, and life were a messianic proclamation of Jesus's power over death.

For all these reasons, Lazarus Saturday is a big event at my church. If you remember Lazarus Saturday, Easter will never sneak up on you again.

For more information see:

http://lent.goarch.org/saturday_of_lazarus/learn/
http://ayioslazaros.org/istoria2_eng.htm
http://www.serfes.org/lives/stlazarus.htm
http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/867674/jewish/Translation.htm
http://www.hanefesh.com/edu/amidah.htm
http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/synod/engdocuments/enart_marfawall.html

Looking for job. Found friends instead

2010-03-16T16:26:00.000-07:00

I'm tired of waiting on phone calls. I've been job hunting for three months now. This is the drop dead month, when savings will be completely wiped clean. I cannot count the number of resumes and applications I have out. And I'm tired of waiting on phone calls and emails that never come. So I used some gas to go to Matins then went to Panera Bread and spent $9 of my savings. I sat down with my laptop, a couple books, and made a obvious sign with red marker "Hire Me".

I met no potential bosses but- probably more importantly- I made two new friends. The first person to show an interest in my little sign was Maurice Johnson, jazz musician and guitar craftsman. He is in the process of writing a new video and has just released a CD. But don't listen to me, read about him here at mauricejohnson.com

Later I met Kent, a firefighter who is recovering from severe (non-work related) injuries. He inquired about my job hunt and took my pic. If he posts it on his blog, I'll link it here too. We have similar outlooks on life and fatherhood so I suspect our kids will be playing together soon. Read about Kent's road to recovery and the lessons he has gleaned along the way...

TheBlessedFall.com

Reflections on Atheism

2010-03-13T08:28:00.000-08:00

I wish I had known about this blog when it first started: Wonder is written for young adults and college students and, so far, carries several reflections on atheism. Whether this will continue to be the focus, I do not know. It is on the university campus where young people encounter the most insidious parts of our culture so I welcome the thoughts, especially as they are beyond the typical polemics. http://ocawonder.com

Al-Ameriki... I'm just sayin

2010-03-10T14:45:00.000-08:00

"An archdiocese without monasticism is like a body without a soul, and without monasteries, the Church would be like a body without a head.”

He wondered, “Why do monasteries and holy places spring up in mountains and valleys all over Lebanon, but there is not one such place in this region? "

- Antiochian Metropolitan of Akkar Basil Mansur (H/T Samn)

Yeah, I often ask myself that question too. Quote is taken out of context, but does it matter?

more old friends

2010-03-05T07:34:00.000-08:00

The Dogfather is another blogger who disappeared. He used to visit here sometimes. He wrote the following:

The essence of being a man often boils down to one thing: the willingness to "do something."

Olympiada used to browse this here blog as well. I don't know if she ever had a blog herself, but her photos can be seen on flickr. I would describe her style as "a day in the life of..." While some are candid, many carry a great sensitivity. See here photography at this link

Trust

2010-03-02T01:34:00.000-08:00

Do not try to make your course run more quickly than the divine will wishes; do not be in such a hurry that you try to get ahead of the Providence which is guiding you - not that I am saying that you should not be eager.

Once someone has doubted God's care for him, he immediately falls into a myriad of anxieties.

For someone to entrust himself to God means that, from that point on words, he will no longer be devoured by anguish were fear over anything; or will he again be tormented by the thought that he has no one to look after him.

- St. Isaac of Nineveh, (trans. Sebastian P. Brock, The Wisdom of St. Isaac of Nineveh. 2006.)

Saint John of Damascus the Gold-Streaming

2010-03-01T00:33:00.000-08:00

Posted below is an Arabic-to-English translation by Fr. Charles Baz of a work on St. John Damascene. When I first saw this pasted into a Facebook note, I thought how appropriate it would be for this to be shared on Notes on Arab Orthodoxy. But first Samn would have to become friends with Fr. Charles in order to even see the post, etc. So Fr. Charles has allowed me to post this. Samn, if you want to repost on your blog, feel free. It would be a perfect fit. Until then enjoy...

Saint John of Damascus the Gold-Streaming
Ο Αγιος Ιωάννης του Δαμασκηνου Ο Χρυσορρόας
القديس يوحنا الدمشقي دفـّاق الذهب

Translator’s Note

The present historical work is an analysis prepared by the official historian of the Apostolic Church of Antioch, Dr. Asad Rustum (1879-1965) of blessed memory. The analysis presented—to whom all credit is due—is entirely the work and copyright of Dr. Rustum, published in Lebanon in Arabic over half a century ago. Due to its rare existence, the need for presenting it in English for Western readers cannot be undermined, especially to students of history and theology who may find it beneficial...

Read the translated article here

Being my brother's caterer

2010-02-25T21:05:00.000-08:00

When you enter the refectory, do not look around to see how much food your brethren are eating and so fragment your soul with ugly suspicions. Look at only what lies before you...

- Theoliptos, Metropolitan of Philadelphia, Philokalia vol IV

Why Books Matter

2010-02-23T23:36:00.000-08:00

"Why Books Matter" a blog article by Jim Watts

The news that a New England prep school has dismantled its entire library to replace it with computers and e-readers keeps the idea of "bookless libraries" in the news.

Comparing the professors’ letters and the librarians’ policy papers shows that their subjects are completely different. The library’s policies focus on “information”—how and by whom it is accessed, distributed, analyzed and used. The faculty’s letters almost never mention that word; only the social scientists use it at all. The letters focus instead on the importance of reading physical books and documents, browsing stacks and viewing fold-out charts and maps. The library letters emphasize collaborative learning while the professors focus on the needs of solitary researchers. The library invokes utility while the faculty worry about recruitment and institutional prestige. The different subjects of the dueling documents show that this dispute involves very different ideas about books.

The open-stack library that makes browsing possible manifests an old idea. The notion that the contents of texts should be randomly accessible has slowly grown in strength over three thousand years. It decisively shapes the physical forms of books as well as libraries.

I feel this is an important blog article, please read it in its entirety here:

http://iconicbooks.blogspot.com/2010/02/why-books-matter.html

Blogs long gone

2010-02-19T07:01:00.000-08:00

I miss Karl Thienes's blog "St. Stephen's Musings". Kickmonkey and Sockmonk have been gone for a long time too. Kind of sad. I suppose it is a bit of e-nostalgia and I really miss them because of what was going on inside of me at the time. Yet when I think back on it, I watched people's lives unfold. And now the records of those life events and daily thoughts are nowhere to be found, as if parts of their lives are missing, parts that I remember even if they do not. I lost a small connection to people I thought of as friends. And its partly my fault because I gradually stopped reading them until I noticed they were gone altogether.

Dis-connecting with friends happens all the time. We lose contact, we keep forgetting to email or call our friend who lives far away... until that friend is only a distant memory, and any contact would be awkward or have little meaning. Just because it happens all the time doesn't lessen the effect it has on us. As the years go by I think I may feel such "disconnects" a great deal more viscerally than other people. My own mortality weighs heavily on me sometimes and in light of that such connections become valuable. Maybe that's why I have become more of a recluse.
I will start reading NeePeople again. Aye, faithful Jim.

Life will slip away to the notes of Stardust Melody by Hoagy Carmichael.

Justin Sinaites- more photos

2010-02-15T20:27:00.000-08:00

These cel phone photos are from February 2009, when I went with some friends to Denton, Texas to hear Fr. Justin, a monk from the Egyptian desert. He is the librarian for St. Catherine's Monastery on Mt. Sinai and is the caretaker for some of the most important extant Christian manuscripts.

Fr. Justin Frederick and Khouria of St. Maximus the Confessor Mission provided a wonderful Lenten dinner for us. In the photo below you can see Heiromonk Justin speaking with my son's godfather, Aaron who writes the Logismoi blog. Closer to the camera, on the left with with hands clasped is Josephus Flavius of Byzantine TX fame.

Fr. Justin's presentation was titled The Sinai Codex Theodosianus: Manuscript as Icon. Andrea Elizabeth writes on her blog:

Father Justin, originally from El Paso, Tx, also explained that St. Catherine’s Monastery in Sinai has been in continuous operation for 1700 years. It is one of the most remote Orthodox monasteries and up until 100 years ago, was a 10 day camel caravan trek from Suez. In the last 100 years, roads were created for the pilgrims who visit...

Father Justin photographs ancient manuscripts using a newly developed special “cradle” by which the book only has to open 90 degrees so the pages rest naturally flat and are photographed from a 45 degree angle. (more here)

She goes on to report:

The digital images of the 1000 year old Constantinoplean Lectionary were stunning. Each word in the gospels was gold leafed, as were the seven icons... The explanation that stood out to me was that we learn, or come to know through our physical senses, so the visual representations enter into our consciousness and we physically venerate them, but then we are lead beyond the physical to venerate the prototype, Christ... (read more of her post here)

Here is the summary of his visit I wrote last year and here is Aaron's overview of Fr. Justin's presentations: "The Prophet Moses & the Precious Cross" and "Sinai Codex Theodosianus: Manuscript as Icon".

