Cambridge School Shakespeare

The Cambridge School Shakespeare series is useful for teaching and performing Shakespeare:

“An active approach to classroom Shakespeare enables students to inhabit Shakespeare’s imaginative world in accessible and creative ways. Students are encouraged to share Shakespeare’s love of language, interest in character and sense of theatre. Substantially revised and extended in full colour, classroom activities are thematically organised in distinctive ‘Stagecraft’, ‘Write about it’, ‘Language in the play’, ‘Characters’ and ‘Themes’ features. Extended glossaries are aligned with the play text for easy reference. Expanded endnotes include extensive essay-writing guidance for ‘Twelfth Night’ and Shakespeare. Includes rich, exciting colour photos of performances of ‘Twelfth Night’ from around the world.”

I have copies for several of my favorite plays:

  • Midsummer Nights Dream
  • Romeo and Juliet
  • Twelfth Night
  • Hamlet
  • Othello
  • King Lear

Other Resources:

  • Twelfth Night - movie directed by Trevor Nunn, starring Helena Bonham Carter, Ben Kingsley, Nigel Hawthorne, Imogen Stubbs
  • How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare, by Ken Ludwig. “I’ve been teaching Shakespeare to my children since they were six years old. I’m a bit of a Shakespeare fanatic, and it occurred to me when my daughter was in first grade that if there was any skill — any single area of learning and culture — that I could impart to her while we were both healthy and happy and able to share things together in a calm, focused, pre-teen way, then Shakespeare was it.”

With Shakespeare, memorizing is the key to everything.

“I know a bank where the wild thyme blows.”

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Several Faulkner Novels

The Library of America has five volumes of Faulkner’s works. For example:

Novels 1930–1935, containing As I Lay Dying, Sanctuary, Light in August, Pylon

Novels 1942–1954, containing Go Down, Moses, Intruder in the Dust, Requiem for a Nun, A Fable

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Feast Day: St Stephen the Martyr

A sermon of St Fulgentius of Ruspe

The armour of love

Yesterday we celebrated the birth in time of our eternal King. Today we celebrate the triumphant suffering of his soldier.
Yesterday our king, clothed in his robe of flesh, left his place in the virgin’s womb and graciously visited the world. Today his soldier leaves the tabernacle of his body and goes triumphantly to heaven.
Our king, despite his exalted majesty, came in humility for our sake; yet he did not come empty-handed. He brought his soldiers a great gift that not only enriched them but also made them unconquerable in battle, for it was the gift of love, which was to bring men to share in his divinity. He gave of his bounty, yet without any loss to himself. In a marvellous way he changed into wealth the poverty of his faithful followers while remaining in full possession of his own inexhaustible riches.
And so the love that brought Christ from heaven to earth raised Stephen from earth to heaven; shown first in the king, it later shone forth in his soldier. Love was Stephen’s weapon by which he gained every battle, and so won the crown signified by his name. His love of God kept him from yielding to the ferocious mob; his love for his neighbour made him pray for those who were stoning him. Love inspired him to reprove those who erred, to make them amend; love led him to pray for those who stoned him, to save them from punishment. Strengthened by the power of his love, he overcame the raging cruelty of Saul and won his persecutor on earth as his companion in heaven. In his holy and tireless love he longed to gain by prayer those whom he could not convert by admonition.
Now at last, Paul rejoices with Stephen, with Stephen he delights in the glory of Christ, with Stephen he exults, with Stephen he reigns. Stephen went first, slain by the stones thrown by Paul, but Paul followed after, helped by the prayer of Stephen. This, surely, is the true life, my brothers, a life in which Paul feels no shame because of Stephen’s death, and Stephen delights in Paul’s companionship, for love fills them both with joy. It was Stephen’s love that prevailed over the cruelty of the mob, and it was Paul’s love that covered the multitude of his sins; it was love that won for both of them the kingdom of heaven.
Love, indeed, is the source of all good things; it is an impregnable defence, and the way that leads to heaven. He who walks in love can neither go astray nor be afraid: love guides him, protects him, and brings him to his journey’s end.
My brothers, Christ made love the stairway that would enable all Christians to climb to heaven. Hold fast to it, therefore, in all sincerity, give one another practical proof of it, and by your progress in it, make your ascent together.
℟. Yesterday the Lord was born on earth, that Stephen might be born in heaven;* he entered into the world, that Stephen might enter into heaven.
℣. Yesterday our king came forth from the virgin’s womb, clothed in a garment of flesh;* he entered into the world, that Stephen might enter into heaven.
See also Msgr. Charles Pope’s meditation on the Bloody Octave of Christmas.
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Morality and Politics

Dennis Prager wrote the following:

The editor-in-chief of Christianity Today, Mark Galli, wrote an editorial calling for the impeachment of President Donald Trump.

