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Monday, March 15, 2010

11:38PM - Church Fathers Day 23: St. Athanasius: Life of Anthony: Chaps. 21-30

I'm using a plan that has me reading through 10 of the Church Fathers during Lent this year. Yesterday was St. Athanasius: Life of Anthony: Chaps. 21-30.

I miss the narrative that the previous several days' readings had. Anthony is now teaching those who are around him. Today's reading is Anthony's description of demons and the ways of demons. It was pretty interesting.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

9:57PM - Church Fathers Day 22: St. Athanasius: Life of Anthony: Chaps. 11-20

I'm using a plan that has me reading through 10 of the Church Fathers during Lent this year. Yesterday was St. Athanasius: Life of Anthony: Chaps. 11-20. I fell behind again and am working to catch up. This catches me up since there are no readings on Sunday.

The story continues and Anthony goes out to live alone in an abandoned fort in the desert, where he lives for 20 years! When he emerged from the fort, he was amazing -- he was in good health, even though he had subsisted on only bread and water for those 20 years, he healed many people, both physically and spiritually. He was able to pass through crocodile-infested waters without harm.

I'm definitely enjoying this set of readings, since it reads like a story.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

10:05PM - Down With DST

You know I hate DST. When elected President, the first thing I do will be to eliminate it. In the mean time, here's the min-rant I wrote last year:

Don't forget that the evil that is DST visits us tonight. If you're not paying attention, you'll be an hour late for church.

As you know, I am a vocal advocate for eliminating Daylight Saving Time. Studies show that it wastes energy and costs more and is responsible for increased death and injury rates. Obviously, this is a horrible practice that should be abolished -- we are slaves to DST.

I'll be running for President again next time, on the anti-DST platform. Join me.

maeglin73 recently christened this lie "ACT: Arbitrarily Changed Time." That's exactly what it is. It's arbitrary. It's a joke. It's a lie. It causes more problems than it solves.

Remember: a lie agreed upon is not the truth. DST is a lie.

9:56PM - Church Fathers Day 21: St. Athanasius: Life of Anthony: Chaps. 1-10

I'm using a plan that has me reading through 10 of the Church Fathers during Lent this year. Yesterday was St. Athanasius: Life of Anthony: Chaps. 1-10. I fell behind again and am working to catch up. Once I fell behind the first time, it was easy to allow myself to both fall farther behind as well as fall behind again, after having caught back up.

This is pretty neat reading. Instead of instruction or preaching, I'm reading a story. I like the change of pace. Our hero, Anthony, starts the story as a wealthy Egyptian (raised Christian). After hearing some scripture passages and meditating on them, he decides to sell all he has and give the money to the poor. Then, he begins a journey of following Christ. Everywhere he turns, he is either comforted or instructed by a passage of scripture. He becomes a monk of sorts. He fight demons.

I'm looking forward to what happens next.

9:41PM - Church Fathers Day 20: St. Cyprian: On the Unity of the Church (Treatise I): Secs. 19-21

I'm using a plan that has me reading through 10 of the Church Fathers during Lent this year. Thursday was St. Cyprian: On the Unity of the Church: 19-27. I fell behind again and am working to catch up.

I was struck by the pretty straight-forward manner in which this reading was delivered. Much of the information sounded familiar, like from the epistles with which I am familiar, but it was presented in a fresh manner. Towards the end, the tone switched from instruction to preaching, which helped reinforce the instruction by making it more personal.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

7:41AM - In Praise Of Early Rising

I got up early today. About 5:30, I think. Yeah, I know that's "normal" time for many of you, but I'm usually not up and going 'til about 8:00, so this was very early for me.

I like it.

I managed to get so much more done this morning than I usually do in a day. I made myself a good breakfast (beef sausage, an egg, bagel). I caught up on all the dishwashing that I never seem to be able to do in the evenings. I read all the internet news/blogs/etc. I wanted to read without feeling rushed.

It's invigorating.

The past few weeks have been tough. I had a particularly exhausting week at work last week. Activities surrounding a funeral over the weekend kept me off-schedule. I had the worst night of sleep I've had in a long, long time this past Sunday night. When I woke up Monday, I knew there nothing I'd be able to accomplish at work. I was just too run down. So I called in a sick day and went back to bed. By Monday evening, I was feeling much better. Yesterday went well, and I was asleep before midnight last night. My alarm this morning was set for 6:15, but I ended waking up -- not tired -- at about 5:30, so I just decided to get up and get on with the day.

Best decision I've made in a while.

I'm looking forward to a productive day. Being able to be at the office over an hour before I usually arrive should help get that started well.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

9:50PM - Church Fathers Day 19: St. Cyprian: On the Unity of the Church (Treatise I): Secs. 10-18

I'm using a plan that has me reading through 10 of the Church Fathers during Lent this year. Today was St. Cyprian: On the Unity of the Church: 10-18. I'm caught up again.

He seems to concentrate on heresies at the beginning, move into martyrdom for a little bit, then shit to some straight-ahead teaching based on both the Gospels and Paul's letters. Again, I think I'm going to have to read this again some other time to really get a grip on it.

9:41PM - Church Fathers Day 18: St. Cyprian: On the Unity of the Church (Treatise I): 1-9

I'm using a plan that has me reading through 10 of the Church Fathers during Lent this year. Yesterday was St. Cyprian: On the Unity of the Church: 1-9. I'm catching up.

This style of writing is different than what I've been reading lately, so it took a little bit to get into it. Seems to be some pretty straightforward writing about the history of the church and how everything should generally work together. I'll probably have to read this again later to get a better understanding.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

11:30PM - Church Fathers Day 17: St. Justin Martyr: First Apology: 60-68

I'm using a plan that has me reading through 10 of the Church Fathers during Lent this year. Yesterday was St. Justin Martyr: First Apology: Chaps. 60-68. I'm catching up.