My Adjunct Proposal

2010-02-11T20:35:00.000-08:00

ONAR 5101 - Introduction to Old Narnian- Basic phonetics and phonology; speech features in the storytelling customs of Dwarfs, Fauns, and Centaurs; speech analysis of surviving monoglots; regional/social dialects in Narnian speech.

ONAR 5120 - Poetry, Prophecy, and Tradition- Survey course of Narnian identity through the ages as expressed in literature and runic inscriptions.

ONAR 5225 - Telmarine Kingdom Period- Is it possible to speak of a single ‘Telmarine' culture imposed or maintained through monarchical power? We ask how culture and language were shaped by social factors such as industrialization, Aslanic prophecy, and magic, presenting case studies of Ettinsmoor, Beruna, Lantern Waste, and Archenland.

a new translation of Christian Arab text

2010-02-09T10:02:00.000-08:00

I came across an interesting blog post today regarding Abu’l Barakat, a medieval Arabic Christian. Abu’l Barakat devoted one of his works to listing all the Arabic Christian literature known to exist in the 13th century.

His list refers to stuff that no longer exists and tells us what undiscovered works might still be out there. It would be an important starting point for someone exploring patristic works in Arabic.

Hats off to Christian blogger Roger Pearse (maker of the Tertullian Project website) who recently commissioned the English translation of this work. The PDF can be found on Roger's blog at:

http://www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/?p=3551

or you can download it directly from this link:

http://www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Abu-l-Barakats-Catalog-trans.pdf

Syriac "Lord have Mercy"

2010-02-03T22:45:00.000-08:00

In his "Syrian Rite" volume Archdale King spends much time comparing liturgical practices of the "Jacobites", Maronites, and Syrian Catholics but he makes scant reference to Eastern Orthodox. (Maybe he spends more time on this in the "Byzantine" volume?) He does make mention a Syriac alteration to the Trisagion: "who was crucified for us" (destlebt hlofeyn), which evidently expressed enough of a wrong theological conclusion that it caused riots. If the Orthodox Antiochian church was using an earlier Liturgy of St. James, they were at least cognizant of theological subtleties. This added phrase remains in the "Jacobite" Trisagion btw.

The Syriac liturgy does use a lot of Greek. In the cycle of Syriac prayers, Lord have Mercy is rendered in both Syriac and Greek, but it seems to be repeated more often in Syriac, at least in the daily prayers. I see no problem with using Syriac as long as its a natural extension of the parish. For example, there is a Russian priest in Jerusalem that sometimes uses the Turoyo dialect. We've had a few Syriac-knowledgeable Eastern Orthodox folks from Syria pass through our parish over the years too.

Despite this, and despite the fact it has been used for centuries in the Orthodox Church, some would see any Syriac use as 'suspect' or not organic enough. But in our Syrian/Anglo parish, there we stand singing Lord Have Mercy in Arabic, Greek, and... Swahili. I don't have a problem with Swahili, but there is no historical connection to my parish, perhaps other than to serve as a witness to the presence of the Church in Swahili-speaking parts of Africa.

I don't know if there is an assumption that christological issues are so intertwined with Syriac that its use is forever ruined, or an assumption that the only way to properly understand anything is to not be Antiochian. The first assumption is ridiculous, the second... well, that situation continues to improve.

Post holiday season book goodness...

2010-02-02T00:16:00.000-08:00

The Syrian Rite of Antioch. Gorgias Press. Archdale King

Tradition, Scripture, and Interpretation: A Sourcebook of the Ancient Church. Evangelical Ressourcement: Ancient Sources for the Church's Future. D. H. Williams

Divine Ascent VII. Monastery of Saint John of Shanghai and San Francisco.

Otto Dix: Hommage a Martha (German Edition). Karin Schick.

Restoring the Unity in Faith: The Orthodox-Oriental Orthodox Theological Dialogue: An Introduction with Texts. Thomas FitzGerald and Emmanuel Gratsias, Editors.

Aristotle: Nicomachean Ethics. Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy Series. Edited and translated by Roger Crisp.

Homer: The Iliad. Oklahoma Series in Classical Culture. Herbert Jordan, trans.

in the firm conviction that all eventualities...

2010-01-20T21:44:00.000-08:00

I can relate to these words especially when I reflect up on the least satisfying periods in my life. I am not trying to bring anyone down, just the opposite; when one learns to accept the life God has given them- even if it is humble one- this lesson from Nikitas Stithatos can be truly liberating...

If you are not called by God to a high status, never tried to attain it through money or human support or by demanding it, even if you know you can help others. For if you do, three things lie in wait for you, and of them one will surely happen: either god's anger in wrath will fall upon you the form of diverse assaults and misfortunes-for not only man part virtually the whole of creation will turn on you, in your life will be full of anguish; or you're an enemies will gain the upper hand and expel you from your position in the disgrace; or you will die before your time, cut off from this present life. - Nikitas Stithatos, The Philokalia, Volume 4, p123.

A perfect reason for me not to blog more often

2010-01-08T22:24:00.000-08:00

An infantile mind is one that entertains feeble conceptions about divine matters, having human ideas about them, which are inappropriate to God's majesty.

- St. Isaac of Nineveh (trans. Sebastian P. Brock, The Wisdom of St. Isaac of Nineveh. Gorgias Press: Piscataway, NJ, 2006.)

Seminole Indian Baptists

2009-12-30T07:43:00.000-08:00

This book gives is a real slice of Oklahoma rural culture and is worth promoting. The Seminole Baptist Churches of Oklahoma is one volume in the The Civilization of the American Indian Series. The book is a result of four years of fieldwork and brings to light an obscure and (sadly) disappearing facet of Oklahoma: that of native churches and their role in maintaining a traditional community. This is a fascinating book. Author Jack Schultz covers everything from traditional architecture, preservation of language, and theology.

Several passages relate to Seminole history during the Civil War era were especially interesting:

Whereas the federal government had virtually abandoned Indian Territory, the Confederates were willing to embrace the Indians. In 1861, a Confederate delegation negotiated a treaty with the Seminoles, promising better treatment than they had received thus far from the federal government. The principle chief, John Jumper, and twelve band mekkos [traditional chiefs] endorsed it. A faction of the tribe, led by Billy Bowlegs and John Chupko, refused to sign, however. They and their followers and almost all of the Seminole freedmen left Seminole territory and went north to Kansas, enduring great harsdship along the way. Once in Kansas, these Seminoles enlisted in the Union Army.

... In the years following the war, denominational boundaries continued to reflect the north-south cleavage. Presbyterian missions appealed to the norther Seminoles, and the Baptists attracted those Seminoles who had supported the Confederacy.

... Whereas the Presbyterians relied on specially trained outside missionaries, the Baptists relied on the more effective strategy of using native preachers. This was particularly true after the Civil War.

(Jack M. Schulz, The Seminole Baptist Churches of Oklahoma, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, 1999. p37-38; 48,49.)

It is interesting how the WBTS provided the foundation for future denominational differences. I spent some time in Oklahoma Indian Country, both socially and professionally. I don't remember ever meeting any Seminoles that were Presbyterian. Most folks living within Native culture that I met were Baptist. I've been told that among the older generation, there are lots of old fellows who are called "medicine man" on Saturday, and then preach at church on Sunday. I love that. Unfortunately, this unique culture is quickly disappearing. Here is a related article at Southern Spaces.

I understand the detachment needed for an enthnographic work; but still, it is peculiar to see how neighbors just down the road- from my perspective- and their families, are studied like exotic specimens.

Speaking of Baptists, the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma elected its first American Indian president, last year the Reverend Emerson Falls (at right).

The Chariot of Fire bears Him in awe yet feeble knees carry Him without getting burnt

2009-12-23T13:15:00.001-08:00

"The Chariot of Fire bears Him in awe yet feeble knees carry Him without getting burnt" - 5th century Syriac, anonymous

Progress and Morality

2009-12-22T23:02:00.000-08:00

I'm starting to dislike the term "social justice", especially as it is applied to St. Basil's homilies. For us who in live in 2009 the phrase comes with enough baggage that it threatens to derail any discussion away from the substantive and toward that of outward forms and activities typically associated with being "progressive". An examination of material progress, as mentioned in earlier posts, would be incomplete without judging its consequences on the human soul. It is no surprise that philosophical discussion in our culture speaks of mankind's potential in purely economic terms or deconstructs our consciousness- all of which divorces man from meaning. Or ignores meaning altogether...

For aeons people lived to the age of just 25 or 30 and most parents could expect to mourn at least one of their children. Today people live to 65 and, in countries such as Japan and Canada, over 80; outside Africa, a child’s death is mercifully rare. Global average income was for centuries about $200 a year; a typical inhabitant of one of the world’s richer countries now earns that much in a day. In the Middle Ages about one in ten Europeans could read; today, with a few exceptions, such as India and parts of Africa, the global rate is comfortably above eight out of ten. In much of the world, ordinary men and women can vote and find work, regardless of their race. In large parts of it they can think and say what they choose. If they fall ill, they will be treated. If they are innocent, they will generally walk free.

