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June 30, 2003

Sorry, I seem to have misplaced my theologian

Filed under: Books — Camassia @ 6:33 pm

For those of you who have been eagerly awaiting the next installment of the historical-Jesus discussion (click here if you don’t know what I’m talking about), I am sorry to say it will probably not continue. Telford has been insanely busy with buying a house, and I’ve had a hard time communicating with him at all. I didn’t even talk to him at church yesterday — I saw him in the pews, but somehow I couldn’t find him afterwards before he took off. He says he looked around for me too, but we never connected. It was very aggravating — like when you know your keys are in the living room somewhere, but you just can’t find them. (Only your keys, at least, aren’t going to walk out to the car and drive to Pasadena.)

Last week I sent him an email suggesting we drop the discussion, both because of his distractions and because I’ve been finding the book frustrating. It’s not really the book’s fault — it’s just not a good place for me to start learning about historical Jesus research. As I wrote to him:

As I said on Sunday, a large part of the problem is
the lack of actual historical evidence in the book. If
you saw my posts about this in April, you might have
seen how I’m asking very basic questions: what are the
sources? How reliable are they? How do we know who
wrote them, when they were written? And so on. The
book basically skates over those questions, because
that’s not really its point: it’s about the *meaning*
of Jesus, after all, not the documentation. I think I
need to start with something that deals with those
more fundamental issues….

Another thing I noticed is that you seem to have Borg
and me both under the category of “skeptic.” So if
even the skeptical Borg accepts that the resurrection
happened, I should be impressed.

The problem is, I don’t think Borg is really a
skeptic. He’s a believer in a different version of
Christianity than you and Wright; and he’s actually
pretty shameless about how he’s making his research
fit his beliefs. As you noted in the first chapter,
his pre-Easter/post-Easter thing was all driven by the
fact that he didn’t like the Jesus he got from not
having it. And as I’ve read more of him, I see that
pattern repeating. This whole “Spirit person” concept
is not the work of a skeptic, it’s the work of someone
with a strong belief in how God moves in the world.
Unlike you I don’t dismiss it out of hand, but it’s
obvious how it’s affecting his view of history.

I asked if he could perhaps suggest a different book. He wrote in an email this morning that he’d try to get to it today, though if it follows the usual pattern he’ll probably write me after I’ve gone to bed, so I doubt I’ll have an answer today. At any rate, if I start another book I’ll blog it, but I’ll probably do it, er, Telflessly.

If you’re interested in Marcus Borg, Lynn has her second post up about another one of his books. (The first one was here.) He sounds pretty much like I would expect from what I’ve read, which is interesting but also somewhat at variance with where I’m coming from. I suspect that to an evangelical Christian like Telford, a way-liberal Christian like Borg and a Christian-leaning liberal nonbeliever like me probably look closer together than we are. As Lynn says, Borg writes from the point of view of someone who’s fallen out with traditional Christianity but is trying to find his way back to Jesus; I, however, was never with Jesus and am not going “back,” but going forwards (or trying to).

Anyway, I’ll let you all know what’s going to happen, as soon as I know. Stay tuned, true believers (or true nonbelievers, as the case may be!).

From the Barbary Coast

Filed under: Politics and society — Camassia @ 2:29 pm

Cinderella Bloggerfeller has a couple of interesting posts (one and two) about the Berbers, the indigenous people of North Africa. A good reminder that the “Arab world” is nowhere entirely Arab.

June 29, 2003

I think I have a cat

Filed under: Personal stuff — Camassia @ 8:45 pm

Or at least, I share one. There’s this large black-and-white beastie — I’m guessing male, based on the size — that I’ve seen hanging around the building the last month or so. It bears an uncanny resemblance to Kevin Drum’s Inkblot. (Inkblot hasn’t gone missing lately, has he?)

About a week ago it appeared on my balcony, staring intently at the birds that like to perch on the outdoor light. On a whim I opened the sliding door, and in it came. It wandered around in that agitated way of cats in new places, sniffing and rubbing its face against everything. It seemed hungry so I fed it some milk, which it eagerly lapped up. It let me pet it and eventually started purring, though it never really settled down.

After a short visit it took off, and I thought maybe it went back to its real servant — er, owner. But yesterday it came by again, and today it’s here again. It’s out on the balcony now, in fact, and isn’t leaving.

I miss having a cat. I had a cat that I knew literally its whole life — we owned his mother, and I watched him be born. I miss the furriness, the cuddliness, the hedonism, the devotion, even the inexplicable behaviors, like how he used to get in the bathtub and yowl at nothing. Cats remind you that how you perceive the world is just one of many possible ways.

