Prominent Polish Prelates and the Poisonous Fruit of Unbridled Capitalism (Catholiclandia III)

November 20, 2013 By Artur Rosman

Wyszynski and Wojtyla upon the latter’s election as pope. The first thing you hear is Wyszynski saying, more or less, “Everyone in Poland is celebrating, including our Red brothers, because they think to themselves ‘Poland can’t be all that bad if it has produced a pope.'” He then laments losing Wojtyla, his closest associate and colleague.] A respected facebook acquaintance posted the following shocker the other day: “For the ultra-left, Obamacare was intended to be a first great step... Read more

Finger of God's Hand We Own

November 18, 2013 By Artur Rosman

There’s a passage in the hymn “Veni Creator, Spiritus” that should get a rise out of you: “Tu, septiformis munere, digitus paternae dexterae, Tu rite promissum Patris, sermone ditans guttura.” As my favored translation would have it: “Thou in Thy sevenfold gifts are known; Thou, finger of God’s hand we own; Thou, promise of the Father, Thou Who dost the tongue with power imbue.” Finger! We own! The physicality of the Incarnation is a trope that gets tossed around quite... Read more

Brot und Spiele: The Best Liturgical Abuses Yet!

November 8, 2013 By Artur Rosman

I spent the better part of last evening with my buddy drinking German lager at Seattle’s own Bierstube. Given my own Polish prejudices (see here, here, and here) there is an element of danger, or paranoia, about voluntarily walking into a place regaled with all sorts of Heimat paraphernalia, including a huge poster of what looks like Sarah Palin in folk dress with beer in hand. I suppose that’s why I never really got all sentimental about Benedict, even though... Read more

The Liberty at the Bottom of a Formless and Sexless Void

November 7, 2013 By Artur Rosman

A limp shiver went down the collective spine of social media last week with reports about Japan’s sexless youth. It all boils down to young adults not wanting the messy complications of personal commitment because they interfere with their much more demanding and immediately rewarding jobs (and internet porn). It’s the economy, stupid! Eberstadt’s provocative little book Adam and Eve After the Pill surprised me by suggesting, between the margins, that the breakdown of marriages in the West can be... Read more

Books I've Cheated On 2 (& a Side Note About My Grandma): Fiction & Poetry

November 5, 2013 By Artur Rosman

Autumn is the season for indulging in your regrets and voting. Sometimes the two activities blend into each other. What can you do? I mean, really, what can you do? Putting anything into a narrative helps to make it comprehensible, sometimes beautiful, even if painfully beautiful (think: Anna Karenina). I suppose my own life was decided by one such unexpected twist, or diversion, or mis-delivery of grace. I don’t quite know what to call it. My maternal grandmother lived two houses... Read more

Crisis of the Humanities: "Shakespeare’s not on trial. You are."

November 3, 2013 By Artur Rosman

Cynthia Haven let loose yesterday over at The Book Haven with the piece “The questionable utility of the dancing bear, or, the future of the humanities.” She says, “In the world of education, we value humanities only if we can team people onto digital projects that make cool onscreen images or turn them into rap lyrics to make them palatable for the kids. I like a lot of these efforts, and appreciate their intent, but they’re rather beside the point. ... Read more

Reformation Day Joke Polka

November 1, 2013 By Artur Rosman

My Anglican friend Justin over at Religion Ethnicity Wired got the ball rolling on some Reformation jokes with the following: At an inter-denominational meeting, a fire broke out. The Pentecostals shouted, ‘Fire!’ The Baptists shouted, ‘Water!’ The Presbyterians shouted, ‘Order!’ Here is what I dumped onto his facebook wall in reply: UCC members respond with: God is still speaking. Episcopalians: Asked everyone there for their story. ELCA: Set up a welcoming committee for the fire. Mennonites: Didn’t fight it. Anabaptists:... Read more

Reformation Day: For Shame Catholics and Protestants are the Same!

October 31, 2013 By Artur Rosman

Reformation Day: it’s my day to resist the temptation to take unjustified swipes at our heretical brothers and sisters in Christ. This is why I won’t be dredging up passages like this one from G.K. Chesterton’s The Thing: “If it be profane that the miraculous should descend to the plane of matter, then certainly Catholicism is profane; and Protestantism is profane; and Christianity is profane. Of all human creeds or concepts, in that sense, Christianity is the most utterly profane. But... Read more

Books I've Cheated On: Non-Fiction

October 30, 2013 By Artur Rosman

I’m attempting to get back to blogging by tying it to my dissertation. Yesterday’s post gave you the latest about what’s going on in Milosz studies (not much, lookie here). I’m still puzzled why critics haven’t recognized the Catholic frames of the poet’s work. [If you’re not familiar with his epic output I have a few other posts on Milosz here.] My theory is that Polish critics are too close to Catholicism to notice, whereas foreigners are working from the outside... Read more

The Catholic Imagination and the Age of Czeslaw Milosz

October 29, 2013 By Artur Rosman

Dissertation writing is a long process of accumulating knowledge, scrapping it, finding surprising connections, resurrecting what seemed to be dead ends, and then miraculously stumbling upon an insight that weaves as much as possible of the previous research into an intelligible pattern. I wouldn’t recommend it for the sane. Nearly all my intellectual interests are dictated by a chance encounter with one poem by Czeslaw Milosz in a high school anthology of American poetry. All these year later I’ve earned... Read more