In my view, this editorial only serves to confirm one of the sadder realizations of my life: that religious conviction guarantees neither moral clarity nor common sense.

The gist of the editorial—and of most religious and conservative opposition to President Trump—is that any good the president has done is dwarfed by his character defects.

This is an amoral view that says more about Galli than it does about the president. He and the people who share his opinion are making the following statement: No matter how much good this president does, it is less important than his character flaws.

Why is this wrong?

First, because it devalues policies that benefit millions of people.

And second, because it is a simplistic view of character.

I do not know how to assess a person’s character—including my own—outside of how one’s actions affect others. Since I agree with almost all of President Trump’s actions as president and believe they have positively affected millions of people, I have to conclude that as president, Trump thus far has been a man of particularly good character.

Of course, if you think his policies have harmed millions of people, you will assess his character negatively. But that is not what NeverTrump conservatives or Christians such as the Christianity Today editor-in-chief argue. They argue that his policies have indeed helped America (and even the world), but this fact is far less significant than his character.

In the words of Galli: “[I]t’s time to call a spade a spade, to say that no matter how many hands we win in this political poker game, we are playing with a stacked deck of gross immorality and ethical incompetence.”

This rhetorical sleight of hand reflects poorly on Galli’s intellectual and moral honesty.

Galli and every other Christian and conservative opponent of the president believe their concerns are moral, and that the president’s Christian and other conservative supporters are political.

This is simply wrong.

I and every other supporter of the president I know support him for moral reasons, not to win a “political poker game.” Galli’s view is purely self-serving; he’s saying, “We Christian and other conservative opponents of the president think in moral terms, while Christian and other conservative supporters of the president think in political terms.”

So, permit me to inform Galli and all the other people who consider themselves conservative and/or Christian that our support for the president is entirely moral.

To us, putting pressure on the Iranian regime—one of the most evil and dangerous regimes on Earth—by getting out of the Iran nuclear deal made by former President Barack Obama is a moral issue. Even New York Times columnist Bret Stephens, who loathes Trump, has written how important the president’s rejection of the Obama-Iran agreement has been.

To us, enabling millions of black Americans to find work—resulting in the lowest black unemployment rate ever recorded—is a moral issue.

To us, more Americans than ever being employed and almost 4 million Americans freed from reliance on food stamps is a moral issue.

To us, appointing more conservative judges than any president in history—over the same period of time—is a moral issue. That whether the courts, including the Supreme Court, are dominated by the Left or by conservatives is dismissed by Galli as “political poker” makes one question not only Galli’s moral thinking but also his moral theology.

To us, moving the American embassy to Israel’s capital city, Jerusalem—something promised by almost every presidential candidate—is a moral issue, not to mention profoundly courageous. And courage is a moral virtue.

To us, increasing the U.S. military budget—after the severe cuts of the previous eight years—is a moral issue. As conservatives see it, the American military is the world’s greatest guarantor of world peace.

Yet, none of these things matter to Galli and other misguided Christians and conservatives. What matters more to them is Trump’s occasional crude language and intemperate tweets, what he said about women in a private conversation and his having committed adultery.

Regarding adultery, that sin is for spouses and God to judge. There is no connection between marital sexual fidelity and moral leadership. I wish there were. And as regards the “Access Hollywood” tape, every religious person, indeed every thinking person, should understand that there is no connection between what people say privately and their ability to be a moral leader. That’s why I wrote a column for the Wall Street Journal 20 years ago defending Hillary Clinton when she was charged with having privately expressed anti-Semitic sentiments.

That the editor of Christianity Today thinks the president’s personal flaws, whatever they might be, are more important than all the good he has done for conservatives, for Christians, for Jews, for blacks, and for America tells us a lot . . . about Galli and the decline of Christian moral thought.