The 20th century was seduced by the idea that humans will advance as part of a collective and that the enlightened few have the right—the duty even—to impose progress on the benighted masses whether they choose it or not. The blood of millions and the fall of the Berlin Wall, 20 years ago this year, showed how much the people beg to differ. Coercion will always have its attractions for those able to do the coercing, but, as a source of enlightened progress, the subjugation of the individual in the interests of the community has lost much of its appeal.

Scientific progress needs to be hitched to what you might call “moral progress”. It can yield untold benefits, but only if people use it wisely. They need to understand how to stop science from being abused. And to do that they must look outside science to the way people behave.

It is a similar story with economic growth, the other source of material progress. The 18th century was optimistic that business could bring prosperity; and that prosperity, in its turn, could bring enlightenment. Business has more than lived up to the first half of that promise. As Joseph Schumpeter famously observed, silk stockings were once only for queens, but capitalism has given them to factory girls.

Nor does economic progress broadly defined correspond to human progress any more precisely than does scientific progress. GDP does not measure welfare; and wealth does not equal happiness. Rich countries are, by and large, happier than poor ones; but among developed-world countries, there is only a weak correlation between happiness and GDP. And, although wealth has been soaring over the past half a century, happiness, measured by national surveys, has hardly budged.

That is probably largely because of status-consciousness. It is good to go up in the world, but much less so if everyone around you is going up in it too. Once they have filled their bellies and put a roof over their heads, people want more of what Fred Hirsch, an economist who worked on this newspaper in the 1950s and 1960s, called “positional goods”. Only one person can be the richest tycoon. Not everyone can own a Matisse or a flat in Mayfair. As wealth grows, the competition for such status symbols only becomes more intense.

... people yearn for a sense of moral purpose. In a world preoccupied with consumerism and petty self-interest, that gives life dignity. People want to determine how the world works, not always to be determined by it. It means that people’s behaviour should be shaped not by who is most powerful, or by who stands to lose and gain, but by what is right despite the costs. Moral sensibility is why people will suffer for their beliefs, and why acts of principled self-sacrifice are so powerful.

Excerpted from "Onwards and Upwards: Why is the modern view of progress so impoverished?" The Economist, Dec 17th 2009

More Thoughts on St. Basil and "Social Justice"

2009-12-20T15:54:00.000-08:00

In response to my original post on On Social Justice: St. Basil the Great, Gabriel, who works in trade regulation has recognized what may appear to be a dilemma: If everyone followed the ideals presented by St. Basil, would we ever have achieved modern standards of living? There exists a tension between the pursuit of self-interest and the greater good. In the comments Gabriel points out: "...modern wealth creation--is responsible for the fact that far more people today throughout the world enjoy a radically better standard of living than someone in a comparable social position 50, 100, 1,000, etc. years ago. ...taking a stand against globalized capitalism or even domestic capitalism (though the two now go hand-in-hand) means sacrificing many benefits which have had made qualitative and quantitative improvements to most people's lives."

In order to achieve what we see as a greater good (better health, lower infant mortality, less poverty, clothes, etc) on a global scale, it has taken centuries of capitalism, which- as we all know- requires inequality and naturally creates economic winners and losers (come see the violence inherent in the system!)

On the face of it, it would seem there is a conflict between addressing social justice in our immediate environment and the long-term progress of our free market system. Like Gabriel, I am hesitant to create a false conflict between Saint Basil and capitalism.

First, I believe the overall the benefits of our world's economic system outweigh the negatives. For example women in Bangladesh- the lowest rung that of their social hierarchy- have been given far greater opportunity with the advent of cell phones and access to online micro lending programs. This is far better in my opinion than the grinding poverty that their nation has known.

But our economic progress did not develop without sacrifices borne by some people- and I mean very immoral and unjust sacrifices such as human trafficking, slavery in sweat shops, evictions for the sake of "urban improvement", raising taxes for "economic development" that merely increase the value of an already-wealthy person's property, etc. If everyone in our culture acted with conscience and integrity these kinds of things would not happen, yet we would be without some of the comforts that we now have, and our standard of living might be several decades behind. Most people I know would easily trade a certain amount of "progress" for the sake of a stronger social ethic.

I think everyone can agree that some aspects of our improved standard of living may be no more than indulgence and excess. But how do we determine what "indulgence" and "excess" really mean when our viewpoint is less than objective? We are surrounded by the trees and cannot see the forest, and therefore we may not be the best judges of where the line of "excess" is crossed. And that is why knowing the mind of the Saints and the Fathers (and Mothers) is so important.

As I reflect on the scope of Christian teaching, from the Gospels, to Basil's strong admonitions here, and even to some of the more recent Church Fathers, I've not seen anything that says that it is wrong for someone to be poor. It is perfectly acceptable in the Kingdom of God for there to be poor people (some ministries may disagree). Contrary to the Protestant teaching that enshrined Max Weber, poverty is not an indication of sin, low morals, or lack of faith; nor does increased personal wealth indicate a greater degree of holiness or closeness to God.

The obligation is not to "fight poverty" but rather to give of yourself in order to alleviate someone else's suffering; an ascetic practice on your own part for the benefit of someone less fortunate. After all, your hard-earned wealth and prosperity was given at God's pleasure in the first place.

That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. -Matthew 5:45

Thanks to Gabriel for provoking me to think on this a little more.

On Social Justice: St. Basil the Great

2009-12-07T10:56:00.000-08:00

On Social Justice: St. Basil the Great (Popular Patristics), trans. C. Paul Schroeder, St Vladimirs Seminary Pr (2009).

Another passage exemplifies how little humans have changed. From polytheistic heathen, to Basil, to political activists of today, people find significance in our natural environment:

See, now, how the multitude of our sin has altered the course of the year and changed the character of the seasons, producing these unusual temperatures… What then is the cause of this disorder, this confusion? What brought about this change in the nature of the seasons? (76)

We innately feel a part of our natural world and we know that the choices we make have an impact on the surrounding creation. The parallel to modern debate is obvious but let there be no mistake, conservative Christians see a connection just as much as policy-obsessed liberals. Several years ago Christian commentators and "prophecy experts" were saying that the US gets a tornado every time our government disagrees with an Israeli policy or action. (Why God never sends tornadoes and meteors down on the head of that nut in Iran, they never explained). See here.

In our brief cultural life, American Christians have aligned themselves so dearly with one side of a carnal and temporal political system. Even environmental events are interpreted in such a way as to merely support a predetermined political stance. They have not recognized the true nature of these natural signs. Indeed, this brings to mind Romans 8:22; For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.

For both sides of this false dichotomy of politics, (someone else’s) lifestyle and (someone else’s) politics have environmental consequences. And the solution? Also political.

In contrast, St. Basil teaches that both the consequences and the solution are entirely spiritual. He says:

This is why the fields are arid: because love has dried up.

Acts of conscience and mercy are a part of the natural order in the Kingdom of God. Hristo Mishkov was a successful New York stock broker who left his career to become a monk. In an interview he echoed St. Basil when he called the financial collapse a necessary correction because banks and investment firms "had grown greedy." He said "Many people... in the world do not realise that they have not earned the food they eat, that they take without giving." (article here)

It is on your account that this catastrophe was decreed, because you have but do not give, because you neglected the hungry, because you pay no heed to the plight of the miserable, because you showed no mercy to those who prostrate themselves before you. Evil things come upon the people for the sake of a few; for one person is depravity that people are punished. (p79)

In the modern context, the media sources that most Christians rely on for information don't address social inequality except to blame things on a list of non-Republican groups (Oklahoma made such a list official). A more realistic approach would be to see themselves (ourselves) as contributing members of a dysfunctional American national family. After all, Basil's homilies weren't directed towards policy makers in Constantinople; he was talking specifically to Christians, those standing in his congregation.

Would American Christians be willing to change their ideas of wealth creation in order to conform to the moral standards of the ancient church? In some Christian circles it would be anathema to say that environmental "signs" are a result of the misuse of wealth. Modern Christians may do well to reevaluate this in light of Basil’s words.

"...the feminization that arouses our author's concern is not present in the Orthodox Church"

2009-11-18T16:33:00.000-08:00

Father Mardarios, a former nightclub bouncer, applies his brawn to clearing ground for a garden. "Too many rocks," he grunts, "like my sins."

Despite the highly-spun articles on Christian history, National Geographic also makes available this great photo series from Mt Athos...

By the way, the title of this post is a quote taken from the Von Mises Institute's review of The Church Impotent: The Feminization of Christianity by Leon Podles. It seemed appropriate.

Shaking up the basic premise of Christianity. Here we go again.

2009-11-16T10:10:00.000-08:00

Sometime this week National Geographic will air a documentary called The First Jesus. I don't have cable so I will probably not have the opportunity to see it.

