Posted in textures, tagged biblical reflection, Jeremiah, textures on October 21, 2007| Leave a Comment »
‘Where is YHWH?’
It seems an obvious question to be heard on the lips of a people whose recent past YHWH has permeated with redemptive actions on their behalf. When it is not heard, the prophet suggests, the silence is not only deafening but accusing as well. (more…)
Posted in paterfamilias, reseña, tagged reseña, style on October 20, 2007| 1 Comment »
On balance, it’s probably a good thing that the Historical Guy who decided we should be clean shaven was handed that decision. Otherwise, he might have got himself up to some even more lethal project.
As things stand now, a man’s face is one of life’s great hostile environments, what with the scraping we do every morning and the stressing throughout the day. The surface of Mars beats us out only by a few toxic gases and we’re occasionally capable of giving even that one a run for its money. (more…)
Posted in reseña, tagged Arensky, Camille Saint-Saëns, classical music, Delibes, Franz Liszt, Glinka, Grieg, Johannes Brahms, music, reseña, Sunday Times Music Collection, Tchaikovsky on October 20, 2007| Leave a Comment »
In the mid-90s, London’s Sunday Times produced a cheap CD series that managed to be both eclectic and excellent. In the ‘Classical’ branch of that series, High Romantics appeared, presenting tuneful offerings from Glinka, Arensky, Liszt, Saint-Saëns, Brahms, Grieg, Delibes, and Tchaikovsky.
It all adds up to 43 minutes of fine listening, by about minute 22 of which one begins to wonder why we ever moved on from the Romantic period.
Posted in reseña, tagged Christmas, music, reseña on October 20, 2007| Leave a Comment »
Full product information for this item, together with my review, my rating of the product, and any reader comments, can be found at http://www.amazon.com.
I kid you not, there is a market for gentle, Christmas instrumental music that preserves the religious nature of the holiday and does not overpower the motley collection of family, friends, and hangers-on that gather at such times.
This Maranatha two-disk album meets the need. You won’t remember any of these arrangements by February, but that’s not the point anyway. What you want is a little musical Christmas cheer. (more…)
Posted in reseña, tagged Jim Croce, music, reseña on October 20, 2007| Leave a Comment »
Full product information for this item, together with my review, my rating of the product, and any reader comments, can be found at http://www.amazon.com.
Jim Croce’s music, the art of a master storyteller, lives decades after the fact and after the passing of this musician himself because of its profound and accessible human-ness. (more…)
Posted in textures, tagged biblical reflection, textures, Titus on October 20, 2007| Leave a Comment »
Sobriety is in the little New Testament book of Titus a response to penultimacy. (more…)
Posted in textures, tagged biblical reflection, Jeremiah, textures on October 20, 2007| Leave a Comment »
It would be difficult to uncover a biblical passage more densely constructed with the elements of hope than the ‘new covenant’ chapters of the book of Jeremiah. With good reason chapters 30-33 are sometimes styled the ‘book of comfort’. With less justification did classic 20th-century biblical criticism separate this section from the work of the historical prophet by virtue of the alleged incompatibility of their persistent hopefulness with the rather more curmudgeonly material that was understood to derive more directly from the ‘weeping prophet’ himself. (more…)
Posted in paterfamilias, tagged motorcycles on October 16, 2007| Leave a Comment »
Two or three years ago, my eldest son and longest arrow began to obsess on getting a motorcyle. It seemed to his mother and me a very bad idea.
Then, in a crystalline moment of letting go, of grace, of letting life happen, it occured to me that there was a better way than resisting the river’s flow. Why not join him and make it a male-bonding hobby?
Thus did I begin to obsess on getting a motorcyle. (more…)
Posted in textures, tagged biblical reflection, Philippians, textures on October 16, 2007| Leave a Comment »
Simplicity is the path to the deepest treasures.
Religious technique is brushed to the margins when essential virtues are in play. Take peace, for example. Though we blunder about in search of it at many levels, Paul directs words of iconic simplicity to that peace which places the individual human heart at rest:
Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Canter Bridge 