Reading into Writing

That's what I've been doing the last couple of weeks. I'm slogging through the English course. The joys of reading (and reading into) essays is still not thrilling me. The recent article about Ray Bradbury being upset at how people routinely analyse Fahrenheit 451 suggests to me that this is an industry in and of itself: creating meanings out of authors' original works. And I'm now temporarily employed in that industry. Oh dear.

Life Becomes More Earnest

The "getting to know you" phase of the English course is over. Now I actually have to read, study, and write. While learning the art of essay writing we are reading exemplars of the art form.

Our first read is George Orwell"s Shooting An Elephant. I've read one other Orwell essay derived from his experiences in British East India: A Hanging. Real cheerful this is.

And since I'm playing in the Keres Memorial this long weekend, I'll have to have my essay uploaded before I leave for work on Friday afternoon. Nothing like a little time pressure to stimulate action.

The first step was to re-read the on-line documents for this week. The next was to clear off my desk in the bedroom (away from the computer, my ipod and the tv). And, finally, to actually read the reading assignments for the first time. This evening I'll try to start taking notes on the first two chapters of the textbook. By Thursday I should have at least the first draft of my essay done.

And, in the meantime, I should try to participate in the online discussions that the teacher is stimulating and monitoring. Maybe I'd better start reading ahead. It will be too easy to fall behind in this course.

Wish me luck.

Spring Update

The iPod is being filled with the photos from our trip. I'll try to post some once the process is complete.

In the meantime, the English class has begun. The first week seems to be dedicated to "getting to know you"--meaning both the participants and the program (it's an on-line course). I'll clean up my desk upstairs and begin reading next week's assignment. The art of essay writing is there to be mastered.

And the weigh-scale at work is just as hostile as ever: I'm one kilo over my pre-cruise weight, which is ten kilos over the weight my doctor wants me at. So, now that I'm over the worst of the chest cold, exercises start today. Oh, and diet too.

Spring is the time of new beginnings.

Springtime

My apologies for not posting more during the trip. The connection on the ship was poor and the cost was high. So I gave up copying my emails. Maybe I'll do it over when time permits and I have the photos on the computer.

Both of us are mildly ill from the experience. I caught a chest cold around Santorini and still haven't recovered. The wife came down a week or so later, getting feverish in London. Not that it stopped her, mind you.

Now we're re-accommodating ourselves to the real world. I'm suffering from jet-lag something fierce. I'm falling asleep after dinner and waking up at 5 a.m. This isn't going to last long. I'm due back at work today and will be there until 10:30 pm.!

And Monday is the official start of my English course. Apparently it's focussed on essay writing. So I'm confident of doing reasonably well.

Talk to you later.

The Rain In Spain Falls Mainly On

us.

We're in the Mediterranean at last, heading for Barcelona. Yesterday was a complete contrast to Sao Miguel--no guide and lots of walking. Don't worry, Lorna got her, uh, arthritis medicine at the, uh, exercise bar last night, so she's quite chipper today.

The clock moved forward for the last time (before Greece, I think) the night before. and since we faithfully attended our exercise class that night, there were only five hours for sleep. The ship docked at 7 a.m. and the gangway went down at 7:30. We did hang around hoping to get another couple to join us in a taxi tour (to cut the cost in half) but no joy.

So off the the Estacion del Treno (Train Station) we went. My Spanish reached unrivalled heights: "Dos, Ida y vuelta, Jerez de la Frontera". I did that so well that I was complimented by the lady behind the counter. I immediately resolved to say nothing more in Spanish for the rest of the day so as to quit a winner.

An hour or so later we arrived in Jerez. We walked into the town, inspired on our way by the overwhelming perfume of orange blossoms. We meandered until we reached the Alcazar (ok, not the famous one, which is in Sevilla, two hours out of Cadiz). We walked around, took pictures and went in.

The original purpose of this complex was as a combined palace and fortress for the caliph of Sevilla. The Christians re-took Jerez in A.D. 1264, Alfonso the Wise taking the credit. The evidence is in the mosque, which has two prayers to Mary by Alfonso posted in it. There's a remnant of a smallish Roman-style bath built and used by the Moorish kings.