According to National Geographic (NG), analysis of a three-foot-tall stone tablet from the first century B.C. may speak of an early Messiah and his resurrection. But it wasn't Jesus Christ. [insert ominous musical motif here] It was Simon of Peraea, a Messiah who died four years before Christ was born. Did his life serve as the prototype of a Messiah for Jesus and his followers? And could this tablet shake up the basic premise of Christianity? If Dr. Israel Knohl's translation of the "Gabriel stone" is correct, The National Geographic web site goes on to say:

... it would imply that the idea of a Messiah who rises from the dead after three days predates the time of Christ — providing a missing link between Judaism and Christianity, since it suggests Jesus’ death and resurrection were not unique... Dr. Knohl believes that Jesus knew the story of Simon’s death and from it had learned that a Messiah must die to fulfill his destiny.

Keep in mind this show has not aired yet, so the only information we have to go on is the promotional language on the NG website and reactions by scholars. So I can only speak to what has been given publicly thus far. I'm sure NG will attempt to be objective in presenting such a sensational find. But one reason why this show's reliability comes into question is not so much its treatment of the artifact or its translation, but rather its representation of Christianity itself.

Someone unfamiliar with Christianity (or someone who learned about Christianity from The Judas Gospel) would be given the impression that Christianity's entire premise is built on an inherent opposition to Judaism. This is a gross misrepresentation. Yes, Christianity is unique and separate. It and Judaism grew apart very quickly in the early centuries as the rhetorical polemics between them attest to. But I know of no Christian who tries to minimize their faith's Judaic origins or deny the common roots of the two. In fact, it is a point of pride for many.

More specifically, Judaic messianic prophecies and Messiah candidates pre-dating Christ do not pose a problem for Christianity, nor have they ever. In fact, the import of Christianity's foundation was not its "separateness", but its anticipation of a Messiah and the fulfillment of pre-existing prophecies. I admit, as I write this, I am still having difficulty figuring out how NG thinks Knohl's interpretation will "revolutionize and destroy the heart of Christian belief", as April DeConick says. (One might get the impression that NG will make any interesting find, translation, or text do the job, regardless of its relevence: Newly Discovered Text Shakes Christianity to its Core: Jesus Wore Greek-style Sandal, not Syrian!!!)

In Jewish Messianism and the Cult of Christ, William Horbury (Cambridge) shows that Messianic beliefs were a central and powerful theme that extended through Jewish history into the second temple period. Christianity's core belief concerning the personhood and role of Christ (as opposed to other messiah candidates) was an organic outgrowth of these Judaic messianic expectations. The messianic language found in the Old Testament, Targums, and deutero-canonical books profoundly influenced early Christianity. In other words, Christianity sees its own belief as the acceptance of Judaism's messianic tradition. If Simon of Peraea had been widely accepted as the one Messiah, then NG and others would today simply point to Jesus of Nazareth as the smoking gun. Of course there were other "messiahs" running around Judea. We knew that.

This being said, NG's promotional language will leave even the most unread Christians scratching their heads in confusion. More likely this documentary will "shake up the basic premise" of NG's own reliability. My favorite response is from Mike Heiser, Ph.D, who says

So, let me see if I understand your claim, NG. The fact that there is an earlier reference to a third day resurrection undermines Christian theology . . . when that same idea is in the Old Testament . . . which is the Jewish Bible . . . and Christianity came out of Judaism . . . huh? What dopes.

April DeConick, Professor of Biblical Studies at Rice University, is an expert on gnostic writing and by no means a defender of traditional Christian beliefs. It is on her blog that we find an initial reaction to the documentary here and more importantly it is here we find a letter written by Israel Knohl himself, the professor whose research National Geographic uses for its documentary:

I have not seen yet the NG film, but if this is indeed what they say, it is ridiculous. In my view, my reading and interpretation of the inscription supports the historicity of the Gospels story about Jesus predictions of his death and resurrection rather than 'destroy the heart of Christianity'. (Emphasis mine. Read Israel Knohl's response in context here.

I feel the larger issue at hand, and the more important lesson to be learned, is the use of mass media to frame an issue in order to push public dialogue and public attitudes in a desired direction. Whoever influences the interpretation of history (American Civil War history by the left, and Middle Eastern history by the religious right come to mind) will have the upper hand in influencing modern politics, maybe even ethics. Professor DeConick writes:

One of the things I have been trying to communicate on this blog is that the media spins us and we need to be concerned about it. The media is taking our work and spinning it to whatever sensation the media thinks will sell... My real concern is that all these "new" finds and the scholars working on them are going to appear sillier and sillier, and what could be very significant to our understanding of the history and formation of Judaism and Christianity will be further marginalized and neglected by other scholars and the broader public who have become confused and numbed.

If you see a "documentary" that claims things like "it will revolutionize Christianity", etc., beware. New finds usually don't overturn established religions...

Archaic Christianity podcast

2009-11-05T10:01:00.000-08:00

"Its obviously not written by Polycarp. Because very few of the church fathers wrote the memoir of the own martyrdom."

"Moses did."

"Moses did, but he was not one of the Apostolic Fathers"

"That's a good point."

Eric Sowell and Ragan Ewing, graduates of Dallas Theological Seminary, have a Church history podcast on the "Archaic Christianity" website. Their most recent one covers these topics:

- the 2nd century book "Martyrdom of Polycarp"
- Paul refers to Jesus by the divine covenent name, the Tetragrammaton, YHWH
- The Greek Septuagint was the Bible of the early Church, the text was very different from the Hebrew text
- Current publications on the "Wisdom Christology" of the early Church.

Funny and informative. Find it, and a suggested reading list here...

http://www.archaicchristianity.com/Podcast/

Dipomat resigns- same story, different administration

2009-10-28T20:45:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, we saw scores of resignations such as this under the Bush administration when many left diplomatic service in the years surrounding the invasion of Iraq. Years of intelligence gathering were compromised in order install politically loyal bureaucrats in the CIA and State Department. (But as a conservative I am supposed to pretend the Grand Army of Republican heroes was "shaking up" the troglodyte bureaucrats and saving the day.)

The Ochlophobist posted some comments about Matthew Hoh's letter (included below). It is a delight that someone has commented on the resignation from from a literary point of view rather than the mundane political.

I've known foreign service officers, both economic and political. From my limited experiences I wouldn't suppose Hoh would be a man of particular intellectual prowess in his environment. In my world where classical discussions are few and far between, yes he would be a unique character. But I have been impressed and humbled by the capable people in the foreign service we often dismiss as mere bureaucrats.

As the US sends its best and brightest to those places such as Afghanistan where our security interests are most critical, I daresay Hoh's classical reference isn't lost on his intended audience. His colleagues- regardless of political sway- are equally as intelligent as he. Yet they are all captive to the same constraint Hoh speaks of: "guidance and intent shaped more by the political climate in Washington." Indeed, their job is often complicated by senators pretending to be on "fact finding missions." (For more insight into how national security and foreign policy can be adversely affected by party politics, I recommend Imperial Hubris by Michael Scheuer. Good for realists, not good for loyalists. Or Inside the CIA by Ronald Kessler)

Hoh and his colleagues are just as adept at history, language, international relations theory, or any topic of your choice. If they do not have a classical education, they certainly have the capacity to make up for it in their spare time. Such is their talent. In contrast, I cannot remember why I walked into my kitchen.

Thanks to Ochlophobist for initially posting Hoh's letter. It can be read below.

Matthew Hoh Resignation Letter -

My Story of Bono Fatigue. A rant.

2009-10-26T21:06:00.000-07:00

My divorce from U2 came a long time ago.

I became the devoted fan after Under A Blood Red Sky was released (1984-ish). U2 was very much "crescendo" rock and from the perspective of a young person they had something important to say. This held true even after Brian Eno pushed them away from sloganeering and into a more artistic direction. Man, I'll never forget the video for "Pride". Powerful stuff.

I was hardcore until Joshua Tree. Joshua Tree made two unfortunate things apparent: U2's concept of "song" had become one of "marketable commodity"; and secondly, instead of looking like four Dublin guys playing their hearts out, they had been transformed into a poster-ready and manicured image.

Since then? It's as if every song from Achtung Baby to now were written, played and produced at the same time. And with the same guy off the side saying he needs more cowbell. The band I knew and loved is gone. It was perturbing, but I understand- they are artists. Their music is their music, not mine. They can do with it what they want.

Still, think about your youth, think about the things that were cool, and the things that inspired you. Now consider this: U2's opening act in 2009 was the Black Eyed Peas. I can see how a fan of Britney or Kid Rock would think nothing if it. Let me say it this way:

The band that played "Sunday Bloody Sunday" is now touring with the same group that sings "My Humps".

If you were a U2 fan in the 80s you probably also listened to the Smiths, The Alarm, Cure, Modern English, Midnight Oil,... etc. If this was you in the 80s but in 2009 you feel no incongruity with a mega-Bono touring with Black Eye-Peas, here is my question: What HAPPENED to you???

If I cannot see their faces when I am there, its not music to me. Its just a great big TV show. I am not impressed with lots of lights and I am certainly not going to pay money to watch other people fawn at a pop-star several acres away. U2 admittedly knows the irony but the money is good, the adoration is sweet heroine to the ego, so the idea of "music" has faded into the background and they intend to ride this pop-image-god-horse as hard and as long as they can.

