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continuities: Galatians 6

September 26, 2008 by David Baer

A strong theology of creation permits Paul—like the recorders of the Bible’s wisdom traditions—to trace the way of things by long, thoughtful observation. Even in a letter shot through with reflection upon the spirit-flesh dichotomy, Paul is simply to describe with organic language and as both promise and warning the way things work:

Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for you reap whatever you sow. If you sow to your own flesh, you will reap corruption from the flesh; but if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life from the Spirit. So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest-time, if we do not give up.

Paul mines what are to him the evident continuities in life with pastoral intent. He does not want the Galatian Christians to forge with their attitudes and behaviors a future that turns out to look and smell not like blessing but rather like a curse. His desire for them is that they should invest life and energy in projects and a way of life that cultivates the soil that gives—eventually and enduringly—a sustaining harvest. Continue Reading »

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fear itself: Galatians 5

September 25, 2008 by David Baer

For a man as determined as he is to safeguard the Christian’s freedom from any moral and legal encumbrance that does not align itself with the logic of Jesus’ cross, the apostle Paul is shockingly severe with regard to those who breach moral boundaries:

I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

The apostle makes this fear-inspiring warning with regard to those who practice ‘the works of the flesh’. Paul bifurcates the existential energy available to humankind. For him, there are just two: spirit and flesh. Continue Reading »

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all in: Galatians 3

September 23, 2008 by David Baer

We have only scarce evidence regarding the shape of Paul’s personality, yet his temperament must have exuded a certain feistiness. It was doubtless an unpleasant thing to discover that one had crossed him. What looks from this distance like an irascible edginess must not be taken as a transparent defect but rather linked, at least in part, to his impassioned jealousy for ‘the nations’ or ‘the gentiles’. When he articulates his own vocation in the letter to the Galatians, he defines it in these very terms, sketching out the boundaries of an embassy ‘to the nations’ that stands over against, say, Cephas’ calling ‘to the circumcision’. Continue Reading »

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tiquicia and how it got that way: Steven Palmer and Iván Molina (eds), The Costa Rica Reader. History, culture, politics

September 22, 2008 by David Baer

Rarely does an anthology of original documents of historical value mingled with insightful interpretative essays come together as a coherent work. Steven Palmer and Iván Molina, against those odds, have put the ball in the back of the net with just such a book. Continue Reading »

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tiene futuro: Kany García, Cualquier Día

September 22, 2008 by David Baer

Kany García is not one vocal artist. She is two.

Cualquier Día begins on the better half of this split, artistic personality. This one, Good Kany, is sensitive, balladic, and performs at moderate-to-low volume. She is the promising Kany García, singing from the heart, not trying too hard to succeed too quickly, too early, too explosively. Roughly two of every three songs give this Kany García a chance to emerge and make her point. Continue Reading »

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woman: Song of Solomon 7

September 22, 2008 by David Baer

The poet’s description of the Shunamite beauty in Song of Solomon is breathtaking. Meticulously, he employs his craft from her head to her toe, painting a portrait of her body that sets a reader back on his heels.

Your rounded thighs are like jewels,
the work of a master hand.

It is understandable that pious minds should so quickly have had recourse to allegory, for it is convenient—though in a way, quite sad—to look away from this fresh, fleshly enchantment of a man for his beloved woman and to focus instead on YHWH’s love for Israel or Christ’s for his church. Such symbolic reframing of love’s rushing words goes back to our earliest post-biblical interpretative works. Continue Reading »

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a jewel: San José’s Hotel Ave del Paraíso

September 21, 2008 by David Baer

Conveniently located off the ring road that encircles San José’s urban chaos and snuggled up next to the landmark Law Faculty (Facultad de Derecho) of the University of Costa Rica, the Hotel Ave del Paraíso is a jewel that is easily overlooked.

The Adamski family has converted a sprawling old home with its attending jumble of buildings into a boutique hotel that can only be called enchanting. A superb pricing policy makes this my hotel for business and pleasure when in San José.

Each room is expansive and distinct. High ceilings, an old home’s surprises, and attention lavished upon the engaging ceramic floors make the Ave del Paraíso worthy of many repeat performances.

A passable breakfast in the Costa Rican style comes with the room. Restaurants, the large San Pedro Mall, and the University are all within walking distance. Taxis are easily available just outside the gate. The only downside I’ve experienced is that traffic noise on the circunvalación begins at the crack of dawn. Turn up the ceiling fan and you might not notice.

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Don’t miss it: San José, Costa Rica’s Hotel Grano de Oro

September 21, 2008 by David Baer

Some years back, while living in Costa Rica, I found the Hotel Grano de Oro a fine place to take guests for a nice dinner. During a recent business trip, I decided to stay for a night at this constantly improving establishment, whose only deficit is its rather seedy location on the east side of the country’s capital city. I hasten to add that security around the hotel itself is top-rate and so the neighborhood should not be considered a show-stopper.

An elegant new dining room and a set of new rooms has added to the Grano de Oro’s charm since I knew it as a dinner guest. The price was right and I was upgraded to a superb, beautifully appointed deluxe room.

This hotel and the Hotel Ave del Paraíso, across town, now become my two favorites for business travel to Costa Rica’s Central Plateau, especially when the alternatives are so often the familiar chains that are the rather colorless bread and butter of business travel in less exotic places.

Staff was friendly and attentive, the restaurant and room service fare were respectable, but the charm of the property itself is the real winner here.

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a great travel option: Grupo Taca for air travel in Latin America

September 21, 2008 by David Baer

When the principal airline of the tiny Central American country of El Salvador some years ago began acquiring and organizing the assets of carriers from Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Peru, it was a boon for air travelers in the region.

I have flown Grupo Taca (as the airline is now known) many times with only positive experiences to report. A gradually increasing number of North American destinations makes this airline comfortably accessible from the United States and Canada.

Grupo Taca’s superb lounge in Lima, Peru’s airport is not to be missed. Now that long-delayed improvements at Costa Rica’s Juan Santamaría International Airport have passed from the ill-fated hands of Alterra Partners to the Houston Airport System, one dares to hope for improvements in the small lounge facilities there. Taca’s flagship hub in San Salvador has always been more than adequate and anchors the three-hub operation up and down the Americas.

There are now many air carriers serving Costa Rica and the region. North American-based travelers ought not overlook the considerable advantages offered by less-known airlines like Grupo Taca and Panama’s excellent COPA Airlines, with its über-convenient Hub of the Americas and handy cooperative agreements with OnePass and Continental Airlines.

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ravished: Song of Solomon 4

September 21, 2008 by David Baer

The uninhibited poet of Song of Solomon paints the portrait of two lovers drunk with love.

Each longs for the body, the company, the love of the other. Each describes in lavish detail the beauty of love’s object. Both are driven to behavior bordering on the outlandish by the surge of love’s private frenzy.

You have ravished my heart, my sister, my bride,
you have ravished my heart with a glance of your eyes,
with one jewel of your necklace.

Continue Reading »

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