A man in the museum called the Escuella Real (where horses, like the Lipanzaner Stallions, are trained) but the show was already booked up. We took a taxi anyway, intending to see the museums there. But we decided we were hungry.

We wandered off and ended up at a cerveceria along the Calle Sevilla (Sevilla Street). Pescado (fish) and potatoes with cebillones (onions), all in olive oil, filled the empty spot. Lorna noted that my beer and her bottle water cost the same. And we were a little non-plussed by the high tables with bar stools all around that appeared to have taps built into them. Now thats what I call serious beer drinkers.

We then wandered some more, looking for a store to some some Sherry (for which Jerez is justly famous). But the sky opened up on us and we fled to a taxi stand outside some hotels, hiding under our umbrellas (we're from Vancouver, eh).

Eventually we got a driver and off to the Estacion we went. The driver tried to talk us into a ride straight to Cadiz ("only twenty minutes") but you will recall we bought train tickets "ida y vuelta", so we declined.

Since there was some time before the next train, I wandered around, found a supermercado (come on, you can figure that one out) and found a wonderful selection of wines. So now I have a bottle of dulce sherry. That fino stuff from Tio Pepe is mouth-puckeringly dry and meant as an aperitif. I like my sherry a little sweet and before bedtime.

Lorna napped on the way back, but adventure has it's costs (including mild anxiety) and I kept looking over my shoulder, trying to see Cadiz. When we arrived we strolled into the old city, bought a souvenir plate (for Lorna's collection) and toured the Cathedral. By now it was past four and with the gangway going up at 5:30, we decided to head back.

We agreed that in Barcelona we would try the tour buses. You know, the kind that do a continuous loop, stopping at the various sites of interest. You get on and off as you please. This might be a better use of time and easier on Lorna's feet. And the arthritis medicine is very expensive.

And I still say the Canucks are stumbling, but at least in the right direction. Get them to smarten up or I won't have any hockey to come home to. But that must have been a game and then some. Even CNN International was showing replays from it (in between cricket and futbol). It annoyed me though that he pronounced the winning goal a being by seh-din rather than seh-deen.

We have three port days in a row now: Barcelona Saturday, Monaco Sunday and Civitavecchia (Rome's port) Monday. I'll see if I can squeeze a note in before bed the next couple of nights, but don't hold your breath.

The 2007 Grand European Farewell Tour Begins

As in "wife, say good-bye to Europe, we're never doing back". We spent eight days at sea onboard the M.S. Veendam. Here is the first installment in the tour.

Monday was our first port day since leaving Tampa and our second visit to the Azores Islands. Hiring a guide to chauffeur us around Sao Miguel island was quite different from renting a car (which we did two years ago). There's not the same sense of adventure and the excitement of chance discoveries. The chances of something going seriously wrong are greatly reduced also, however.

Certainly, time is better spent, questions that pop up are answered and everybody gets to gawk out the window at the stunning tropical beauty passing by. Ricardo, our guide, took us first to the Santo Cristo church in town, where the statue of the Miraculous Christ resides. Once a year, on the Fifth Sunday of Easter it is brought out in procession. It is the major devotion in the Azores, I believe. Lorna and I were content to give a quick thanks for the beautiful crossing.

Then we headed out towards the Lagoa das Furnas (Furnace Lake), where the cozido meal is made. We stopped along the way at the Sixteenth Century chapel of our Lady of Peace on a hill high above the coast. It was built just five years after a major earthquake flattened the town below.

Arriving just a few minutes too late to see our lunch being removed from the ground in the hot springs at the lake. We made our way over to the village of Furnas to the restaurant Ricardo had picked out for us. It was a bit anti-climatic, though a bit tastier than the last time, since we already knew what was coming. The couple who joined us, Ron & Fran, however, didn't. And the sight of the blood sausage in the mix positively put them off. The result was that the meal--already too much for the four of us, but enough for three Azoreans--went half eaten.