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Victor Davis Hanson on Spygate, Impeachment, and Undoing the Progressive Agenda

Here’s a useful, wide ranging, hour long interview with Victor Davis Hanson

 

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Dying and the Virtues

In the useful book “Dying and the Virtues”, Matthew Levering writes:

Underscoring the significance of dying, the Orthodox philosopher Nicholas Berdyaev comments that “a system of ethics which does not make death its central problem has no value and is lacking in depth and earnestness.” Similarly, Socrates observed that “true philosophers make dying their profession, and … to them of all men death is least alarming.” Even if this is an exaggeration, as Samuel Johnson insists it is in his novel Rasselas, it remains the case that virtue ethics takes shape around the human journey which culminates in dying. In a book on the art of dying, the virtue ethicist Christopher Vogt focuses “on three virtues that are essential for a contemporary development of the Christian art of dying well: patience, compassion, and hope.” Among the many virtues of dying, I will explore the following nine: love, hope, faith, penitence, gratitude, solidarity, humility, surrender, and courage.

. . .

In the present book, I examine nine virtues of dying, but I explore these virtues by taking up numerous other topics. These topics are carefully chosen to display some of the most importand sources for Christian understanding of death: the book of Job, Ezekiel 20, the dying of Jesus Christ, the dying of the first martyr (Stephen), Hebrews 11, Gregory of Nyssa’s account of the dying of his sistem Macrina, the tradition of ars moriendi (Robert Bellarmine, Francis de Sales, Jean-Pierre de Caussade), the consolations of philosophy (Josef Pieper), the divine mercy (Faustina Kowalska), the sacrament of anointing of the sick, liberation theology’s emphasis on solidarity with those who are suffering, biblical eschatology, and contemporary medical perspectives — in addition to the fear of annihilation expressed so frequently in elite culture today, and to the New Age spirituality that is popular in less intellectual circles. My book is therefore a work on the border of virtue ethics and other theological, exegetical, and cultural domains, as required by the effort to retrieve and engage Christian resources on dying. Balthasar notes that those “who follow the Lamb wherever he goes” (Rev 14:4) are botyh those who follow him from life into death and those who follow him from death into life….under the law of living and dying for others (for all). We need to be among those who follow Jesus in this way, because the life of the Lamb — of possessing in order to give away — is the only true and meaningful mode of living, just as it is the only true and meaningful mode of dying.

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The Hundredfold

In the introduction to his poem The Hundredfold, Anthony Esolen writes:

I am a battered old soldier on bad knees, who knows that the hill must be charged and who knows of one or two ways it might be done. He takes up the torn standard of the cross and hobbles up the first reaches of that height, crying out instructions that he himself has not the strength to fulfill, teaching more by audacity and exposure than by success, willing to look like a fool, to be shot down in the first volleys, but knowing that unless he or someone like him does this, the hill will remain always in the fist of the enemy.

Here’s a review of Dr. Esolen’s poem, by Beth Impson.

I’ve been waiting for this poem/book for a while. Whenever I read Tony’s essays I wonder “He’s advocating for something, but when will he write it rather than write about it?”. Now I don’t have to wait.

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God in a Godless Time

From Leszek Kolakowski’s essay God in a Godless Time

….

The world in which we live, however, is not a world of people who are fixed in satisfied and contented lives of belief or unbelief. It is much more an era of refugees and exiles, the “eternal Jew” searching for a lost—spiritual or physical—homeland. In this nomadic life nothing is certain, nothing is guaranteed, nothing is finally set in stone, nothing—apart from wandering—is unquestionably given.

A God who once confirmed the well-established order of values, social relations, rules of thought, and the physical cosmos and who was meant to be the dome over this order is no longer there because the order itself is no longer visible. So long as people could trust the durability of this order, the godless also had their place in it (I only have the Christian-European civilization in view). Whether they counted as mistaken, as crazy, or as messengers from hell, their place within the recognized world order was accounted for. Whether they were also persecuted, punished, or sentenced to death, they were in a sense fortunate, because not only was their cause secure, it was also spiritually worry-free.

But along with the self-confidence of belief, the self-confidence of unbelief has also been broken. In contrast to the cozy world of old, protected by the well-intentioned, friendly Nature of the atheistic Enlightenment, the godless world of today is perceived as an afflicted, eternal chaos. It is robbed of all meaning, all direction, all road signs, and all structure. Thus spoke Zarathustra. For over a hundred years, since Nietzsche announced the death of God, one has rarely seen cheerful atheists. A world in which a person is left to his own powers, in which he has declared himself a free lawgiver for any order of good and evil, in which he—freed from the condition of a slave of God—had hoped to recapture his lost worth, this world has transformed itself into a place of endless worry. The absence of God became the ever more open wound of the European spirit, even as it slipped off into oblivion, brought on by an artificial anesthetic. Let us simply compare the godless world of Diderot, Helvétius, and Feuerbach with that of Kafka, Camus, and Sartre. The collapse of Christianity that was so joyfully awaited by the Enlightenment took place almost simultaneously with the collapse of the Enlightenment itself. The new, shining order of anthropocentrism that was built up in place of the fallen God never came. What happened? Why was the fate of atheism in such a strange way tied to that of Christianity, so that the two enemies accompanied one another in their misfortune and in their insecurity?

