August 2008
267 posts
S:
I think Christ’s statement regarding Caesar has always been taken in an awkward direction, usually into political theory. Such efforts devalue it. Christ’s short message seems one of the more brilliant commentaries on “money vs. God”, emphasizing more about humanity than either God or money. Imagine it stated in a longer form: “Caesar has pressed his face on a...
子非鱼，安之鱼之乐. 置之死地而后生.
2 hr delay at Dusseldorf on the way over. Trouble with exchange in the airport — fees obscenely high. Public transport is efficient, although a bit grungy. Still cleaner than New York and on time, unlike Philadelphia. Apparently 24% of folks in this city foreign born. Those of criminal mind apparent. Diversity also, although Arabs and Africans rather than African Americans. One can sense...
Slept about 14 hours last night. Finally here I am able to rest.
Munich. Arrived.
I finally understand the prescriptive mode in Rieff.
“We are living witnesses to the collapse of the last sacred institution of...”
– Rieff, Charisma (183)
Also recommended, Ariga’s Being and Hayah in the June-September 1984 Japanese Journal of Religious Studies.
How could Origenes integrate the Hebraic biblical faith and Greek reason? … Ariga tried to discover the answer by way of theological hermeneutics… I quote from his A Study on Origen.
Origenes’ Christian existence was full of tension. But the tension was not a contradiction but a tension that arises from the counteraction his essentially Christian character has shown towards...
Anderson
Mother’s side. Great grandfather George from Surrey, England. Mother from Isle of Wight. Family also in Wilts. George’s wife ‘Fletcher’ family mostly from Yorkshire, although a bit of German (Knapp) and smattering of Irish (Butler/Murphy).
Dietz
The few records available… indicate that the family is of Germanic origin, more particularly from the Rhineland area in the province of Hesse in western Germany. The early immigrants to America of this particular branch of the Dietz family came from the city of Darmstadt or the surrounding area… they were probably farmers… emigrated to America some time in 1841. Peter Dietz [...
Counterpoint
Reflecting on Jesus’ statement regarding Caesar’s domain; Paul regarding the sword. Perhaps the point is that there are two spiritual foci in the world; that the two exist in dynamic counterpoint — this tension necessary to live in the world. The prophetic voices of Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel never challenge the necessity of temple cultus, rather, failure for proper attention to...
Fatigue continues because of weekend relapse. Will not go to NYC today as was plan.
“Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that...”
– Hebrews (KJV)
What is Holiness?
What does ‘holiness’ mean for the evangelical? Samuel Chadwick contemplates this in his Call to Christian Perfection (link) :
The wider acceptance of doctrine cannot compensate for the loss of intensity, and the spread of the truth does not always carry with it a corresponding zeal. It is possible to be evangelical without being evangelistic. There is still the same need to seek...
‘elvish’ vs. ‘elfish’ / It seems quite clear to me Tolkien made the right decision against his editors and convention. The former for the latter. But why?
““My soul cleaves to the dust; revive me according
to Your Word.”...”
– Octavius Winslow
Allegri | Miserere mei, Deus
This is because it is the definition of a tautology. ‘Intelligent’ also seems redundant, superfluous.
“That design implies an intelligent designer is a self-evident truth. Every man...”
– Charles Hodge
Salt
Look back not o woman, for man draws near to burning sun. It is his destiny in this life, or in the next. Choice not made today, then death’s morrow. Veil is shut again and open, amidst the tiger’s tears. Watch him climb now, broken. Cruel yesterdays caught in time, forgotten, remembered, lost. The edifice of our dreams ticks on, as phantoms dance inside inumbrate self.
Out! Out!...
My problem in a nutshell →
Art: Germany and China →
$1.70/day of interest on college loans.
Argillaceous and ferrous mixed in a single stew. Is it you? cf. Daniel 2.
Born free — to fly horizontally.
Niebuhr
Although this one admits some skepticism about those who have transitioned from devout promoters of political movements to pastors who advocate for political positions from their pulpits, Niebuhr remains one of the most stimulating thinkers available to the twentieth century American — both as a rigorous thinker and exemplar of historical trends; Fr. Neuhaus attempts and exhibits the same.
...
Kawaii Kenji | Kugutsuuta kagirohi ha yomi ni mata muto
To do in the next 36 hours:
Extract stuck DVD from player Get docs ready for bro Get some sort of travel book for Germany Finish anti-narrative essay Write transition essay Attempt to reduce loan payments Photo of portrait Deposit check in bank Meet J, A1, A2, S Get health insurance while in Germany Scan and send copy of wire transfer to Goethe Institute Call Goethe institute and make sure all is...
“You still think it is a joke. Good. That is what we want you to think. For now.”
– Orson Welles, regarding his War of the Worlds production
Welles | F is For Fake
Bert Jansch | The Black Swan
What have I accomplished over the last two months? Ah, immediately rises the utilitarian focus of my personality, grown as it has from the fabric of Puritan spirituality and Jamesian pragmatism. Is there a better question? Where was I?
My physical body began to deteriorate in Japan. I was running regularly, just purchased weights, attempting to train for a 10k. My apartment, ugly, situated...
I thought this time in life would be perfect to attempt an autobiography — the self picture a favorite project of painters — also for authors? Ideally the work properly done would not spill into book length. For a time preparing mental notes, but now realizing that perhaps the best way to begin is at the Now instead of Before. I cannot guarentee a path that leads straight backwards,...
Minor relapse this weekend. New internal law of energy conservation — expend little effort on interpersonal relations except when initiated by other person. To Munich on Friday to study German at the Goethe Institute there. Big Apple on Thursday.
The Problem with Calvinism
Note first that this is a critique of ‘Calvinism,’ not Calvin. The problem with a creedal orientation is that allegiance becomes doctrinal rather than sacerdotal — that is, the Christian calling is towards a new univeral priesthood (1 Peter), not simply, only, or primarily subscription to a set of theological statements, however well-defined. When the creedal orientation...
Rosenstock Huessy
America is a system of perpetual revolutions to achieve perfection regarding a not particularly well-defined idea, ‘freedom,’ which tends towards radical individualism. R-H’s theory of revolutions is a theory of perpetual revolutions in a Hegelian-corporate sense, hence the attraction for Americans who tend towards continental thinking, but fails on the perpetual need to find a...
Attempting to formulate some coherent thoughts on Niebuhr but too exhausted.
许巍 ｜ 礼物
E:
Would ‘heart-understanding’ be better than ‘emotion’? My point was that it is a interior shift in perception often motivating exterior action, but not a substitute for it. Although in some respects this interior-exterior divide is also artificial.
Heart-understanding is good. What are called emotions are epiphenomena in my experience. Compassion is deeper, a...
Bataille’s Accursed Share returned.
Philip Pan | Out of Mao's Shadow →
I plan to read.
I told my mother today that I should have spent a month attempting to live as a homeless in Manhattan before departing for Germany — the first step towards following Orwell’s footsteps and trying my hand at my own Down and Out — Paris, London, and Manhattan. She was not amused, stating, ‘You are already sick. You would become sick.’
Probably true — but I...
From E:
If Jesus states the incredible priority of the present moment because He is here, what does this say about moments past and future? Is He not here? And if He is in all of them, then how do we separate waiting for manna from heaven with the work of our hands?
The best way to approach this question is to investigate the present thoroughly. Look for the past - where is it right now?...