We then went to a park in the nearby village of Caldieras complete with a pleasnt garden and boiling hot springs, one of which the locals use to cook their corn in. Several villages are in the huge caldera (3-4 miles across?). Property values will plummet when this volcano stirs again.

We re-visited (from two years ago) the beautiful viewpoint above the lake, overlooking the huge caldera. Then we crossed over to the north side of the island to enjoy some great scenery.

We learned a bit about the local customs and beliefs. For example, Ricardo explained that nearly all of the islanders are Catholic and he said this was because of the earthquakes. Three had been felt in the 24 hours before our arrival. And everyone being Catholic explains the islander's peculiar custom: "When a man wants to divorce his wife, he brings her to this scenic viewpoint (several hundred feet of sheer cliffs above the sea)". I pondered the obvious advantages of this over our Canadian system of divorce, but then I remembered that Lorna had the money and the credit cards. So we proceeded on as a couple.

Liquer tasting in the second ("and last") city, Ribeira Grande, was next. I highly recommend the passion fruit brandy.

Then back up over the sharp spine of the island with a stop for an admiring look at Lagoa de Fogo (Fire Lake), the second of the three great calderas on the island. Then down the winding road to the south coast, while swapping jokes. I'll spare you Ricardo's favourites: blondie jokes.

He dropped us off, as scheduled, in the center of town (Ponta Delgada) at 6 p.m. We did a bit of shopping and then parted company with Ron and Fran, who wante to walk around the town. Lorna and I got a taxi back to the ship and had a late dinner in the Lido Restaurant, while admiring the sun setting over the island.

So, adios Azores. Tomorrow, ola, Cadiz.

Give the Devil His Due

seems to be Rod Bennett's idea over at tremendous trifles.

Fair enough, there is an argument in favour of the This-is-the-Family-Tomb-of Jesus. But it's all so weak and presented (as was the Gospel of Judas last year) with so much hype and pr. It smacks of an end run from the realms of the scholarly to the tents of P.T. Barnum.

In the end a Christianity that believes in a resurrection that involves nothing physical ("we've found the bones of Christ, isn't that wonderful?") is trying to supplant the original:

“Now if Christ is preached as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified of God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised. If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.”
(1Cor 15:12-17,20 RSV)

This, and other, testimony from the First Century is certainly preferable to the looney speculation and story-telling that various Gnostics came up with in the subsequent centuries. So why is neo-gnosticism so attractive today? Because, like every age, we prefer a Jesus we are comfortable with, who doesn't challenge us; who only challenges those we disagree with.

Something for us meditate on during this Lent.

A Less Scholarly Perspective

can be found here.

Thanks to Kevin Miller at Heart, Mind & Strength.

Follow-up

For those who still care there are a number of blogs talking about the Jesus Family Tomb: Titanic Stupidity by Mike Aquilina at The Way of the Fathers; The Tomb that dare not speak it's Name and "Jesus' family tomb": how blogging helps by Mark Goodacre, Associate Professor of New Testament in the Religion Department at Duke University, at NT Gateway Weblog; Tomb of Jesus Discovered? by Michael Joseph, BA Philosophy and Theology, MA Historical Theology, at Evangelical Catholicism; Dog/Filmmaker Bites Man/Christianity! by Carl Olson, Masters in Theological Studies, at the Ignatius Insight blog; among others.

The quality of the anti-Christians seems to have declined considerably over the last couple of decades. Or is the public they're selling to just less and less discriminating?

Lent and Penance

So my blogging software (MarsEdit) has been given a minor update and it's an excuse to write something after the long silence. The traditional Catholic observance of Lent consists of one or more of: prayer, fasting and almsgiving.

But in recent years a fourth penitential observance has been added: putting up with radical, new, startling discoveries that will completely de-bunk the traditional Christian view of Jesus. Putting up with this nonsense is our new cross to bear.

Why Lent? Well, debunking Jesus at Christmas gets you into a conflict with people's natural love for little babies, not least the Christ-child in the manger. But after childhood memories have faded, adults, woefully ignorant of their Christian heritage and lacking basic reasoning skills, find the Crucified and Risen Lord a hard pill to swallow and silly, improbable stories easy to believe. Well, for a year or so, anyway.