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On Atheism

In a wonderful article from First Things entitled “God, Gods, and Fairies” , David Bentley Hart writes regarding atheism:

It is the embrace of an infinite paradox: the universe understood as an “absolute contingency.” It may not amount to a metaphysics in the fullest sense, since strictly speaking it possesses no rational content—it is, after all, a belief that all things rest upon something like an original moment of magic—but it is certainly far more than the mere absence of faith.

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The Unity of Scripture

From Patrick Reardon’s excellent book ‘Christ in the Psalms’ there is this reflection:

In short, the principle of canonical unity — even if we limit our attention just to the Hebrew Bible, or even a section within that Bible — is difficult to discern simply by an examination of the canon taken by itself. The canon, even the the Old Testament canon, does not adequately explain its own unity.

Among the sundry attempts to address this inquiry I believe the most reasonable is that which searches for the unity of the biblical canon, not in some common trait within its disparate literary components, but in some prior and non-literary principle — namely the objective historical continuity of the chosen people of God. That is to say, the canonical unity of the Hebrew Scriptures is not found in the Scriptures, but in the quid continuum called “Israel”.

What I have in mind to affirm here was expressed succinctly several years ago by Remi Braque: “The unity of the Bible does not reside in the text itself, but in the experience of the people of Israel. That experience constitutes the common background upon which and in the light of which the texts have continuously been read and reread” (‘The Wisdom of the World‘, p. 44). Even in the Old Testament, in other words, ecclesiology — the people of God -= is the basis and principle of canonicity. The congregation precedes the canon.

If this point is granted, what may we say with regard to our original question: the incorporation of the apostolic writings into the same canon ancient Hebrew Scriptures? A form of the same argument, I believe, is warranted in this case too. That is to say, the inclusion of the apostolic writings into the Bible is justified — indeed, it is required — by the historical continuity joining ancient Israel and the Christian Church. The governing principle of the Bible’s table of contents is that single quid continuum which is Israel-and-the-Church.

The historical continuity of Israel and the Church — as a single people of God down through the ages — was described by St. Paul in organic terms. For him, there was just one Israel, a single quid continuum, where certain branches (the Israelite remnant - Romans 11:2-5) are native to the stock, while others have been engrafted, so that both are fed from the same root (11:17). Paul did not that the Christian Church “branched off” from Israel. On the contrary, it was “branched in”!

There is one Bible, then, because it cam forth from the one ekklesia, that of the Old Testament and the New. With respect to the Holy Scriptures, it is a matter of historical fact — and should be promoted as a theological principle — the ecclesiology precedes canonicity. Church comes first, then Scriptures.

And what joins the Church to ancient Israel? Only Christ. Why, after all, should we be interested in those ancient Hebrew writings? What connection do they have with us? And I answer, those ancient books have no special connection with us except on account of Christ. Christ alone is our link to those writings.

That is to say, we don’t begin with the Old Testament; we begin with Christ. Christ is not only the Mediator between God and man; He is also the Mediator between the Old Testament and the Church.

As Christians, we only go to the Old Testament because it pertains to Jesus.. Otherwise the Old Testament is, for us non-Jews, just another ancient book. We accept it as our Bible only because it is Jesus’ Bible. In truth and strictly speaking, after all, it is only Christ that makes the Old Testament theologically pertinent to us. Without Christ, the Old Testament is not really our history. We have no continuity with it — it is not part of our memory — except through Christ. But that is more than enough!

The Christ proclaimed in the Gospel brings the Old Testament with Him in the proclamation. Indeed, the barest preaching of the Gospel includes the Old Testament, in the sense that what Jesus accomplished for our redemption was “according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). The Christ we proclaim is proclaimed as the fulfillment of the Scriptures. It is in these swaddling clothes that the Messiah is adorned.

Our Spirit-prompted acceptance of the Gospel, then, the saving gift of our faith by which we are joined to Christ, also joins us, through Christ, to the ancient faith of the Hebrews who awaited His coming.