Whatever was pure and noble about U2 has been sold. The music isn't great anymore. Its not majestic. They are admittedly playing mere pop music and nothing else. U2 is about an arena show. Real music on the other hand is Tall Cotton String Band, music is my grandfather playing banjo in his den. Music is BuffaloFitz. Music is Lisa Curl. Music is Stephanie Jackson. Music is the house band at BB King's in Nashville.

I heard a news blurb on the radio that Bono was invited to visit the International Space Station. (I can't find the story after googling, else I would link it). I panicked."NO!" I screamed in my head. That's he last thing this man needs. Just when I thought his stage/altar couldn't get any larger, now they want exalt him to the heavens.

While writing this I was looking for images online and ran across a blog entry by Scott Herold, CEO of Rock the Cause. I was amazed at how his recollections mirror those you see here.

Paul and Dave (its about time we started calling them by their real names) visited NASA and spoke live to the cosmonauts aboard the ISS. From U2.com:

The ISS astronauts spoke of what they could see from space, and mentioned that recently he'd photographed the pyramids.

Did the Edge ask about visible changes in the forests of the Amazon basin? Did Bono ask about viewing the massive pollution in lakes of the CIS countries? No, the report continues...

At which time Edge jumped in "what about the U2 production - can you see that?"

I rest my case. Bono's head is already so big he can barely walk. If he were to go into space, we'll never hear the end of the global fawning. We may as well start building the open air cathedral from which we can worship his glowing visage projected onto electrically charged layers of the stratosphere, or worse- the moon.

Yet the more I thought about it, I liked the idea of shooting Bono off into space.

Secular Right on "the Early Republic"

2009-10-26T10:34:00.000-07:00

from the Secular Right blog, a few thoughts on his reading of Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789-1815 ...

Around 1850 the South was an export driven economy based on trade, in particular with Great Britain. By this time New England the whole Northeast had shifted toward a more diversified economy, and native manufacturers militated for the tariffs which their forebears would have scoffed at. Additionally, around 1800 New England was the redoubt of orthodox Christianity. The South was the domain of more easy-going religion, and outright heterodoxy among its social & political elites. Finally, one of the most interesting things to note is that it was in the Southern states that Francophilia during the period of the French Revolution was strongest!

This sounds like good reading. If I were not in the middle of some other reading at the moment, I would look at this book with great interest.

Real Country Music- Hoots and Hellmouth

2009-10-19T10:48:00.000-07:00

The funniest thing about country music is how male singers are photographed. They have a cowboy hat hiding as much of their face as possible, except for one eye, as if they just noticed you and looked up from their earnest, hardbitten thoughts.

The least funny things about country music is how this image is now the substance of it all with so little variation in the music itself. Some songs are just written around a catchy phrase that ends up being the chorus. "Country" is an image that anyone can appropriate for themselves. You just have an attitude and talk with an accent (exaggerating it is welcome too).

If this vexes you as it does me, then you will enjoy these videos. To see all of them, click on the "real country music" label at the bottom of this post. Warning: this isn't the country that is played on the radio. But it IS the country your grandparents listened to. This is the real deal and I am proud to see all these young folks keepin the real stuff alive. No tuff, squinty-eyed image, just people playing their hearts out...

The Trial of the Century

2009-10-18T20:54:00.000-07:00

Amelia Buck (my Great Grandmother) had a sister named Margaret Ann “Maggie” Graham. She lived in Hilton Village, Virginia with her husband, Walter Christian Graham. Maggie was co-founder of the Hilton Village Women’s Christian Temperance Union, a member of the Daughters of the Revolution, and a member of the Daughters of the Confederacy.

In September, 1931 their daughter, Jenny Kane, came to Hilton Village for a visit with her husband. Jenny was married to Dr. Elisha Kent Kane III, a professor at Tennessee University. On September 11, the family went to Grandview beach for a swim and a picnic. Tragically, Jenny drowned during the excursion under circumstances the family considered suspicious. Dr. Kane was a strong swimmer and should have been able to pull his wife to shore with ease. Rather than carrying her directly to the car, Dr. Kane left Jenny on the sand. He then walked to his car and drove it back to where Jenny lay. Jenny’s parents felt Dr. Kane intentionally wasted valuable time. Kane drove Jenny to Dixie Hospital where she was pronounced dead.

Two hours after her funeral, Dr. Kane was arrested for murder. Because of his position at the university and because of his prominent northern family, the ensuing trial was followed by newspapers all along the east coast. Some even called it the “trial of the century”. Jenny’s mother and father testified for the prosecution during which they complained of Dr. Kane’s impious lifestyle:

“Allegations of profanity made by relatives of Mrs. Kane caused him to leap from his chair and rush to judge Spratley’s bench and shout denials” (Daily Press, Dec. 12, 1931).

Dr. Kane was acquitted for lack of strong evidence. His reputation as a “wife killer” followed him for the rest of his life (this was how he was remembered in my family). He eventually resigned his professorship.

Just a few months later in January of 1932, Dr. Kane’s 70 year old father, surgeon Evan O'Neill Kane, performed a hernia operation on himself (see creepy photo). Time magazine records that “He chatted and joked with the nurses as he cut, sponged and sutured for 1 hr. 45 min.” This was not a unique event, however. Several years prior (in 1921), Dr. Evan Kane removed his own appendix and thus became the first surgeon in history to operate on himself.

According to Wikipedia, Dr. Kane was the son of Civil War Major General Thomas L. Kane, founder of Kane, Pennsylvania and a prominent abolitionist. Wikipedia also mentions the trial above in this article.

Sources:
- The Good Old Days in Hampton and Newport News by Parke Rouse, Jr.
- Down by the Back River Light by Ann Davis, Morgan James Publishing, Garden City, NY.
- “Country Surgeon”, Time Magazine, Monday, Jan. 18, 1932
(http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,742943,00.html)

New Metropolitan of Tripoli: Archimandrite Ephrem Kyriakos

2009-10-06T09:24:00.000-07:00

In July of 2009 His Eminence Archbishop Elias Kurban fell asleep in the Lord. He was beloved by the people as a true shepherd and was renowned for his beautiful chanting. He was affectionately called "The Nightingale of Antioch".

I was notified this morning that the Holy Synod of Antioch has elected Archimandrite Ephrem Kyriakos as the new Metropolitan Archbishop of Tripoli, Koura and Dependences. I look forward to seeing more news of this.

Abouna Ephrem Kyriakos is Abbot of Holy Archangel Michael Monastery in Baskinta, Lebanon. Although trained as an engineer Ephrem entered the field of theology at Balamand University in the 1960s and continued at the Theological Academy of Thessaloniki, Greece. He entered the monastic life at Athos and was tonsured by the hand of Elder Parthenios of Saint Paul's Monastery.

After the Lebanese civil war he returned to Lebanon at the request of Antioch's Patriarch and reopened the Saint John of Damascus Institute of Theology. In the 1980s Father Ephraim founded the Holy Archangel Michael Monastery in Baskinta. He has served there ever since with several monks under his spiritual direction. A more complete biography can be found here.

Thanks to Amanda Yazbek and to Fr. Mark Arsenios Wyatt for this information
Photos by Ghattas Azzam

Real Country Music. Not just for white folks- Carolina Chocolate Drops

2009-09-20T10:52:00.000-07:00

Not just for white folks- Carolina Chocolate Drops

Real Country Music- Hank Williams III

2009-09-19T10:55:00.000-07:00

Your one-eye hat coverin', wife beater wearin' CD cover cowboy doesn't have this much 'tude. Or testosterone. This is honkey tonk with a vengeance. Hank Williams III sings "Pop country really sucks" (language warning)...

We play both kinds of music; country AND western!

2009-09-19T10:54:00.001-07:00

Real Western Music- Riders In The Sky

Real Country Music- Southbound Mule

2009-09-19T10:54:00.000-07:00

Real Country Music- Tall Cotton String Band

2009-09-19T10:53:00.000-07:00

Real Country Music- Buffalofitz

2009-09-19T10:51:00.000-07:00

Real Country Music- Lester Flatt

2009-09-18T10:56:00.000-07:00

Now this gives me goosebumps. Like a lot of mountain people my grandparents moved to Tadwawtah, Vuhginyuh (Tidewater, Virginia) for jobs. This is the music they brought with them and played in their home. I am thankful I have a brother who plays some banjo and has returned to the mountains, and a cousin who plays Chet Atkins-style steel guitar. They keep this family legacy alive.

Mary Travers

2009-09-17T07:48:00.000-07:00

Mary Travers is no longer with us. Read the touching comments by her long-time bandmates.

In the Spring of 2001 my wife was still teaching dance classes even though she was about six months pregnant. We had a first name picked out for the baby (Zoe) but we were having trouble deciding on the middle name we wanted.

One evening at the dance studio, my wife was sitting on a bench during a break. Next to her was a woman she had never seen at the studio before. The woman was a close friend of the dance studio’s founder and was in town visiting. They began chatting and my wife learned that the lady had traveled extensively as a folk singer. But they talked mostly about our coming baby and soon were on the topic of middle names. My wife told her the names we were considering and the lady said, “It has to be Elizabeth.”