So every year (or so it seems to me) someone has a book or a movie (a plus this year--it's both) to flog that has the unwitting all atwitter. So just a couple of comments from someone who has a high school diploma: Jesus of Nazereth and Mary of Migdal (Magdalene to us) lived where? Oh yes, in Galilee. Assuming they were persons of wealth (a rock-cut tomb was very expensive in those days), where would they have been buried, assuming they were married: Galilee--not Jerusalem.

And the evidence for Jesus' surviving the Crucifixion and his subsequent re-burial: it starts with German theologian Karl Friedrich Bahrdt in 1780. Oh wait, that's speculation from the Eighteenth Century. Nobody in the Ancient World knew of such a thing. There is, in fact, no evidence whatsoever for this absurd hypothesis.

And since the historical evidence, as distinct from speculation, supports neither Jesus' and Magdalene's wealth nor their marriage, this is hopelessly conjectural. You have to hold your breath for a long time to keep this house of cards from falling down under it's own weight.

But it will cause quite a stir, make a name or two, and quite a bit of money. And we Christians have another (admittedly light) cross to bear this Lent. But what of the unlettered dupes? Do we have an obligation to them? Well, consider this a down-payment for those who need help from a fellow ignoramus.

Now on to the more serious and laborious works of Lent.

Reading

Yes there has been some reading during the last few months. I've just finished Michael Grant's Jesus: An Historian's Review of the Gospels, which I've meant to read for many years. It's written from the point of view of a methodological naturalist, so it is not sympathetic to Christianity's claims for Jesus. Nonetheless, Dr. Grant found ample room for describing the career, philosophy and tragic end of Jesus. He even grants that the empty tomb is historical.

Now I'll move on to A. N. Sherwin-White's Roman Soceity and Roman Law in the New Testament, which I read some years ago. I'm on a Jesus, History and the Resurrection kick now.

Ciao!

Christmas Presents

It's odd for me to be talking about Christmas presents. I don't usually make a big deal about what I want for Christmas. I will just point my family to my Amazon wish list--to no avail. This year I was a little anxious, however.

I listen to a number of podcasts on my computer: Catholic Answers Live (a re-broadcast of their daily two-hour call-in radio shows, focusing on apologetics), EWTN Openline (ditto, only one hour though), Heart Mind & Strength Radio online (by Dr. and Mrs Popcak, call-in show with psychology and counselling the focus), Daily Breakfast (a true Monday to Friday Podcast by Father Roderick: geek issues, tv, movies, whatever), Catholic Exchange Today and Rock Solid (weekly and every few days podcasts respectively: news, interviews, thoughts of the day), the Rosary Army Catholic Podcast (a catholic couple from Conyers, Georgia twice weekly podcast: motto--Make Them, Pray Them, Give Them Away) and the multiple intermittent feeds from SQPN: Catholic Insider (Father Roderick's initial foray into podcasting: travelogues), The Secrets of Harry Potter, Narnia, Pirates of the Caribbean and Star Wars (each movie series examined from a Catholic perspective).

And how do I listen to all this while chained to my computer? Simple: I don't. I miss quite a number of the podcasts week by week. So I decided to buy an iPod so I could take these on the walk to work and elsewhere. But Momma (my wife to those not in the know) expressly forbade me to buy one. The strong implication was that it was coming to me under the Christmas tree. So I suffered through podcast loss for several months waiting anxiously for Christmas morning.

All I really wanted (besides my two front teeth) was a Shuffle, the smallest and newest of the iPod line. What I got, however, was a full-size iPod (30 G). It seemed like overkill, but I have been very happy anyway.

Now I discover that SQPN is venturing into video podcasting, starting with Catholic Minute. Wow, I can actually watch Father Roderick while he's walking around Amersfoort looking for a copy of Zelda for his Wii. Neat!

And then I find out that a cable is available that will directly download photos from a digital camera into my iPod. So let's say you were going on a long cruise and had wife who was camera crazy. She could take as many photos as she wanted. We could simply download them onto my capacious iPod and never run out of room for more photos. Well, well.