Seven years ago my cat died after a long decline from kidney failure. I haven’t gotten a cat since then partly because I’ve been living in apartments that don’t allow pets (though I don’t think that applies here, since at least one neighbor has a dog), but also because the responsibility feels so daunting. By the time my cat died I was his sole caretaker; he had never known life without me, and I was his whole world. It was the closest I’ve yet come to having a child, I guess. So it’s nice having this new cat visit, but what if it decides to adopt me? Am I ready for that?

June 28, 2003

Niche marketing

Filed under: Humor — Camassia @ 8:20 am

Yesterday a friend and I went to see Finding Nemo (it was fun, but probably doesn’t require any great discussion), and then had dinner at Islands, a sort of tikki-bar-style restaurant chain here in SoCal. It’s goofy, but fun: there are faux-Polynesian idols and whatnot decorating the walls, thatched “roofs” over the booths, and TV monitors scattered around showing surfing videos (though last night, for some reason, they were showing snowboarding). The food is pretty tasty.

Before dinner we ordered cocktails, and I got a rum-and-fruit-juice concoction called a Shipwreck. Afterwards I remarked that even though the drink was tall, it wasn’t very strong. “It’s not really a Shipwreck,” I said. “It’s more of a Gentle Beaching.”

My friend liked this so much he said all drinks should have alternate names for their weaker versions. Here are some we came up with:

Mudslide – Mud Puddle
Kamikaze – Paper Plane
Avalanche – Falling Snowflakes
Orgasm – Foreplay

Hmm, maybe that drink affected me more than I thought…

June 26, 2003

I know from righteous, I know from sin

Filed under: Politics and society — Camassia @ 6:52 pm

I’ve been thinking the last couple days about politics. Not any political event in particular, but about my own politics. I read a lot of political blogs, as can be seen from my blogroll, but I rarely post on political subjects any more.

Almost two years ago, when I first started reading blogs, I was reading a rather different set than I am now. I think the first blogger I read regularly was Andrew Sullivan, and through him I got connected to blogs of rightward or libertarian bents. Virginia Postrel and Eve Tushnet were some early ones whom I still read, but there are some others — Steven den Beste, Tim Blair, Charles Oliver — that I haven’t been to in ages. When you look at the ones I dropped and the ones I’ve added, you can see two definite trends: leftward and Christian. The fact that I wound up here at notfrisco seems somehow inevitable.
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June 25, 2003

Dreamtime

Filed under: Christology — Camassia @ 7:29 pm

Other bloggers have already noted Lynn’s fine essay last week on why Catholics are not idolatrous pagans. It spawned the longest comments thread I’ve ever seen on Lynn’s site, which took off in an interesting direction of its own.

Mac Swift, who started off this whole furor with his post, referred to an 1831 book called The Two Babylons to support his claim that the Eucharist is actually an appropriation of an Egyptian ritual celebrating the death and rebirth of Osiris, and is therefore not really Christian. Lynn pointed out that the same claim was used in a more recent book, The Jesus Mysteries, to claim that Jesus himself was an appropriated god and the historical Jesus didn’t exist.

That claim rang a faint bell. I think someone was arguing for it on a message board I used to frequent a few years ago. I have been thinking about the fact that, as I’m reading a book about the historical Jesus from a highly skeptical point of view, I don’t take seriously the idea that Jesus didn’t exist. Anything’s possible, I suppose, but I’m basically operating under the assumption that there was a person called Jesus.
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Talking to brick walls

Filed under: Orthopraxis — Camassia @ 6:35 pm

Tom is sounding a bit pessimistic about fellow Catholics who are unclear on the “blessed are the poor” concept when it interferes with their political conservatism.

Recently I heard a story from a young man who was engaged in the very Protestant custom of church-shopping. One he liked until he asked the pastor what the church did by way of service.

“Oh, we don’t really do that.”

So what, he asked, was their theory of Christian living?

“Mostly, we take after James Dobson.”

Well, that was it for that church.

June 24, 2003

Tabula rasa

Filed under: Miscellaneous — Camassia @ 5:56 pm

All righty, I put a new template style on that, being blank, should be easier to personalize, and that seems easier to read (I don’t know about you, but I found that small grey type to be pretty eye-hostile). The proportions seem a little off on my computer, but I’ve noticed blogs look different on different machines, so maybe it’s OK to most people. I’m hunting around for coding info, and as I get the hang of it I hope to beautify the place.