Through Christ, their history becomes our history; we are engrafted into the Bible’s ongoing chronology. The Hebrew Scriptures become our own family narrative. The history of the Bible and the history of the Church form a single story, of which our lives — and our worship — are an integral part.

 

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Catechism Class

My catechism class, while using standard curriculum, aims to listen to and help each student and will focus on three main questions.

Who is God?

  1. Creator
  2. Father
  3. Incarnate ‘I Am’

What is the Church?

  1. Body of Christ
  2. Catholic
  3. Bride of Christ

How to be a Disciple?

  1. Faithful
  2. Patient
  3. Kind

The curriculum we’ll be using is ‘The Catholic Connections Handbook for Middle Schoolers”, the first three parts.

Schedule: 2019/2020

  • 9/08 Introduction - Bible, Liturgy of the Hours, Catechism
  • 9/15 - 1. Revelation, Scripture, and Tradition
  • 9/22 - 2. God the Father
  • 9/29 - 3. The Holy Trinity
  • 10/06 - 4. Creation
  • 10/13 Genesis, chapter 1
  • 10/27 - 5. The Human Person
  • 11/03 - 6. God’s Plan for Salvation
  • 11/10 - 7. Faith: Responding to God
  • 11/17 - 8. The Gospels
  • 11/24 Gospel of Matthew, chapter 5
  • 12/08 Gospel of John, chapter 1
  • 12/15 - 9. Jesus Christ, True God and True Man
  • 1/05 - 10. The Birth of Jesus
  • 1/12 - 11. Jesus Teaches
  • 1/26 - 12. Jesus Heals
  • 2/02 - 13. The Death of Jesus
  • 2/09 - 14. The Resurrection of Jesus
  • 2/23 - 15. The Holy Spirit
  • 3/01 Corinthians, chapter 13
  • 3/08 - 16. Grace and the Gifts of the Holy Spirit
  • 3/15 - 17. Pentecost and the Early Church
  • 4/05 - 18. The Mission of the Church
  • 4/19 - 19. The Structure of the Church
  • 4/26 - 20. End Things: Heaven and Hell
  • 5/03 - 21. Saints and Mary

There will also be an emphasis on the Psalms throughout the class year.

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About Autism

I love a good story, a book that maintains dramatic tension across several hundred pages. Recently I came across such a story in an unexpected place.

I work with computers, networks and software systems; nevertheless I’d like to know more about autism and ABA therapy. Such knowledge is hard to come by without becoming a clinician. I even have a now outdated copy of the standard ABA textbook - which is notably lacking in dramatic tension 🙂

In the 1993 book “Let Me Hear Your Voice“, Catherine Maurice (a pseudonym) describes what it was like dealing with autism thirty years ago. It’s a great story, and so, has not become outdated.

As to its current clinical value, I wouldn’t know. However, quoting from the afterword by Dr Ivar Lovaas: “Catherine Maurice presents the clearest description that I have read of the abnormal development of autistic children and the problems one encounters in seeking treatment for autism. By reading this book, students and professionals will gain a better understanding of the problems these children present and the stresses that parents experience. This understanding will enable them to offer more effective help.”

 

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A Painting

gospel

From this web posting. The Vocation of the Apostles is a fresco by the Italian Renaissance painter Domenico Ghirlandaio, executed in 1481–1482 and located in the Sistine Chapel, Rome. It depicts the Gospel narrative of Jesus Christ calling Peter and Andrew to become his disciples.

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The Church

MotherChurch

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How We Do Theology

Members of the Appalachian Riders for Our Lady are encouraged to introduce themselves as theologians. However, we are theologians in the unique style of our order with our work guided by, in addition to the basic character of our order, these four principles:

  1. Do theology for the milieu in which you are embedded.
  2. Ground your work in your particular booklist.
  3. Our theology is based on conversation rather than writing.
  4. Be patient.

 

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Sermons

I’ve listened to, on average, at least one sermon or homily every week for the last forty years. I continue to look forward to: a coherent exposition of the Scriptures, increasing my understanding and actualization of passages with which I have some familiarity and often opening up passages that somehow had not struck me before. While the quality of the homilies have varied widely from my viewpoint, listening is always useful and there is a cumulative weight that is significant, albeit hard to summarize.

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Counterbalancing Politics

If one is an atheist, it seems to me one of the major challenges is to counterbalance politics. Unless, of course, one also thinks that everything is politics; however, that way lies madness and no point in trying to argue in that case.