Now St. Justin Martyr is talking about Plato, briefly. He also talks about how God appeared to Moses. What I am finding most interesting, however, is how he describes Christian theology as it relates to the theology he is seeing all around him. E.g.:

CHAPTER LXIV -- FURTHER MISREPRESENTATIONS OF THE TRUTH.

From what has been already said, you can understand how the devils, in imitation of what was said by Moses, asserted that Proserpine was the daughter of Jupiter, and instigated the people to set up an image of her under the name of Kore [Cora, i.e., the maiden or daughter] at the spring-heads. For, as we wrote above, Moses said, "In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form and unfurnished: and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." In imitation, therefore, of what is here said of the Spirit of God moving on the waters, they said that Proserpine [or Coral was the daughter of Jupiter. And in like manner also they craftily feigned that Minerva was the daughter of Jupiter, not by sexual union, but, knowing that God conceived and made the world by the Word, they say that Minerva is the first conception [ennoia]; which we consider to be very absurd, bringing forward the form of the conception in a female shape. And in like manner the actions of those others who are called sons of Jupiter sufficiently condemn them.

11:20PM - Church Fathers Day 16: St. Justin Martyr: First Apology: 48-59

I'm using a plan that has me reading through 10 of the Church Fathers during Lent this year. Last Saturday was St. Justin Martyr: First Apology: Chaps. 48-59. I'm catching up.

After the last reading concentrated on prophecy, today's reading was a natural progression. It continued with the discussion on prophecy in general, but quickly grounded it in the historical context of Christ. After discussing that for a bit, St. Justin Martyr moves to discussing contemporary (for him) theology, like Jupiter.

Monday, March 8, 2010

11:35PM - Church Fathers Day 15: St. Justin Martyr: First Apology: 36-47

I'm using a plan that has me reading through 10 of the Church Fathers during Lent this year. Last Friday was St. Justin Martyr: First Apology: Chaps. 36-47. I'm catching up.

Starting right of the bat with this reading is pretty interesting, talking about different modes of prophecy:

But when you hear the utterances of the prophets spoken as it were personally, you must not suppose that they are spoken by the inspired themselves, but by the Divine Word who moves them. For sometimes He declares things that are to come to pass, in the manner of one who foretells the future; sometimes He speaks as from the person of God the Lord and Father of all; sometimes as from the person of Christ; sometimes as from the person of the people answering the Lord or His Father, just as you can see even in your own writers, one man being the writer of the whole, but introducing the persons who converse.

Then he goes on to give examples from Scripture where prophecy came as spoken by the Father, by the Son, and by the Spirit. That's pretty cool, and I wish someone had explained that to me in this manner when I was first introduced to prophetic writing. A little later, he also treats the question that always tripped me up, an always trips up my students whenever I teach from the prophetic writings: why are descriptions of future events written in the past tense?

CHAPTER XLII -- PROPHECY USING THE PAST TENSE.

But when the Spirit of prophecy speaks of things that are about to come to pass as if they had already taken place,--as may be observed even in the passages already cited by me,--that this circumstance may afford no excuse to readers [for misinterpreting them], we will make even this also quite plain. The things which He absolutely knows will take place, He predicts as if already they had taken place. And that the utterances must be thus received, you will perceive, if you give your attention to them. The words cited above, David uttered 1500 years before Christ became a man and was crucified; and no one of those who lived before Him, nor yet of His contemporaries, afforded joy to the Gentiles by being crucified. But our Jesus Christ, being crucified and dead, rose again, and having ascended to heaven, reigned; and by those things which were published in His name among all nations by the apostles, there is joy afforded to those who expect the immortality promised by Him.

Friday, March 5, 2010

12:38AM - Church Fathers Day 14: St. Justin Martyr: First Apology: 24-35

I'm using a plan that has me reading through 10 of the Church Fathers during Lent this year. Today was St. Justin Martyr: First Apology: Chaps. 24-35.

I saw two themes in today's reading. The first dealt with describing other religions of the time. It was an interesting peek into the ideas that competed with early Christianity. The second theme dealt with the history of Christ. It is focused on the Scriptures that prophesied his coming.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

12:10AM - Church Fathers Day 13: St. Justin Martyr: First Apology: 12-23

I'm using a plan that has me reading through 10 of the Church Fathers during Lent this year. Today was St. Justin Martyr: First Apology: Chaps. 12-23.

I like how he used a large part of this portion to review Christ's teaching. Much of it was a direct quote from the gospels. I also like how he compares Christian theology with Roman theology -- i.e., the virgin birth of Christ is similar to the sons of Jupiter.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

11:08PM - Church Fathers Day 12: St. Justin Martyr: First Apology: 1-11

I'm using a plan that has me reading through 10 of the Church Fathers during Lent this year. Today was St. Justin Martyr: First Apology: Chaps. 1-11.

The style is very different from what I've been reading to this point. I like the change of pace, and I really like the style of laying out a logical, well-reasoned argument.

Monday, March 1, 2010

10:48PM - Church Fathers Day 11: St. Ignatius of Antioch: Letter to Polycarp: complete

I'm using a plan that has me reading through 10 of the Church Fathers during Lent this year. Today was St. Ignatius of Antioch: Letter to the Polycarp. It's the last reading from St. Ignatius in the lenten readings.

I love it, more calls for unity: Have a regard to preserve unity, than which nothing is better. I also see more instruction that is similar to what is found in Scripture: care for widows, love for all, etc. All in all, a rather short letter, too.

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