Later that evening my wife called me at home. She told me a middle name for our baby had been picked by somebody she just met. "Who picked it out?" I asked. She asked if I had ever heard of a group called Peter, Paul and Mary, because the lady who helped her decide Zoe's middle name was "Mary". I almost fell out of my chair. While I was at home in front of the tube, my wife had been hanging out with Mary Travers .

The Last Anchorite

2009-09-04T15:59:00.000-07:00

Seeing Through the Murkiness of Politics

2009-08-31T12:49:00.001-07:00

I do not watch political discussion on TV. Rarely do I listen to it on the radio. The reason is that they seek to influence you with carefully chosen phrases and buzzwords. If they can get you enraged, they have you in their pocket. I've found that if I spend time reading something over, then I can think it through on my own. I don't look for "balanced" because that implies finding a middle ground between two eternal sides. But the "two sides" are manufactured and based largely on hype. Rather, I look for practicality, detail, and a historical view. Here is a list of some political outlets I've come across that I think are well reasoned, and more valuable than what we have on radio or TV. As long as you are aware beforehand where they sit on the spectrum, these can be profitable reading...

Policy Review: Conservative leaning. Domestic Topics. High profile Conservative writers.

New Republic: Somewhat liberal on domestic. Practical on international. Less academic.

National Review: Pro-Republican. Less academic.

Mother Jones: Liberal. Journalistic.

The Atlantic: Non-partisan. Literary. Less academic.

The American Spectator: Very Conservative. Pro-Republican.

The Nation: Northern Liberal.

The Southern Partisan: Southern Paleo-Conservative. Less academic.

ImPrimis: Conservative. Theoretical/academic but brief.

The Intercollegiate Review: Conservative. Literary. Theoretical/academic.

International

Wilson Quarterly: International focus. Non-partisan. Covers many points of view. Theoretical/academic.

Foreign Affairs: International focus. Non-partisan but "statist", Conservative leaning. High profile writers. Theoretical/academic.

Foreign Policy: International focus. Non-partisan. Covers many points of view. Journalistic.

Financial Times: International focus. Business news. Journalistic.

The Economist: International focus. Free market. Journalistic + academic. My all time favorite. Read this and you will be be prepared to discuss most int'l issues.

Note to self

2009-08-28T06:08:00.000-07:00

Write my "journey to Orthodoxy" in the style of H.P. Lovecraft.

Archdiocese convention & ancient manuscripts

2009-08-13T09:20:00.000-07:00

Copy of John Climacus auctioned off by Sotheby's. If you are interested in seeing how much it sold for, see the following link

http://www.sothebys.com/app/live/lot/LotDetail.jsp?lot_id=159541485

There was somewhat of a controversy concerning this auction, because this ancient manuscript is a treasure of Christian history. It is also an Antiochian treasure. The manuscript is a combination of Greek, Syriac, and Palestinian Aramaic, indicating that the copying may have been done within the Antiochian Patriarchate before it was taken to Mt. Sinai for safe keeping during time of war. Now that it has been sold, scholars and clergy fear it will be cut up and the individual leaves re-sold.

I seriously considered sending an email to key people within our Archdiocese with the hope it might generate enough interest to rescue this piece of Antioch's legacy. Do you think the funds exist in our Archdiocese? Just maybe?

However the auction took place during our Archdiocese convention, you know, the one at a Palm Springs resort. You can imagine the overwhelming lack of response I would have received.

So I decided to forget about it. Sending an email about this historic opportunity, and then seeing it ignored would have been far more depressing. I was wrong- I should have done something.

People, we missed an opportunity. The convention issues, and its tabloid reporting, were enough of an emergency that nothing else mattered for a week. Yes- tempers flared, there was weeping and gnashing of teeth. Convention goers endured great emotional pain... all in a resort hotel. I'm sure our Serbian brothers sympathize with our hardships.

But even if someone's attention could have been pried away for a few minutes, would they have understood the import of this? Anyone with a college education will notice that Antioch's greatest contributions to the world are found in Protestant universities, the Vatican library, and even in Maronite praxis. With so much lost during the Moslem and Ottoman invasions, we had the rare opportunity to regain something and bring home a manuscript from the early Church, written by our Antiochian ancestors. All this for the price of a few cars from an Antiochian parking lot.

I know, I know... we can't expect the average parishioner to keep up with obscure manuscripts. But maybe if we spent less time making websites and letting celebrities autograph our holy books, and MORE time teaching Arabic prayers, knowing the Church Fathers, and MORE time establishing a monastic presence, we would retain more treasures and retain more parishioners.

In the 1800s and early 1900s, there were understandable and tragic reasons why Orthodox Antioch lost manuscripts, why its clergy was uneducated, and why its parishioners left for other jurisdictions and demoninations. Now the situation is reversed and we have no excuse.

Many Syrian and Lebanese Orthodox not only recovered from the Ottoman yolk but went on to achieve great success in America. We are blessed that our Archdiocese maintains this resourcefulness. We have highly educated and intelligent parishioners. Yet surpassing all this is our boundless and idiosyncratic enthusiasm. We should channel these attributes toward things more foundational. In the style of the Ochlophobist: No. More. Golf. Scrambles.

There are other things we need: Build a monastery in the Midwest; recover our Syriac and Aramaic heritage; rescue manuscripts from auctions; don't teach conversational Arabic- teach us to chant and pray in Arabic instead; liturgical fullness and standardization (both Byzantine and Liturgy of St. James);...

Let us put our hand to the plow.

More on the manuscript drama here...

Things on the web you should think are interesting

2009-07-31T17:36:00.000-07:00

Things I've seen around the web that i think are really interesting. I think you should think they are interesting too.

The new Gorgias catalog is out. Chock full of Aramaic and early Christian goodness. As The Talmud Blog says:

In case you've been living in an inky dark cave somewhere in Central Asia or are simply engrossed in other less interesting things, over the last few, Gorgias has been publishing and reissuing a truckload of Syriac and Eastern Christian works...

Download the PDF catalog here

My new favorite blog- Notes on Arab Orthodoxy. What we have been thirsting for- Antiochian monastic writing and discussion. About time! More on this later.

(this cool graphic is from someone's flickr photoset)

E. P. Sanders is kind of a famous scholars (at least among other scholars) whose views have shaped and refocused debate on the topics of Jesus, the Gospels, and Second Temple Judaism. Like many scholars, he has distinguish himself by "redefining" something. (Maybe one day academics can again be famous for "knowing" and "teaching" something). Sanders's work has been honored with two books, Common Judaism and Redefining First Century Jewish and Christian Identities; both collections of essays by his colleagues; festschrifts, if you will. Duke has released this video to mark the event...

Surprised by Christ: My Journey from Judaism to Orthodox Christianity

2009-07-20T20:09:00.000-07:00

Bernstein, A. James. Surprised by Christ: My Journey from Judaism to Orthodox Christianity. Conciliar Press, 2008. (337pp)

At the outset I need to say I enjoyed Surprised by Christ. As someone who has read his fair share of 'journey' books, this one was different and I had been looking forward to reading it for a long time. The obvious attraction is Fr. Bernstein's unique story: Born into a conservative Jewish family, Arnold Bernstein accepted the idea that Christ was the Messiah in his mid-teens. Most of his experience was within evangelical Christianity (he was one of the first Jews for Jesus members) until he discovered Orthodox Christianity. Not only did he find the ancient Church, but he found far more and far deeper parallels with Orthodox Judaism than he expected. He has since become an Orthodox priest.

Of all the personalities in the book, his brother Solomon made an impression on me. Sol was mentioned only a few times, but it was apparent that while the rest of the family dealt negatively with Fr. James's conversion, Sol seemed to re-appear at important life events. Knowing how much it means to have a brother you can trust, I was touched by the references Sol.

I found it intriguing that Bernstein cited specific rabbis and their writings (p. 66). This was wonderful, especially as I’ve just finished reading a couple of other books on Judaism. I don't know how much discussion of Judaism I was expecting, but I was left wanting more. As I read his journey, it occurred to me that regardless of his upbringing, the core of his journey is still essentially from an evangelical Christian point of view. Yes, his father was trained as an Orthodox Hasidic rabbi, yet I wondered- if his father fell from faith after the Holocaust, then to what extent was James raised in an Orthodox Jewish home? I understand there is a complex relationship between faith, Jewish culture, and practice but I do not understand enough to answer. The question is not a critique of the book, it is genuine curiosity.

It was interesting to see names of famous evangelicals (some now Orthodox) peppered through the book. I learned that Bernstein's connection to the Evangelical Orthodox Church had waned over the years and unlike the others, he felt more comfortable coming into the Church as a layperson rather than as a priest.

One of my favorite sections was his description of the Jewish-Christian migration to Nasariyah after the destruction of the Temple (Chapter 13- What became of the Apostolic Jewish Christian Church?). This is a topic I would like to pursue in greater detail, but what sources did he consult that brought him to his conclusion? Is this migration a well accepted view by historians? Which ones? This section historically fleshed out would be a very compelling work of its own.