Now, I’m using atheism in a very broad sense. Buddhism and Confucianism are, to my way of thinking, religions and their adherents are not atheists. I’m also reminded that the Roman pagans sometimes thought Christians were atheists and that Socrates was sentenced to death for his impiety.

So, if one is an atheist but realizes the need to counterbalance politics, where will one find the counterbalance? A recent interview with Camilla Paglia gives one common answer: art or culture in general. I don’t think that works; nevertheless I admire at least the recognition that there does need to be some sort of major counterbalance to politics. I also note that Paglia has a new collection of essays out: Provocations: Collected Essays on Art, Feminism, Politics, Sex, and Education.

 

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Synodality

It seems clear that the purpose of synodality is to insert an authoritative structure between Pope and Bishops. Argument can be made that this is needed due to growth of the Church. However, by inserting a bureaucratic organization between the Pope and the Bishop, it would fundamentally alter the nature of the Church in a way that seems to be without Biblical warrant and for that matter without warrant in Christian tradition. Occasionally called Councils are one thing and even then fraught with problems. However, a bureaucratic structure is not personally and individually responsive to God’s promptings in the way that the individual, chosen by God, has been in the Tradition, both as recorded in Scripture and as expressed in the tradition of the Church.
Furthermore, the Church’s recent inability to cope with issues of sexuality and fiscal responsibility and Pope Francis’ tendency to cast any criticism as demonic persecution prompts one to be rather skeptical of this major reorganization effort.

Links:

https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/cti_documents/rc_cti_20180302_sinodalita_en.html

https://laciviltacattolica.com/the-synodal-church/

https://www.ncregister.com/blog/edward-pentin/final-draft-of-document-thrusts-the-issue-of-synodality-to-the-fore

 

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European Timeline

 

Saint Francis 1181/1182 – 3 October 1226

St Thomas Aquinas 1225 – 7 March 1274

Dante Alighieri 1265 – 1321

Giotto 1267 – January 8, 1337

Great Famine 1315–1322

Black Plague 1347-1352

Chaucer 1343 – 25 October 1400

St Catherine of Siena 1347-1380

Brunelleschi 1377 – April 15, 1446

Henry V 16 September 1386 – 31 August 1422

Gutenberg 1400 – February 3, 1468

Columbus 1451 – 20 May 1506

Machiavelli 3 May 1469 – 21 June 1527

Martin Luther 10 November 1483– 18 February 1546

Henry VIII 28 June 1491 – 28 January 1547

Council of Trent 1545-1563

Michelangelo 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564

St Teresa of Avila 1515-1582

Palestrina 1525 – 2 February 1594

Cervantes 1547 (assumed) – 22 April 1616

Galileo 5 February 1564– 8 January 1642

Shakespeare 26 April 1564 (baptized) – 23 April 1616

Monteverdi 15 May 1567 (baptized) – 29 November 1643

Newton 25 December 1642 – 20 March 1726/27

Vivaldi 4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741

Bach 1685 – 28 July 1750

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Honky-Tonk Gospel

While I often listen to music for entertainment, I prefer music that helps me think about the human condition, especially in the light of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. For this, Bob Dylan’s honky-tonk gospel is my main playlist. Furthermore, although Dylan’s early music is great, summarized in say the 1961-1985 survey Biograph, this honky-tonk gospel really only comes to the fore with his 1997 album Time Out of Mind, with its wonderful Passion sequence.

Lots of recordings of concerts are available via https://dimeadozen.org and are particularly interesting in their variety. When I’m in my Jeep, I generally listen to one of his commercial albums, for example:

  1. Bootleg #5, Rolling Thunder Revue
  2. Biograph
  3. The Music Which Inspired Girl from the North Country
  4. Toronto & Earls Court (Disk 6 & 8, Bootleg #13)
  5. Oh Mercy
  6. Bootleg #8, Tell-Tale Signs
  7. Time Out of Mind
  8. Modern Times

Currently, I’m expecting not rain but a forthcoming album of new Dylan songs.

Well, the last thing I remember before I stripped and knelled
Was that trainload of fools bogged down in a magnetic field
A gypsy with a broken flag and a flashing ring
Said, “Son, this ain’t a dream no more, it’s the real thing”

Señor, Señor, you know their hearts is as hard as leather
Well, give me a minute, let me get it together
I just gotta pick myself up off the floor
I’m ready when you are, Señor

 

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