Saturday, March 07, 2020

Pearce on the theology of the Lord of the Rings

I ran across this video of Joseph Pearce addressing students at Christendom College about the Catholicism of the Lord of the Rings. I hesitate to look at things like that because I'm afraid it is just going to be an allegorical catalog--like "Aragorn is this, the Ring is that...."

It was refreshing to see that Pearce's analysis was not cursory and shallow, but marked by careful attention to the theological structure of the story and by perceptive spiritual insight.

I was going to say "piercing" spiritual insight, but I thought that might be too cute by half.

Friday, March 06, 2020

The spiritual cancer of blaming

We all have pasts that have shaped our present decisions and reactions, for good or ill. It is impossible to be completely free from the influence, no matter how much we want to be freed.

On the other hand, it seems that we have a tendency to exonerate ourselves from responsibility for our present life by blaming it on our past experiences.

As an adult I have a choice whether to let the past determine my present or not. Granted that our past traumas can cause physiological changes that condition our character, it is not true that we are trapped by the consequences of our part traumas. Healing cannot really begin until I accept responsibility for my life and cease putting the blame for my present difficulties and defects on anyone or anything else.

Blaming feeds resentment. Resentment is a cancer that poisons our relationships and our souls. It prevents genuine forgiveness--which is refusing to treat another according to his past offense, but rather as a beautiful child of God whom I can help flourish by being a channel of Divine charity. If I continue to punish the other because of my past or present pain, I cannot be light for the other.

Thursday, March 05, 2020

Eighth Day Books

Maclin Horton noted Eighth Day Books on the Light on Dark Water blog. I guess I was vaguely aware of it in the past. It appears to have an Orthodox origin, if I read the catalog correctly. At any rate, if I were a book-buying person, I would certainly want a lot of the books in the catalog.

Here is the range of topics. Wow:


Art
  -  American
  -  Appreciation
  -  Architecture
  -  Art History
  -  By Artist
  -  By Period
  -  By Region
  -  Essays and Criticism
  -  General History
  -  Graphic Design
  -  Photography
  -  Reference
  -  Sacred Art

Biblical Studies
  -  Bibles (English and Other Languages)
  -  Biblical Reference
  -  General
  -  General New Testament
  -  General Old Testament
  -  Intertestamental
  -  Jesus
  -  New Testament Commentaries
  -  Old Testament Commentaries
  -  Paul
  -  Used Bibles
Biography

C. S. Lewis and Friends
Calendars
Catechetical Studies
  -  East
Catholic Studies
  -  Catechetical
Children's
  -  Activity Books
  -  Art, Music & Poetry
  -  Biography
  -  Christmas
  -  Dover
  -  First Books
  -  General
  -  Graded Readers
  -  History
  -  Mythology & Folklore
  -  Picture Books
  -  Science & Sports
  -  Stories of Faith
  -  Young Adult Fiction
Church History
  -  Celtic Studies
  -  Early
  -  General Topics
  -  Medieval
  -  Modern
  -  Reformation

Desert Tradition
  -  Primary Sources
  -  Secondary Sources

Eastern Christendom
  -  Catechetical Studies
Education
  -  Parenting & Childcare
Eighth Day Press
Essays, Criticism & Memoir
  -  If You Want to Write

Fiction & Literature
  -  About Reading
  -  Drama
  -  Literature Anthologies
  -  Mythology & Folklore
  -  Shakespeare
  -  Theatre & Film
Foreign Language Texts
  -  East Asian
  -  French
  -  German & Dutch
  -  Greek & Latin
  -  Middle East & Africa
  -  Miscellaneous Languages
  -  Romance Languages
  -  Scandinavian
  -  Slavic
  -  South Asian
  -  Spanish

Gift Books & Journals
  -  Art
  -  Journals & Address Books
  -  Photography & Coffee Table Books
  -  Poetry
  -  Seasonal
  -  Serendipities
  -  Stationary
  -  Typography
Greek & Latin Classics

Health
  -  Cookbooks
History
  -  Americana
  -  Ancient
  -  Asian
  -  Byzantine
  -  European
  -  General Topics
  -  Greek & Roman
  -  Jewish History
  -  Kansas & Regional
  -  Latin America
  -  Medieval
  -  Post-War
  -  Regional
  -  Renaissance
  -  Travel Narratives
  -  World Wars

Iconography
Icons
  -  Angels
  -  Biblical Narratives
  -  Christ
  -  Festal
  -  Saints
  -  Virgin Mary

Liturgy & Worship
  -  Liturgical Service Books

Music
  -  Dance

Patristics
  -  Primary Sources
  -  Secondary Sources
Periodicals
Philosophy
  -  Ethics
Philosophy & Linguistics
Poetry
  -  Anthologies
  -  Criticism
Political & Social Thought
Psychology
  -  Bereavement

Reference
  -  Travel Guides

Saints
  -  Angels
  -  East
  -  Virgin Mary
  -  West
Science
  -  Natural World
Serendipity
Spiritual Life
  -  Devotionals
  -  Pastoral Resources

Theology
  -  Mysticism
Tools Matter

World Religions
  -  Asian Religions
  -  Buddhism
  -  General
  -  Gnosticism
  -  Hinduism
  -  Islam
  -  Judaism
  -  Sufism
  -  Taoism
  -  Yoga
  -  Zen