heresy

an imperative?

the modern predicament is one in which God’s call is “interrupted.” The orthodox solution to this dilemma is to act as though she can still hear the word of God with complete clarity, while the atheist’s solution is to clap her ears against the ever-quieter echoes of past revelation. The Jewish intellectuals discussed by Lazier present us with a third option: to open our ears to nature, and to one another. The skeptic would argue that a circuitous route through heresy is hardly necessary to arrive at such a banal conclusion; in response, Lazier’s modern heretics would wonder why such a simple resolution was ignored in the tragedies of the twentieth century. As Scholem put it in a devastating formulation, whose simplicity belies the heretical complexity required to truly defend it: “Develop peacefully, and don’t destroy the world.”

angstiness

In case you missed this SNL clip...

The Little Giantess

The Berlin Reunion is part of celebrations to mark the 20th anniversary of the falling of the Berlin wall. That is street theatre.

it bears repeating

Mormons, still the correct answer.

The Final Exam-Mormons are the answer
by samueltheutahnite

The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon

Sarah has been reading this book, a favorite of a friend of ours. It's set in a tiny town in Idaho. I've been enjoying a second hand reading.

Sullivan asks Bush to own up to torture

so the US can move forward. His open letter to GWB covers a lot of the specifics in regard to torture during the Cheney/Bush years alongside historical analogues. Not for the faint of heart but definitely worth reading.

an untimely encounter

Either he had seen God too soon or he had seen him too late. In any case, it had done him no good at all in terms of survival. Encountering the living God had not helped to equip him for the tasks of ordinary endurance, which ordinary men, not so favored, handle.

Philip K. Dick - Valis

pictures by Tolkien

Sarah sent me this link to pictures by Tolkien. I've been reading LoTR recently just because it's so therapeutic reading books like that again and again. I don't think I'll finish it this time but it's still been a nice break.

Britain's first co-operatively owned pub

When we were in England a few years ago we had the chance to go to the Old Crown Pub. Now that we have some connections and a brew store maybe we'll be able to import some beers from them.

invisibility and ignosticism

Short somewhat funny TED talk by John Lloyd.


He mentions being an ignostic. Seems appealing: Ignosticism (wikipedia).