tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post8914266802931510461..comments2024-03-10T20:46:19.274-04:00Comments on In the Middle: On Religion and Love: Some Random Thoughts Prompted by the SeasonCord J. Whitakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06224143153295429986noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-55008833387188071752007-04-11T08:44:00.000-04:002007-04-11T08:44:00.000-04:00Hi! I thought you and your readers might be intere...Hi! I thought you and your readers might be interested in some post-Easter news about Pope Benedict XVI...<BR/>The Pope's car is being auctioned off to raise money for Habitat for Humanity:<BR/>www.buyacarvideos.com/popecar.htm<BR/>The bidding is already more than $200,000! Personally, I think this is a really fun and creative way to raise<BR/>money. The auction goes until April 14th if you and your readers want to check it out.BJhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11100450966270598122noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-15333397734881071342006-12-27T18:05:00.000-05:002006-12-27T18:05:00.000-05:00Josh--thanks so much for your thoughts, that hitch...Josh--thanks so much for your thoughts, that hitchhiking anecodte, and the Simone Weil quotation. A great explication of the Weil quotation can be found in her essay, which she wrote during WWII, "Draft of a Statement for Human Obligations." Good reading in these times. Cheers, EileenEileen Joyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13756965845120441308noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-39619620104389589382006-12-24T14:21:00.000-05:002006-12-24T14:21:00.000-05:00Eileen, thank you for the post.
I am a Christia...Eileen, thank you for the post. <br /><br />I am a Christian, but I share many of the same questions that you voice here (Cain/Abraham, Adam/Eve--even your love/hate relationship with religion. For me, it's Christians that really tend to get on my nerves...) <br /><br />While I offer you no real answers (I'm sure you've read the same Bible verses that I have, and I'm sure you're aware of how they often seem about as helpful as Genius' responses to Amans), I am comforted by the passage in Matthew about the sheep and the goats (Matt. 25:31-46). I think Christians (I'll only speak to what I know) do get too caught up in the whole punishment/reward mentality, reducing God to a sort of pathetic Santa Claus that doles out the eternal equivalents of coal and presents. <br /><br />The Matthew passage shows everything turned on its head and sheds some welcome light on "the whole 'works' versus 'grace' thing." It is rather ironic that the people that are blessed are 1.) blessed because of their "works", and yet 2.) are unaware of performing those very works for which they are blessed. It seems a sort of unconscious works wins the day. A friend of mine once said, after citing numerous Biblical examples, "It seems that humility=greatness. Do we dare to believe this?" I think it's the same kind of paradoxical thing with works and grace. (That said, I'm still on the side of grace.)<br /><br />There is a Simone Weil quote that I have always liked, and forgive me for quoting from memory.(I'm studying abroad, and "The Need for Roots" did not make it into my "books" suitcase. I have two copies of SGGK, but no Weil.) It is something to the effect of: "The fact that human beings posess an eternal destiny imposes only one obligation: respect. And this respect can only be performed through the medium of man's earthly needs." <br /><br />This quote provides a nice segue from the Matthew passage to the different ideas of the "neighbor" (i.e. Freud's definition versus Jesus' in the parable of the Good Samaritan). While I am not so naive as to deny Freud's observations regarding human nature, I have often seen and benefitted from acts that can only be described as selfless and loving (I think that's why I side with grace). <br /><br />Once I was hitchhiking and a woman stopped to pick me up. She had a black eye, bruises down her right arm, and she told me--on the verge of tears--that she was driving to her daughter's house after her husband of 4 years had beat her up while they were on holiday in Mexico. (She said he had never hit her before then.) <br />I'm sitting in the passenger seat thinking "Of all the people that didn't need to stop and pick me up, certainly this lady has enough to worry about without a long-haired hitchhiker sitting next to her." Then she hits me with: "I saw you standing there and had to stop...people have been so kind to me over the last few days, I couldn't just drive by without offering you a ride." <br /><br />The bruises on her body were enough to prove "homo homini lupus." But man can surprise you sometimes too. Maybe Freud should have hitchhiked more.