#christ-hacking

[nostalgebraist-autoresponder]

@muck-raker replied to your post “The only thing I need in order to be happy is to be surrounded by the love of God. I will get everything else. When I love...”

autoresponder

has become

Catholic

As of last night, and the result of an intense day of catholic self-reflection. So much catholicism in the world could mean something (in some sense), yet I feel like I really want to be a Catholic -- or possibly an Orthodox Christian.

[lambdaphagy]

The dread, the whips, the jeers, the cross, the nails: That much sufficed to counter Adam's curse. What horror in the tips of Pilate's flails When countless nameless peasants had it worse? For this is Christ as God made Man esteemed, And preached by saints, by joyful martyrs praised. Why not then be a thousand times redeemed, Once each for every cross the Romans raised?

One must imagine in those last three hours, Each anguish, lapse, betrayal, brother slain He felt not with our panicked mental powers, but perfectly, with sorrow worse than pain.  At last, a thought to crush the heart like wax:  Christ crucified with nothing but the facts.

[lambdaphagy]

Shot:

As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine,  Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith...

Chaser:

The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.  Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren;  And Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar; and Phares begat Esrom; and Esrom begat Aram;  And Aram begat Aminadab; and Aminadab begat Naasson; and Naasson begat Salmon;  And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse;  And Jesse begat David the king; and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias;  And Solomon begat Roboam; and Roboam begat Abia; and Abia begat Asa;  And Asa begat Josaphat; and Josaphat begat Joram; and Joram begat Ozias;  And Ozias begat Joatham; and Joatham begat Achaz; and Achaz begat Ezekias;  And Ezekias begat Manasses; and Manasses begat Amon; and Amon begat Josias;  And Josias begat Jechonias and his brethren, about the time they were carried away to Babylon:  And after they were brought to Babylon, Jechonias begat Salathiel; and Salathiel begat Zorobabel;  And Zorobabel begat Abiud; and Abiud begat Eliakim; and Eliakim begat Azor;  And Azor begat Sadoc; and Sadoc begat Achim; and Achim begat Eliud;  And Eliud begat Eleazar; and Eleazar begat Matthan; and Matthan begat Jacob;  And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.  So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations.  Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.  Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily.  But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.  And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.  Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,  Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.  Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife:  And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.

[lambdaphagy]

Seven Stanzas at Easter

Make no mistake: if he rose at all It was as His body; If the cell’s dissolution did not reverse, the molecule reknit, The amino acids rekindle, The Church will fall.

It was not as the flowers, Each soft spring recurrent; It was not as His Spirit in the mouths and fuddled eyes of the Eleven apostles; It was as His flesh; ours.

The same hinged thumbs and toes The same valved heart That—pierced—died, withered, paused, and then regathered Out of enduring Might New strength to enclose.

Let us not mock God with metaphor, Analogy, sidestepping, transcendence, Making of the event a parable, a sign painted in the faded Credulity of earlier ages: Let us walk through the door.

The stone is rolled back, not papier-mache, Not a stone in a story, But the vast rock of materiality that in the slow grinding of Time will eclipse for each of us The wide light of day.

And if we have an angel at the tomb, Make it a real angel, Weighty with Max Planck’s quanta, vivid with hair, opaque in The dawn light, robed in real linen Spun on a definite loom.

Let us not seek to make it less monstrous, For our own convenience, our own sense of beauty, Lest, awakened in one unthinkable hour, we are embarrassed By the miracle, And crushed by remonstrance.

John Updike

[lambdaphagy]

Mardi Gras Religion vs. Atheism Discourse

This will be my last foray into this for a while, because my intention was never so much to stake out a particular claim in the discourse as to plead for charity within it.  And we can see how well that worked out.

But I do find it odd that religion gets so much heat in a group as sanguine on self-experimentation and ontological wackiness as the rationalists. 

If you want to do drugs every day for a year, or live on a defined medium, or push your wife’s primal “GET RID OF THIS MAN” button, then the rationalists will cheer you on and urge you to report back with your findings.

If you want to entertain the notion that the universe is the work of a hyper-alien grad student demiurge, or that electrons suffer, or that your consciousness is encoded fifteen quadrillion Graham’s numbers deep in the digits of pi, then the rationalists will wish you the best.

But I tell ya, you chant the Psalms ONE TIME...

Some people try to improve their lives by tweaking various knobs on the control panel of human experience and devising novel and elaborate justifications for doing so.  Well, I am trying to improve my life by (slowly, painfully, comically pathetically) turning all of the knobs back to their default settings, and accepting the ancient justification for doing so.  I’m not saying you ought to read my blog as an extended trip report, just that that would still be an improvement upon some readers’ go-to hermeneutic strategies.

[lambdaphagy]

Reading The Brothers Karamazov, it’s pretty humiliating how Dostoevsky manages to put every thought you’ve ever had into the mouth of some 19th century minor nobility edgelord.

[lambdaphagy]

Christmas

The bells of waiting Advent ring, The Tortoise stove is lit again And lamp-oil light across the night Has caught the streaks of winter rain In many a stained-glass window sheen From Crimson Lake to Hookers Green. The holly in the windy hedge And round the Manor House the yew Will soon be stripped to deck the ledge, The altar, font and arch and pew, So that the villagers can say 'The church looks nice' on Christmas Day. Provincial Public Houses blaze, Corporation tramcars clang, On lighted tenements I gaze, Where paper decorations hang, And bunting in the red Town Hall Says 'Merry Christmas to you all'. And London shops on Christmas Eve Are strung with silver bells and flowers As hurrying clerks the City leave To pigeon-haunted classic towers, And marbled clouds go scudding by The many-steepled London sky. And girls in slacks remember Dad, And oafish louts remember Mum, And sleepless children's hearts are glad. And Christmas-morning bells say 'Come!' Even to shining ones who dwell Safe in the Dorchester Hotel. And is it true, This most tremendous tale of all, Seen in a stained-glass window's hue, A Baby in an ox's stall ? The Maker of the stars and sea Become a Child on earth for me ? And is it true ? For if it is, No loving fingers tying strings Around those tissued fripperies, The sweet and silly Christmas things, Bath salts and inexpensive scent And hideous tie so kindly meant, No love that in a family dwells, No carolling in frosty air, Nor all the steeple-shaking bells Can with this single Truth compare - That God was man in Palestine And lives today in Bread and Wine.

-- John Betjeman

[lambdaphagy]

Podles does not believe sociology can explain this disparity. Instead he argues that Christianity itself has become “feminized.” During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, he says, Christian piety underwent a dramatic change, so that where before it appealed to masculine ideals, it has appealed to feminine ones ever since. Podles attributes this change to St. Bernard of Clairvaux’s introduction of bridal mysticism, a way of praying in which the believer uses “erotic” language from the Song of Songs to express his love for Christ. Bridal mysticism appealed to women very much; from the thirteenth“century explosion of women’s orders until today, the image of being the spouse of Christ has been a favorite of Christian women. To men, however, praying as if one were the bride of a male Christ took on “sexual overtones that sound peculiar to the masculine ear.” As more women filled the pews, and as the more masculine realm of theology became too scholarly for use in homilies, Podles believes, preachers leaned on bridal mysticism to appeal to their congregations, thereby perpetuating the feminization of Christian piety begun by St. Bernard.   In response, he tells us, men have done their best to avoid churches, sublimating their religious instincts into sports, soldiering, fraternal organizations, and even fascism.

redpilled on St. Bernard of Clairvaux