Gnosce Te Ipse

Listening to Drop Kick Murphy's, thinking how "Captain Kelly's Kitchen" is narrative, is story, and thence my mind goes back to Wright's book. I have been impressed, yes, and I find his writing style quite engaging. But for what it's worth, I read with all my critical arsenal locked and loaded. I can't help it. I'd like to keep a running commentary up here. These are posts which will interest few readers, but then I have few readers! If you've read Wright, great, if not, cool, enjoy or skip these posts at will. I'm sorting and sorting out. *** I am not sure how much Wright's epistemology tells me about the world at large and how much it tells me about the world of NT scholarship, and NT scholars! He admits he isn't going to take a long time arguing his theory of knowledge and in fact cites longer works by others. I was disappointed, sorry, to note that a major one was by a NT scholar. The works cited for this book has nothing b...

My time is limited this morning for all the usual reasons. However, I just read the introduction to N.T. Wright's first volume of The Series; you know, The Series. The first book is called The New Testament and the People of God and entering it has been like reading Plato for the first time. Though the two writers have very different styles, agendas, approaches, cultures, everything , I realize I'm going into not just a book but a philosophical landscape, and a new one at that. My initial reaction is that Wright, whether I agree with him or not, is in fact a genius. The man has an eye for detail, and I love it. Also, he's fairly postmodern (or whatever he will eventually style himself) with his continual attention to interpretive presuppositions, insistence on blending all viable approaches into an original synthesis, and his apparent unwilligness to accept easy answers. It would be nice if I had read Bultmann, Wrede, Tillich, etc., before Wright, for he covers, and q...

As I wrote yesterday, I have much to do around the house and need to catch up on my online class. But something occured to me during my vacation that I need to write down here. It's a little insight, but it marked a shift in my thinking on a critical issue. The nature of it is so obvious I'm embarrassed that I didn't consider the problem of pain from this perspective before. Of course, my discussion depends on the reliability of the gospel tradition, at least in the sense that Jesus actually healed; for this discussion, I'll begin with the assumption that he did in fact heal in a unique fashion. Or, if you wish, I'll proceed as if Jesus truly healed. Even some skeptical readers of the NT, Schweitzer and Sanders come to mind, have been impressed by the strong thread of miraculous content in the gospels. It is not my purpose in this post to examine the miracle stories, but I will say that those who attempt to point out that all religions have miracles, or that t...

I'm home from two weeks in So. Cal.; Long Beach, Chino, Disneyland, then back up the coast, Cambria, Santa Cruz, and home. I ate too much rich food, drank a bit more than usual, got one sunburn, and had a truly good time. In fact, coming back to our hot sierra house is something of a shock (even at my elevation, it's probably 90 today and we have no air conditioning). Our dogs are still here; our friend who dog sat seemed to do a fine job though I can't believe how dirty our house is, much of it from before we left of course. Deep cleaning required. I'm teaching one summer class online to pay for sailing and other fun and with the house as messy as it is and so many house projects looming, June nearly over already, I have less time to reflect here than I'd like. Perhaps later this week. I have lots to reflect on. For on, I am astounded to say this, I had a nearly ocd free vacation. Sure I had some anxiety; I rode that giant sun roller coaster at California Adv...

Breakfast out with Stephanie, pedicures for both of us, simple conversation...my mood lifts... Looking forward to seeing my brother and his babies in So. Cal. Sailing, great as it is, is no substitute for my family. t

Considering I spent just two days on the water and two nights on the boat (both nights tied up at the dock in SC) my title must seem pretentious. Yet each time I sail my experiences are different, I come back to a different world, and this time, instead of feeling relaxed and energized, I'm feeling a bit lost back at home, with just two days to prepare my summer online class, clean house, and hit the road for So Cal. And while I missed my wife, frankly, it's hard to come back too. The bill I forgot to pay which is ten days late now, the plane flight for our son on our credit card which we forgot to pay off earlier...all this hit me with sudden (dare I say gust-like force) and we weren't home together this morning long before she had to run. In short, I don't feel reconnected to her, and since I struggle with intimacy and feeling comfortable in close situations, tragically, much of the time, my mood is lower than I'd expect after two days sailing, and my time yto...

thanks, Romy and Sandalstraps, for the kind comments below. And I will make the post Sandalstraps links my next online read. But in some ways I've enjoyed the break. Various things have come to me: One, while online communication provides a certain kind of intimacy, it is the weakest of nearly all kinds. If I spend too much time up here, I neglect some of my own needs. Of course, balance is key. I'd be very sad if I knew I could never read any of the blogs I read, or if those people (who I wished lived in my town so we could all have dinner at my house) who read this blog quit reading me altogether. Still, I think almost all who blog know the feeling I mean. Two, it's too easy to graze up here with my reading. All my friends write thoughtful posts, but learning about my faith or issues with my faith, must at least in part be accomplished through non-online reading. You know, books. I have Wright's first massive Jesus volume on the way and I'm hoping I have...