Spiritual Sunday Like many, I am challenged by the Book of Job, which has provided the Old Testament reading for the past three Sundays. Of course, nothing is more baffling than why bad things happen to good people, at least if you believe in a benevolent deity. Milton grapples with this question when, in Paradise […]
Monthly Archives: October 2018
Searching for God in Suffering
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Archibald MacLeish, Bog of Job, human suffering, J.B., Old Testament Comments closed
Poetry vs. Saudi Atrocities
Friday I have shared this Carolyn Forché atrocity poem in the past when Trump wanted to reinstate CIA black sites and bring back waterboarding, but I didn’t think I would ever apply it to actual dismemberments. This is where we are, however, so I’m posting it again. The Saudis dismembered Washington Post journalist and American permanent […]
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Colonel", Carolyn Forché, Donald Trump, Jamal Khashoggi, kidnapping of a journalist, Mohammed bin Salman Comments closed
Returning to the Misty Past
John Gatta’s “Spirits of Place” is helping me understand why I have chosen to retire in my home town. Wordsworth, Stowe, Homer, and Frost help out as well.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Death of the Hired Man", "Pulley", George Herbert, Harriet Beecher Stowe, home, Homer, John Gatta, Odyssey, retirement, Robert Frost, Sewanee, Tintern Abbey, Uncle Tom's Cabin, William Wordsworth Comments closed
Befouling America’s Future
MacDonald’s “Princess and Curdie” has an apocalyptic image that captures how Trump is fouling America’s future.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged climate change, corruption, George MacDonald, Princess and Curdie, Trump administration Comments closed
U.S. Is Still Fighting the Civil War
Michael Shaara’s “Killer Angels” has me thinking that a version of the Civil War is still on-going.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Battle of Gettysburg, Civil War, Killer Angels, Michael Shaara, white entitlement Comments closed
At Last We Have Water, Water Everywhere
I celebrate the water once again running through our house with a Coleridge passage.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged plumbing problems, Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, water Comments closed
Spirituality in Nature
John Gatta’s “Spirit of Place in American Literary Culture” explains why we find certain places, in nature and in civilization, to be infused with spirit.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Aeneid, Denise Levertov, eco-criticism, Gary Snyder, Geoffrey Chaucer, Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, sprit of place, Virgil, Wife of Bath Comments closed
Climate Change, a Witch’s Curse
Leslie Marmon Silko has an account of ecological disaster in her novel “Ceremony” (also “Almanac of the Dead” that is only too relevant.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Ceremony, climate change, Donald Trump, Leslie Marmon Silko Comments closed
A Fable that Explains Charity
Scott Bates finds less than altruistic motives behind charitable acts but note that they end up in the right place anyway.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Seven Charitable Chimpanzees", Altruism, Scott Bates Comments closed
