Auden said that “protestantism is correcte in affirming that the We are of society” is false unless each individual “can say I am .” At the same time, what he called catholicism is also correct that anyone who cannot “join with others in saying We does not know the meaning of I .” Briefly, “in conjugating the presence tense of the verb to be , catholicism concentrates on the plural, protestantism on the singular.” Here as in so many other... Read more
That Amazon search confirmed my suspicion: Gratitude is a common topic of inspirational literature. You can get gratitude journals, gratitude calendars, gratitude guides, gratitude cards, gratitude with attitude books, probably gratitude mugs and teacups and bumperstickers and bracelets and decals and tattoos. What is almost completely absent is any serious examination of the theology, philosophy, ethics, or politics of gratitude. To give the experiment a control group, do that same Amazon search on “justice” or “love” or any of a... Read more
Searching Amazon, I find that one Christine A. Adams has written a small book on gratitude for a book series called “Elf Self-Help” (I’m not making this up). Perhaps someone can gently inform Ms Adams that the whole point of gratitude is that someone else has helped. Read more
In a 1917 article, Joseph William Hewitt notes that the Greeks did not view ingratitude with the same horror as modern writers (among modern writers, he lists Thomas Elyot, Shakespeare, and the Spectator ). From the sixteenth century to the early twentieth, “we find a deep, indeed an extreme, horror of ingratitude. I do not find anything like it in Greek literature, nor much in Latin until Seneca, who certainly gives the ingrate a very lose place in the moral... Read more
Kenneth Burke wisely remarks that “Every document bequeathed us by history must be treated as a strategy for encompassing a situation,” an “answer or rejoinder to assertions current in the situation in which it arose.” He goes on to compare our entry into history to a late arrival to a parlor conversation – things are already underway, we don’t know all that’s been said before, we listen for awhile and make our contribution, and then have to leave when the... Read more
Philosophers claim that European/American thought has gone through a linguistic turn in the last several decades. The truth is the opposite. Rorty says, “The world does not speak. Only we do. The world can, once we have programmed ourselves with a language, cause us to hold beliefs. But it cannot propose a language for us to speak. Only other humans can do that.” Soo, this is a “linguistic” philosophy, but Psalms 8 and 19 are pre -linguistic?? I don’t think... Read more
INTRODUCTION While Herod and Jerusalem fear the news of the birth of Jesus, the Magi worship Him and rejoice (2:10). Here is another inversion of the original exodus story, and a preview of the gospel story: Jews reject their deliverer, but the Gentiles embrace Him. THE TEXT “Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, ‘Where is He who has been born... Read more
1 Corinthians 10: Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? Since there is one loaf, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one loaf. As I mentioned at the outset of the sermon, Christians are more apt than unbelievers to spiritualize the gospel, and specifically to treat Jesus’ kingdom as a... Read more
For most Americans, Christmas means warm feelings, forgiveness, kindness, generosity. It means putting our differences aside and getting along. Celebrating Christmas means celebrating liberalism and toleration. As in so many ways, our celebration of Christmas borrows scraps from the table of Christian faith. We like “peace on earth, good will toward men.” We resonate to the message of joy and hope. We promote all the happy, up-beat things the Bible says about Christmas. (more…) Read more
In 1834, Heinrich Heine had predicted a revival of Germany that was not dependent on Christianity but on a return to the savage roots of German character: “Christianity, and this is its greatest merit, has occasionally calmed the brutal German lust for battle, but it cannot destroy that savage joy. And when once that restraining talisman, the cross, is broken, that the old combatants will rage with the fury celebrated by the Norse poets. The wooden talisman is fast decaying;... Read more
Leithart
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