One thing he does not mention however is that many of the Syriac speaking communities in that region were isolated to such an extent that they were not involved in the politics of the Great Schism, nor did they feel it necessary since they cared little for affairs beyond their local archbishop. Only afterwards was the issue of affiliation forced upon them. Having to choose between Rome and the Eastern Churches, this isolated community chose Rome. So of the original Syriac-speaking Jewish Christian communities in the Antiochene jurisdiction, the only one that retains a distinct Syriac identity are these, the Maronites.

Wait a minute. You may ask: I see Greek and I see Arabic, but what of Orthodox Antioch's Syriac heritage? Is there anything left? Barely. One hundred years ago, translation and publication of Syriac works were almost exclusively the domain of the Russian Church, not Antioch. Today, there is only one Antiochian monk that I can find pursuing historical Syriac studies. So the linguistic expertise barely exists. In addition, one of Antioch's great treasures- the Codex Climaci Rescriptus (formerly kept at St. Catherine's monastery) is being auctioned off by Sothebys.

If someone were seeking the original Church and they asked: "Does anyone still speak the language of Jesus Himself?" their options would include the non-Chalcedonian churches, the Roman Catholic Maronites, or a variety of new age and syncretist books. Then there's us! Antioch has no idea how to read Jesus's words in His own language, but we're still the original church!

So who among the Antiochian clergy or wealthy are going to spring into action to save the Codex Climaci Rescriptus? Who among them will assist Father Elia's syriac documentation project? In case you hadn't noticed, our wealthiest and our highest ranking are too busy with more important things, such as control issues and resort hotels. Sorry Jesus, your mother tongue going extinct and all. I digress...

In the last third of the book the journey aspect diminishes and Bernstein concentrates on salvation, hell, and the character of God. I was pleased to see his references to where these concepts are found in the liturgy. I was impressed with the room he devoted to the topic of salvation. He covers the western approaches to salvation but at times I felt he almost oversimplified or maybe even stereotyped evangelical attitudes. Still, his contrasts are given in painstaking detail (I would liked to have seen more endnotes here too). The theological discussion in this book is of a greater depth and length than one usually finds in "journey" books.

I felt this book was better than most journey stories, however its quality lay not in the pages but in the book's potential. If anyone from Conciliar Press is listening in, this book needs to be the catalyst for more works on Judaism and Orthodox Christianity.

I could not help but think that the next natural step should be a work focused solely on the parallel roots of Orthodox Christianity and Judaism. Fr. Alexander Golitzin at Marquette University (Milwaukee) writes in a related vein although his emphasis is more on Old Testament imagery and mysticism, and his style is not accessible to most non-academics. Beyond Golitzin’s work, I feel we definitely need a comparative work spearheaded by Orthodox Christians priests or scholars of Jewish heritage- perhaps a collection of essays or a single collaborative work drawing on rabbinic literature. Topics could cover

the Church as Messianic temple Judaism (did Sadducees really "disappear" or did they continue on in Christianity?)
compare and contrast salvation in Church Fathers with rabbinic authors
remnants of temple /synagogue ritual in Eastern and Oriental Orthodox liturgy

As I am not a scholar, I’m sure the list could be endless. A book such as this would be an important step in showing 1) that the Orthodox Church retains and values the memory of its Jewish heritage, and 2) that those of Jewish heritage have a respected voice within the Church.

I feel that in the near future, journey stories will not be as central as we have made them, although they are a source of encouragement for me. I don't believe they will have the communicative power to an upcoming generation raised on Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins. We are going to need strong academic books.

A new look at Syriac scripts?

2009-07-20T12:42:00.000-07:00

Research on the relationship between church and script...

For many decades the different types of Syriac script remained classified and named by western scholars along the lines of the different oriental churches, such as the Nestorian, Chaldean and Melkite. This strict church-oriented classification of Syriac, a script widespread in the ancient near east and Asia, has been successfully refuted by Ms. Ayda Kaplan, herself of Assyrian/Syriac origin and a member of the Assyrian/Syriac community in Belgium.

Nahro Beth-Kinne, producer of the Assyrian/Syriac Voice radio program in Brussels, commented: "This is certainly historic. To the best of my knowledge, Ayda is the first person of Assyrian/Syriac origin to indulge in this field since Bar Hebraus, the renowned 13th century scholar and church leader."

Colette Sirat, renowned researcher on Hebrew palaeography from the Sorbonne University, argued Kaplans' new method will facilitate palaeography studies for other scripts, such as Hebrew, Arabic, Armenian and Coptic as well as many other languages. "I managed to refute the church-oriented classification because I was able to prove the shared use of the Monumental semi-courant script among several oriental churches," explains Dr. Ayda Kaplan.

Read the full article here.

The Rebel Yell... with a twist

2009-07-07T19:29:00.000-07:00

Priceless Manuscript now has price- Dan Brown to the Rescue?

2009-06-30T16:11:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Steve Caruso, of Aramaic Designs, who first brought this to my attention...

Westminster College in Cambridge, England (but not OF Cambridge University) is in need of renovations. This is an expensive endeavor of course, but rather than making an appeal to their founding organization, the United Reformed Church, they've come upon a creative financial tool: auctioning off the Codex Climaci Rescriptus with the help of Sotheby's. Read the article here.

Notice the reference to Dan Brown. It is depressing that on the topic of Christian history, conspiracy fiction is the first reference that comes to mind. (It's not really Dan Brown's fault, my previous denominations unwittingly paved the way for Brown and built demand by preaching from the genre for years).

This "Codex" is a 6th century document and is an important manuscript witness to the Greek text of the Gospels. It includes the Palestinian Aramaic Old and New Testament and a Syriac copy of writings by St. John Climacus, one of the most important spiritual authors in the Eastern Orthodox Church. It is thought the Syriac translation here was copied directly from the saint's autograph manuscript. The original home of the Codex was St. Catherine's monastery at Mt. Sinai. This isn't the first important Christian work to disappear from St. Catherine's under dubious circumstances.

The more ancient Christianity's heritage is lost, the more people will turn by default to such authors as Dan Brown, as this Forbes article has done like a well crafted object lesson.

Scholars have not only weighed in on the topic at Yahoo's Syriac discussion group, but are actively lobbying the powers that be. The discussion group is usually not a busy one, but the Sotheby's auction has prompted a flurry of responses from noted scholars such as Dr Robert Hiebert, Director of Trinity Western University's Septuagint Institute; Dr Alison Salvesen, Oxford University, and George Kiraz. Comments include:

"If the reference below is to Dan Brown of The Da Vinci Code etc., God help us all. ... I would echo the sentiments/wishes of others that the Codex remain in Cambridge or, failing that, that it find its way to another reputable academic institution. "

"It is indeed regrettable that this auction should be contemplated for a number of reasons... The Taylor-Schechter Genizah collection (housed in the Cambridge University Library nearby) was donated by the Jewish community in Old Fustat to the University Library, Cambridge at the end of the nineteenth century, but some stringent conditions were attached. "

"Rather shocking to see that Westminster College, a college associated to the University of Cambridge, is canibalizing its library in such a way. I would think that they owe it to their benefactors, the sisters Lewis and Gibson, to take care properly of what has been entrusted to them. ...surely there are other means to get money for a renovation project... ...Now it is possible that it will be bought by a decent institution, but it is equally well thinkable that some rich guy buys it as a nice piece of decoration or simply as an investment. In other words: access to this codex is no longer guaranteed. I think biblical scholars as well as specialists in Aramaic and Syriac should not hesitate to voice their concern over this sale... "

"I too encourage everyone on the Hugoye list to write a statement to Westminster College following Bas’s suggestion. (I just wrote one myself.) "

I suppose you have to weigh the possible outcomes: Insure that future scholars can have access to a document confirming the continuity of traditional Christianity (bad for modern culture), OR open the possibility for a bored rich person to frame a leaf or two, hang them on the wall in order that they can be seen by guests at cocktail parties.

The Sotheby's catalog entry can be found here. More information can be found on these blogs:
PaleoJudaica.com,
The Aramaic Blog,
Evangelical Textual Criticism.

Jewish Messianism and the Cult of Christ

2009-06-23T23:32:00.000-07:00

I haven't had the wherewithal to write book reviews lately. But since one of my favorite bloggers Kevin Edgecomb requested that I post on Horbury's Jewish Messianism and since I finished the book just today, I'll offer a summary and few thoughts in order to wet your appetite.

To Elizabeth, I started Surprised by Christ today and it is a welcome break from the heavier reading I've been doing lately. Since there haven't been enough conversion stories published I'd be happy to give an overview of this one. But seriously, in the midst of so many, this 'journey' is not only from a fascinatingly different perspective, but it offers potential spiritual and theological insights difficult to find anywhere else. Berstein's book is entirely anecdotal but it includes his memories of growing up in the mult-ethnic neighborhoods of Brooklyn and Queens in the 1940s. I love reading about that era of New York. It is the New York of the Chrysler building, Gershwin (don't quibble about dates), and Jewish neighborhoods that are now Pakistani. Does Bernstein touch on the continuity between Orthodox Judaism and Orthodox Christianity? Yes he does. How deep does he get? I don't know, I'll tell you after I read it.