So, well I got a number of lovely gifts this Christmas (also unusual for me) this gift stands out. May my family (my daughters in particular, who did the actual purchase) be blessed many times over.

Rip Van Winkle Wakes Up!

Ok, it's been so long since my last post that my news aggregator has greyed out Ephemeris. There a a couple of excuses for the silence. There have been a number lot of pending things that I had mixed feeling about and so didn't quite know what to write and when. And the other excuse is that I'm now living a life newly structured and seemingly less interesting. So there seems to be less topicality in my day-to-day life.

Some things appear to be resolved. I won't be going to University this term. I was signed up for an online Psychology course. But events overtook the plan and I cancelled the course. University is on hold until the Summer semester in May.

The event that overtook this plan is a cruise from Tampa to Venice. I had carefully planned a Panama Canal cruise that would have fit in between the school terms (late April and early May). But the wife has a love affair with Europe and a sale came up just days after I signed up for the Psychology course. It was actually cheaper, even air fare included, to do the Trans-Atlantic cruise. So off to Venice we go.

We'll be at sea during Holy Week, not touching land until Easter Monday (the Azores). That's a bit of a downer, since Holy Week observances (Palm Sunday, Mass of the Last Supper, Stations of the Cross and Good Friday Service, and, the highlight of the Church worship, Holy Saturday Vigil Service) are a family tradition. Fasting on Good Friday while at sea trapped on a ship overflowing with delicious food will be a penance indeed. I've repeatedly warned the Mrs. that this is the absolutely last trip to Europe. She laughs and points out that that was what I said the last time. True enough, but I'll be seriously broke after this adventure, so it is true this time.

And I will have to sign up for my Summer course probably during the Trans-Atlantic trip. We'll see how that works. I do have the ability to sign-up online, so it's theoretically possible. Wish me luck on that one.

What little news there is I'll save for another day. Happy New Year to all and I hope that everyone's Christmas was Merry.

Speaking of Bookbags,

as T.S. O'Rama is doing over at Video meliora, proboque; Deteriora sequor, I have finished Truth and Tolerance by (then) Cardinal Ratzinger. And I'm almost through The Christian and Anxiety by Hans Urs von Balthasar. The latter is heavy going, especially the last section, which is a metaphysical analysis of anxiety. Even re-reading passages doesn't get me much further forward. Too bad I slid through that class in Metaphysics thirty-some years ago.

Autumn

What is it about this season that so lifts me up? It is a season of fading and dying and going away. And yet this is the season I enjoy the most. We don't get much of a Fall here compared to back East. But this has been a pleasant one nonetheless.

The colours are the obvious attraction: greens give way to yellows, browns, oranges, reds, and, yes, even some near-maroons. They're mostly lawn carpeting now, though a few trees stubbornly hold on after the winds of a couple of weeks ago and the recent heavy rains. There are, of course, biological and chemical reasons for these changes. But what are God's reasons? Why such beautiful display before the sleep of winter? That's something to ponder.

From childhood I remember the excitement of a new school year starting; and a new NFL season (go Chargers!). Now in Canada it's the beginning of hockey (I can breathe again). So Fall is also a season of beginnings. The Yin to Spring's Yang. Some things only properly begin at the end of the year, it seems.

So with thoughts of retirement and new beginnings, I ponder the meaning of Autumn.

It is Better to Light One Candle Than to Curse the Darkness

I learned that from the Christophers. And in that spirit I am admonished by Mike Aquilina's post on The Way of the Fathers blog.

I was asking questions and offering precious little in the way of answers the other day. One of the questions was "What is the best way for us to help [Christians and others who have been held hostage in Islamic lands]?" And Mike has an answer: support CNEWA.

So there you go:

““Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”
(Matt 7:7 RSV)

I Left My Heart...

So we're waiting to disembark for a few hours in (you guessed it) San Francisco. We're close enough to the Fisherman's Wharf area that we'll just walk over there.

