Calling Up Hades: the 411

Last updated on: August 31, 2019 at 7:21 pm By John Mark N. Reynolds

The lure of secret knowledge destroyed Poe, warped Lovecraft, wounded Machen,and left Charles Williams less than he might have been. We might recollect the dead, pray for them, ask for their prayers, but it is never wise to seek them out. The Bible’s King Saul looked the part of king and fought hard to maintain his nation’s liberty against the more technologically advanced Philistines. He had some success, attracted talent to his court, and then grew jealous of his superstar commander: David.... Read more

Don’t Be Elpenor: Some Ways of Failing the Hero with One Particularly Silly One

Last updated on: August 31, 2019 at 7:13 pm By John Mark N. Reynolds

Once I was asked how people managed to hang around Jesus and miss Him. Having grown up on fairy tales, a repository of sensible human psychology, this struck me as an odd question. People are always hanging around heroes and failing to notice that this is true. They are like the man in one of my dad’s churches that was always speaking on revival and praying for revival while failing to recognize that he was in a church in the... Read more

Listening to the Story: Taking Time for The Bards, Becoming a Bard

Last updated on: August 29, 2019 at 8:24 am By John Mark N. Reynolds

“Tell us a story.” We asked Dad for a story often and he was ready. He rehearsed stories from his past, our grandparents’ past, the tales of West Virginia (many true!), and selections from history. Dad rooted us to those West Virginia hills even though we left them as small children, he gave us a sense of where we had been that helped us know where we might go, and he revealed his heart and mind to us, though we... Read more

Ancient Witches XIV (Guest Voice: James Harrington)

Last updated on: August 27, 2019 at 12:15 pm By John Mark N. Reynolds

I asked for new voices and got some outstanding writers! Today we hear from the erudite James R. Harrington. James R. Harrington earned his M.A. in Ancient History at California State University Fulleron and is a member of the Torrey Honors Institute. James has been a classical educator in a variety of settings over the past thirteen years. He lives in Houston with his wife, Sharon, and their daughter. Harrington began with a series on shields in classical literature and now... Read more

Spoiling (Song of Solomon, Troy, and Movies)

Last updated on: August 29, 2019 at 8:17 am By John Mark N. Reynolds

Spoiled Films (Mild Spoilers of Pride and Prejudice Ahead) Say anything about a film, even one based on a centuries old book such as Pride and Prejudice, and someone will complain about “spoilers.” You can of course spoil a movie or book: if you don’t know Pride and Prejudice ends with a very satisfying wedding, reading it before seeing the film or (better!) reading the novel does spoil a good bit of the tension. Few of my present students know... Read more

On Rewinding a Video, Helen of Troy, and Being Kind

Last updated on: August 26, 2019 at 8:33 am By John Mark N. Reynolds

Be Kind, Rewind If you are a certain age (old), then you recall “videos” . . . which for the younglings or those of us old enough to be forgetful were a physical medium that could store and play a single film (unless it was long and so the film came on multiple cassettes). In addition to the film inside the case frequently getting chewed up inside the monstrous Video Cassette Recorder, videos needed to be rewound after watching the... Read more

A Dialog with a Critic: When Athens Met Jerusalem

Last updated on: August 25, 2019 at 1:55 pm By John Mark N. Reynolds

Christianity is “a strange Asian religion … grafted onto” Western civilization. The Greek and Roman roots of “the West*” would have been sufficient to get us the good bits of our present age or so argues Jeff Williams.* This claim is simple, bold, with the elegance of being wrong about everything consistently. As a result, any response threatens to get bogged down with long list of positive cultural developments in the West, starting with the scientific revolution**, that are partially... Read more

A Dialog with a Critic: Athens Without Jerusalem (Guest Voice: Jeff WIlliams)

Last updated on: August 24, 2019 at 10:44 pm By John Mark N. Reynolds

On occasion one meets a critic who is thoughtful and argues an old idea in a new or interesting way. In the past, I have asked people with perspectives different than my own to present ideas and have then responded. This is an uncivil age and since “loving your enemies” is a core Christian value, and it is impossible to love people with whom you have no dialog, I enjoy such opportunities. Since my passion is teaching Greek, Roman, and... Read more

Profound Love: Achilles and Patroclus

Last updated on: August 23, 2019 at 10:16 pm By John Mark N. Reynolds

Friendship is powerful, perhaps the most powerful, of all the loves. David loved Jonathon. Naomi loved Ruth. Achilles loved Patroclus. Pause for a moment and assume they were indeed “just friends” and consider this: the love of friends is mighty. The friend is someone you love only for himself and with whom you share a common cause. In Homer’s Iliad, Achilles loves his friend Patroclus disinterestedly. Achilles sleeps with his captive Brieseis, but she is a prize, something less than human to... Read more

Men Are Human, Women Are Human . . . An Insight from Homer

Last updated on: August 23, 2019 at 10:37 pm By John Mark N. Reynolds

I read Iliad as a boy . . . Badly. I wished to see Helen, the face that launched a thousand ships and burnt the topless towers of Ilium. I did not wish to speak to Helen, honor Helen, be human with Helen. This was unwise. To be like Paris is to be the worst character in Iliad. Paris betrays every honorable value for “love” that is just Eros. Helen is a “prize,” an object to be won, when reality... Read more

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