UPDATE: OK, got a tip from Movable Type’s board that fixed the problem. On my computer at least. If anyone sees anything else funny, let me know.

June 23, 2003

A separate union

Filed under: Politics and society — Camassia @ 7:20 pm

It’s interesting to me that Noah Millman and Josh Claybourn, two political and religious conservatives, are both inching toward the same position on gay marriage: that it should have some status that is legally equivalent to, but not culturally or religiously the same as, heterosexual marriage. Josh and his various commenters note that there has long been a blurring of church and state in regard to marriage. I imagine the blurring hasn’t been noticed much till now because, except for the business with the Mormons 100 years ago, there hasn’t been much happening to draw attention to it.

I think Noah makes a good point that marriage isn’t just a legal status — it’s a cultural myth, in the best sense of the word:

When a Jewish boy is circumcised, one of the prayers recited is the hope that the boy will be reared to torah, huppah and ma’asim tovim – study, the wedding canopy, and righteous deeds. Our account of the Creation culminates first with the creation of male and female as natural and equal partners, and then retells the story of our creation specifically to illustrate how we are one flesh, working the myth of marriage into the very fabric of the universe. These myths are present at every wedding ceremony, and they are essential cement to help hold a marriage together through the inevitable tough times…

Gay couples need their own myth if their unions are to be something other than and greater than friendships. I do not belittle friendship, and certainly one’s spouse should be one’s friend, but friendship is not the same thing as marriage, and the advocates of gay unions sometimes suggest that it is – that marriage is, to use a phrase current in the college set, “friendship with privileges.”

I don’t know how it will all work out eventually. But Noah’s and Josh’s posts both seem to underscore a point Andrew Sullivan makes a lot: for the younger generation, gay people are a fact of life. It doesn’t matter whether you like them or approve of them; you’re not getting rid of them by acting like they don’t exist. This is something that separates young conservatives from the old, and it will be interesting to see where it leads.

Can I get a witness?

Filed under: Interfaith relations,Orthopraxis — Camassia @ 5:43 pm

Rob at ConNiPtionNs wrote a post inveighing against “witnessing”:

I don’t really get this “witnessing,” but I am subjected it to it quite often. Do these people get points for talking to people about their version of christianity? Do they get even more points for converts? Didn’t Jesus say:

And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. – Matthew 6:5-6

In the comments to Joel’s post on the subject, I remarked that while Jesus denounced showy piety, he did tell his followers to go forth and evangelize. Rob answered:

And I do think these are two different issues: the hypocrites who make a show of their “piety” and prosyletizing. However, I think many of the same people practice both. Jesus sent his followers out to proclaim the kingdom of heaven is at hand to the lost sheep of the house of Israel and not to pagans or gentiles (who they referred to as “dogs and swine”). Jesus said that he was himself “sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Matthew 15:24)

That’s an interesting idea, and I’m thinking it might come up in the historical-Jesus discussion, which should resume once Telford catches his breath. (I saw him and his wife yesterday, and man, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anyone that tired on a Sunday morning who didn’t go to a good party the night before.) It sort of goes with Wright’s claim that Jesus’ “judgment talk” was not about eternity but specifically about the people he was talking to.

At any rate, I agree that bad witnessing is incredibly annoying to be subjected to. I’ve been subject to a lot of witnessing of all kinds lately, mostly voluntarily (I am a seeker, after all), and it seems to me that what makes good witnessing effective, and yet what also makes it difficult, is that you don’t just talk, you need to form a relationship. Some people with a conversion story did it on their own, but most people talk about friends or relatives or lovers or whoever who persuaded them over a course of time. I don’t know of anyone who’s been converted by someone on a street corner or who knocked at their door. In fact, I had a reporter friend who did a story on the Jehovah’s Witnesses in our area, and he found that many people he talked to who’d been door-knocking for years had never won a single convert.

I suppose such converts probably exist; there are all kinds out there. But that’s the point. People come in great variety and their spiritual paths wind different ways, and yet many proselytizers bring a one-size-fits-all message. This is what the Bible says. This is the right way to live. This is what Jesus did for me, so this is what he’ll do for you, if you’ll just stop being so obstinate.

At the other extreme, you sometimes find the attitude that everyone follows a different path, so this is something you should figure out on your own. I did that for some years, and some people seem to prefer that. But personally I find that the support and, yes, the witness of faithful people I know has been helpful to me spiritually. Even though I argue with them a lot, they’ve showed me a lot of ideas and viewpoints that I wouldn’t have figured out by myself. And they also show me I’m not alone in seeking, which you can get to feel like, if you come from a background as secular as mine.

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