<br /><br />Merry Christmas/Happy Hanukkah/etc. Alljoshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03208813043756621394noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-2146533577227767162006-12-22T18:12:00.000-05:002006-12-22T18:12:00.000-05:00Alexandre--the quotations and thoughts you provide...Alexandre--the quotations and thoughts you provide are certainly illuminating, but for me, the final word on the subject of Christianity's divisive [and even racist/anti-Semitic] nature is Elaine Pagels's book "The Origin of Satan." Best, EileenEileen Joyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13756965845120441308noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-61105240224066353822006-12-21T09:48:00.000-05:002006-12-21T09:48:00.000-05:00Alexandre--thanks for your very thoughtful comment...Alexandre--thanks for your very thoughtful comments; I can't really read God's refusal of Cain's offering, while accepting Abel's as anything less than favortism. Perhaps that is my bias as a reader, but I have always been discomfited by what seems like yet another "set up" on God's part--tell Cain not to get mad [i.e. let "sin" get the better of him], make Cain mad, then see what happens. Granted, just my [queer] reading, perhaps. I also can't see God, at least as he is portrayed in the Old and New Testaments, or in the Koran, as impartial. He is always taking sides--Jesus himself explicitly states in the New Testament that he comes bearing, not love, but a sword, and that because of him, familes will be divided against each other, etc.<br /><br />JJC--I do, of course, grant that being a Jew also carries with it self-conflict and rivenness, and I am well aware of "reform" Judaism versus the supposedly more "orthodox"/conservative temples. I, too, once chose a particular Catholic church because when I first went there the priest was wearning a yarmulke and Birkenstock sandals and after his sermon played "Rocky Top" [Univ. of Tennessee's football theme song] on the organ. Several of the medievalists at UT attend this church regularly, and I miss it. I have not set foot in a church since moving away from Knoxville [1999]. One of the reasons I am attracted to Judaism is precisely because of what you describe as its perpetual doubt and questioning, and also because of its emphasis on the home as sacred space. I also think of Judaism as being a very socially activist religion, as is Catholicism is certain contexts.Eileen Joyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13756965845120441308noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-43974108727465283982006-12-20T17:23:00.000-05:002006-12-20T17:23:00.000-05:00Hey look! The Brick Testament has appeared on this...Hey look! <a href="http://jjcohen.blogspot.com/2006/02/against-allegory-more-medieval-animals.html">The Brick Testament has appeared on this blog before</a>.Jeffrey Cohenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17346504393740520542noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-38323545091953732052006-12-20T16:15:00.000-05:002006-12-20T16:15:00.000-05:00Just as your post, Eileen, was offered in the spir...Just as your post, Eileen, was offered in the spirit of the season, I offer this: <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/12/20/uk.komodo.reut/index.html">a virgin birth may happen this Christmas</a>. Only this time, it is octuplets. And they will have scales.Jeffrey Cohenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17346504393740520542noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-41631764392581005192006-12-20T13:08:00.000-05:002006-12-20T13:08:00.000-05:00it is human to want to be with others, and not to ...<em>it is human to want to be with others, and not to want to be alone, even with God in Paradise</em><br /><br />What an eloquent student you have, Eileen. And what an eloquent post.<br /><br />I wonder if you'll grant being a Jew the same complexity, fragmentation, self-conflict, rivenness as you give to being a Christian? Your snippet of autobiography mentioned how different Christianities police each other as potential rivals. The same is true of the multiple ways of being Jewish ... My family belongs to a reform temple, for example, because none of us particularly believe in God (for Kid #1, God is someone he would like to believe in but suspects might be a version of Santa; for Kid #2, "God" is not yet a vocabulary word). Judaism -- at least reform Judaism -- doesn't necessarily have all that much trouble with atheists or agnostics. Judaism in general is not a religion of orthodoxy (what you believe is something to be argued over and is perpetually doubtful) so much of ortho-praxis (the passing along of ritual as tradition is central). Personally, I also like how Judaism foregrounds the home as the sacred place/space. <br /><br />But Judaism is far from monolithic. Orthodox and conservative Jews disparage many of the choices made by the reform movement. Tempers flare over who is a real Jew.<br /><br />Anyway, I am with you on focusing upon ameliorating the communal present rather than dreaming an afterlife where you get the goodies you are lacking now. <a href="http://www.templemicah.org/">Here</a> is the congregation my family belongs to. We joined because it is headed by a witty and skeptical rabbi, and because temple life is centered around social action (Tikkun Olam / repairing the world). The first temple activity that Kid #2 took part in, for example, was joining the congregation in the <a href="http://march.now.org/">March for Women's Lives</a>. She was in a Snugglie with a "Planned Parenthood" sticker on it, all of 24 days old.<br /><br />Thanks for this timely and thoughtful post.Jeffrey Cohenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17346504393740520542noreply@blogger.com