I look forward to posting on this book because Fr. Bernstein recently spoke at my parish and the memories are still fresh. Anyhow, what follows is an overview of...

Jewish Messianism and the Cult of Christ (Paperback) by William Horbury, SCM Press (1998).

Several years ago I wrote a few articles for a local art/music magazine. They refused, however, to carry my brilliant critique of the Christian "prophecy industrial complex." It was a little too academic for the audience, the editors told me, but more importantly it was about religion. Even though it was a critique, they didn't want to get near the topic. A few months later they printed an article by a local (and probably connected) scene-ster and "arbiter of cool" who declared that Jesus never existed and it was a commonly accepted fact among experts that the Son of God was an invented carry-over from other popular pagan myths.

If that kind of academically marginal and self-perpetuating sentiment grates on your nerves as it does mine, then you will like Jewish Messianism and the Cult of Christ. (And I hope you forward this to lots of people because this review is my meager revenge for the duplicity shown by the aforementioned art/music magazine).

Jewish Messianism does not set out to prove the historicity of Christ but it helps serve the purpose of establishing Christianity's core belief (concerning the personhood and role of Christ) as an organic outgrowth of Judaic messianic expectations.

First, author William Horbury (Professor of Jewish and Early Christian Studies at Cambridge, by the way) reviews the history and hymnological language of messianism throughout the Old Testament, Targums, and deuterocanonical books, and demonstrates its significance to Judaism throughout the centuries. Messianic beliefs weren't the domain of fringe Jewish extremists or oblique enclaves, they were a central and powerful theme that extended through Jewish history into the second temple period.

Here a case is offered for a different set of answers: namely,. that messianism grew up in Old Testament times; the Old testament books, especially in their edited and collected form, offered what were understood in the post-exilic age and after as a series of messianic prophecies; and this series formed the heart of a coherent set of expectations, which profoundly influenced ancient Judaism ad early Christianity. (p6)

Horbury then demonstrates how Christian hymns and apologetic works from the first and second centuries address Christ with the same messianic language. The person of Christ and His role as messiah had parallels in the gentile "ruler-cults", however they developed entirely from within the Jewish context. In addition, the exaltation of Christ as messianic king and "Son of God" was not the result of a Church disconnected from its beginnings or desperate for a mythos to co-opt. As Horbury says,

Recognition of Christ as messianic king, beginning in the period of the ministry and becoming pervasive in the earliest Christian communities, led directly to the scenes of acclamation ad obeisance, the hymns and the rites preserved in the New Testament. (p150)

Emphasis mine. "Jesus the Son of God" was not a simple rabbi whose memory was inflated by the tall tales of later generations. Just the opposite, Christ was thought to be profoundly different from other men and was considered Messiah even while He lived.

Just to clarify, this isn't a book one would use to debunk the "Christ as pagan myth" view. But as I read, it struck me that it would nonetheless serve as a strong resource among others. When it comes to the history of Judaic messianic and its relation to Christianity, this book stands on its own.

Jesus! I’m turning into a Jew!

2009-06-22T13:25:00.000-07:00

In regards to my last post, I thought I should clarify that I'm not converting to Judaism. Nor am I of Jewish descent. Due to the fact that much of my reading of late has touched on Jewish spirituality, I can see how someone might get the wrong impression. So don't worry, it only appears I am turning Jewish.

There's just something about the love of ~~Torah~~... uh, I mean theological and historical books that morphs your appearance towards a certain template.

I thought I would be clever and find something online to re-post here about not really being Jewish. A little googling and I found this excellent article by Nick Cohen, author and frustrated atheist who, like many others of us, has seen an ugly cancer growing within the political left. Guilt based self-censorship and politically correct speech have replaced the ideal of equal social justice that once characterized the left. In his post Jesus! I’m turning into a Jew!, Cohen writes:

Today the old certainties have gone because there are two far-right movements: the white neo-Nazi parties that the Left still opposes; and the clerical fascists of radical Islam which, extraordinarily, the modern Left succours and indulges. I am not only talking about Ken Livingstone, George Galloway and their gruesome accomplices in the intelligentsia. Wider liberal society is almost as complicit. It does not applaud the Islamist far Right, but it will not condemn it either.

From the broadcasters, through the liberal press, the Civil Service, the Metropolitan Police, the bench of bishops and the judiciary, antisemitism is no longer an unthinkable mental deformation. As long as the conspiracy theories of the counter-enlightenment come from ideologues with dark rather than white skins, nominally liberal men and women will not speak out.

...If a mass murderer bombed a mosque or black Pentecostal church, no respectable person would say that the “root cause” of the crime was an understandable repulsion at the deeds of al-Qaeda or a legitimate opposition to mass immigration. Rightly, they would blame the criminal for the crime.

If a synagogue is attacked, I guarantee that within minutes the airwaves will be filled with insinuating voices insisting that the “root cause” of the crime was a rational anger at the behaviour of Israel or the Jewish diaspora.

Bold type mine. Read the entire article here.

Recent book acquisitions

2009-06-21T19:59:00.000-07:00

Paul and Rabbinic Judaism: Some Rabbinic Elements in Pauline Theology by W. D. Davies
Jewish Messianism and the Cult of Christ by William Horbury
Goddess Unmasked: The Rise of Neopagan Feminist Spirituality by Philip G Davis Ph.D
The Philokalia, Volume 4: The Complete Text; Compiled by St. Nikodimos of the Ho… by G.E.H.
Evening and Morning Prayers According to the Rite of the Syriac Orthodox Church … by Archdiocese of the Syriac Orthodox Church for the Eastern US…
Inner-worldly monasticism : towards a model of Rabbinic-Halakhic spirituality by Martin S. Jaffee
Syriac New Testament and Psalms-FL by American Bible Society
Surprised by Christ: My Journey from Judaism to Orthodox Christianity by A. James Bernstein

An Athlete

2009-06-01T20:24:00.001-07:00

Pray unto God for me, Oh Holy Saint Justin, well pleasing to God, for I turn to thee who art the speedy helper and intercessor for my soul.

O Justin, teacher of divine knowledge, thou didst shine with the rays of true philosophy and wast wisely armed against the enemy. Confessing the truth thou didst contend with the martyrs: with them ever entreat Christ our God to save our souls.

Wisdom of Isaac

2009-06-01T18:39:00.001-07:00

Someone who has actually tasted truth is not contentious for truth. Someone who is considered by people to be zealous for truth has not yet learnt what truth is really like; once he has truly learnt it, he will cease from zealousness on its behalf.

- Isaac of Nineveh (2nd Part, Kephalaia IV)

Punk rock & Orthodox Christianity

2009-05-31T09:16:00.000-07:00

I'm bringing punk rawk back. This is an update of an old post. Exactly four years and one month ago I saw a flyer showing bands scheduled to play at the Conservatory. The May 16th date said “The Low Budgets (ex Dead Milkmen)”. Whoa. I loved the dead milkmen in the 80s! I googled Low Budgets and found out it’s not the entire dead milkmen lineup. It’s the singer, the guy who sang “Punk rock girl”. I haven’t thought about Dead Milkmen in years, so I browsed their website. Sadly their bass player, Dave Blood, committed suicide in 2004. And I saw this…

“make a donation to the Studenica Monastery - the charity Dave wished to support.”

UPDATE: The links were dead for a while. It appears they are active again...

http://www.deadmilkmen.com/dave-blood/

Here is an excerpt:

His writing was published several times in Svetigora, the magazine of the Serbian Orthodox Church... Although he was not a member of the Serbian Orthodox Church, he kept an icon of St. Sava next to his bed as a symbol of his connection to Serbia... St. Sava Church is a US branch of the Serbian Orthodox Church which has agreed to collect donations in memory of Dave Blood and to send all of the money abroad to Studenica. St. Sava Church is a recognized charity in the US with 501(c)3 status.

Last November, The Dead Milkmen did a fundraising concert in Blood’s memory. They raised over $40,000, fifty percent of which went to Studenica Monastery. How cool is that? Read more and/or donate here…

http://www.deadmilkmen.com/donation-information

You know what would make an interest series of posts, or maybe even an entire blog? The intersection of punk rock and Orthodox Christianity. Its really weird but kinda cool too.

Check out these links:

Wisdom of Isaac

2009-05-21T18:04:00.000-07:00

Constant pondering on the holy Scriptures will always fill the soul with incomprehensible wonder and joy in God.

- Isaac of Nineveh (2nd Part, Homily 13)

Wisdom of Isaac

2009-05-19T07:30:00.000-07:00

The reading of Scripture is manifestly the fountainhead which gives birth to prayer.

- Isaac of Nineveh (2nd Part, Homily 29)

Wisdom of Isaac

2009-05-15T21:12:00.000-07:00

Thirst for Jesus, so that He may inebriate you with his love.

- Isaac of Nineveh, Homily 3

2009-05-12T22:48:00.000-07:00