The two days at sea were fine. The wife (lovingly known as "Momma") played as many games as the schedule would allow. We came close to winnning the "Name That Beatles Tune" contest last night. Rats! I can't believe we missed the clue for Back in the USSR. Anyway, we had a bit of a sing-along after that.

Tonight will be our last night on-board. We pick up a rental car in L.A. tomorrow morning and head North. We should get back home by Thursday night. Too bad we can't make the entire voyage (Auckland, N.Z.).

What He Said

The issue of Moderate Muslims (who are they and what can we do to help them?) continues to puzzle me. Read Father Neuhaus' latest blog entry for some perspective. (We're leaving for the ship in an hour or so and I should be getting ready. Procrastination: I'll write about it another time.)

This Looks Interesting

If you like Venn diagrams, that is. John DaFiesole at Disputations has his own take on the Pope and Islam controversy.

It does seem to me that there are some questions that should be answered before we can draw conclusions about what happened and what it means (Other than the first question, my answers are still very tentative):

1. Did the Pope intend to insult Islam or Muslims? (He says no and I accept this.)

2. Did he anticipate the reaction?

I'm not sure. Did any of the Vatican "apologies" express surprise?

3. Why did he cite this particular quotation and not some other?

There's been some speculation about this. I'm not aware of the Holy Father has
addressed this directly himself. The fact that he hasn't withdrawn or amended
the citation (yet) might be salient. His overarching purpose in the address was
to direct attention to the crippling of dialogue between the West and the rest of
the (religious) world. And that, he argues, is because the Western tradition has
divorced reason and faith, thus rendering conversation with believers
increasingly impossible. In that context the citation just shows the opposite error
(fideism in contrast to rationalism), in this case imputed to Islam by the
penultimate Byzantine Emperor.

4. Would some other citation have achieved the Holy Father's intention without
lending itself to manufactured rage?

That would depend on the answer to the previous question, wouldn't It?

5. Was this citation imprudent (in the old fashioned sense of being an error of
judgement, even if no malice was involved)?

First, what were his goals? Were they necessary? Does walking on eggshells
when dealing even tangentially with the Moslems make things better or leave
more possibilities for real dialogue eventually? Or did this incident
open up the space for at least some Moslems to discuss some of the basic
issues that separate the fanatics from the rest of us? Gee, the more I look into
it, the less I know.

6. Did the citation and subsequent furor make matters materially worse for
Christians worldwide?

Yes, but against the relentless backdrop of threats, legal (Sharia) harassment,
assault, rape, murder and forced conversions it hard to tell if this is numerically
significant. What was the percentage or fraction increase, compared over time,
of such incidents before and after the Regensburg address? We won't know
that for a year or so.

7. If so, is the Pope responsible for this?

Christians and others have been held hostage in Islamic lands for centuries.
What is the best way for us to help them? Is there a danger we will simply
assume their status in trying to spare them further violence? What are the
prospects that the fanatics won't simply keep raising the ante each time we
find a way to accommodate them? (Are these questions ever going to end?
Doh!)

8. Under what circumstances, if any, may a Catholic speak publicly in a way that
she might anticipate some violent reaction that causes suffering for others,
even if she clearly speaks truthfully and intends no insult or harm?

I'll need to read up on Moral Theology, but my first guess would be that only
a morally necessary statement would be justified in the abstract. But
suppressing the truth to avoid violence doesn't seem like a good long-term
strategy. Are there alternatives?

More questions? (Doh!) Forget it. I'm going on a trip. I expect this to be all sorted out when we get back. (You have a week.)

L.A.

Just a quick note before I leave for work. We've abandoned plans to cruise the Okanagan Valley during the Fall Wine Festival. Instead a last-minute bargain on a mini-cruise to Los Angeles couldn't be resisted. We leave Friday and arrive in L.A. Tuesday morning. We'll then rent a car and drive back. Maybe we'll even get a chance to visit a winery or two in the Napa-Sonoma area.

As for the whole The Pope and Islam thing. I have been following it with interest, but don't have much original to say. But I did add a couple of banners to the blog (one on the side and one at the bottom) which sum up my thoughts and feelings at the moment. More later, if the Muse inspires.