No Matter
Something, one of you, one or two of you via FB, put me onto Brandon Ambrosino’s article “Jesus’ radical politics” in the Opinion section of the Boston Globe, April 1, 2015 http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2015/04/01/jesus-radical-politics/txdjkQSMn3BWPBgciEbgZP/story.html
An unintended result is now being subscribed to email news reports from Vox.com. They may cover me up, along with TWP, NYT, CSM, and somethings that arrive from Fox News and HuffPost not automatically. VesselSchedule would cover me up except when a new one comes I try to remember to delete the last one. I’m behind on deleting and clearing out, along with everything else in life. No matter. When the bell rings, it rings.
Brandon was 23 when Vox put him on, he must be 24 now. I love the spate of articles and TV specials about Jesus that proliferate this time of year when everybody becomes an expert on other people's religion, Easter, and always around Christmastime. Truth, for the most part they gag me. What a load of it, generally, writer and publisher filling up space and selling it.
Far worse than cynical and by no means a scholar, I've nevertheless learned enough about a few things to sort a scholar from a fake or wannabe or writer selling by-the-word. A Newsweek article "The Bible: So Misunderstood It's a Sin" by Kurt Eichenwald, December 23, 2014 looked interesting http://www.newsweek.com/2015/01/02/thats-not-what-bible-says-294018.html
until the writer started proving his point by citing something Jesus had said by quoting something from Matthew that was actually Matthew’s addition, for reasons of Matthew’s agenda, to whatever Mark had written. I don’t remember what it was, and didn't spot it when I browsed the article again this morning looking for it. No matter. As soon as the BS popped up I stopped and looked up the author. Not a scholar, just another mediathlete selling by the truckload, just like most of what shows up on TV this season and Xmas.
It all reminds me of an occasional humor article in The Saturday Evening Post from the 1950s in which a company owner was ordering shiploads of coffee from a supplier in South America. The coffee kept arriving with rat s___ pellets mixed in the coffee beans. The buyer, a German writing in broken English, finally gave up trying to get just the coffee beans, and asked if the supplier could at least ship the two products separately.
Ambrosino is a decent writer, I think, judging by this piece, https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2015/04/01/jesus-radical-politics/txdjkQSMn3BWPBgciEbgZP/story.html but he's a writer not a scholar, writing seasonally to sell his writing. I’ve not read anything else he wrote but, checking on him, did read other writers’ views of him, including Ezra Klein (no) and Cyd Ziegler (yes). He’s had a year or so now to mature a bit under a guiding internship at Vox, who obviously hired him not for his outrageous views, there are plenty of nuts, or his writing ability, millions write as well and better; but because he's been controversial, and brought his reputation for controversy to Vox, and controversy draws a crowd, and media loves a crowd because it's all just business in the first place. And that's literally all the hell the media is: business. Not "news" or scholarship, just selling words.
Still, it's not a bad piece, I’ve read worse. He’s not a scholar though, Ambrosino is no Bible scholar nor is he qualified to speak for Christianity, which under cover of Opinion he tries here; but it is an opinion, and for that everyone qualifies, including Brandon. Besides, if I want scholarly, it's easy enough to find. Ambrosino sees Jesus‘ purpose as coming down to summon us to God’s kingdom of agape' in this world (though he doesn't use agape'), not the usual Xn rubbish about saving us so we can escape Hell and enjoy eternity in Heaven. Brandon doesn’t know much about church history or the development of Xn theology or the Bible, but I think he’s right in his article; in other words, his opinion and mine meet. It's too long. He could have saved himself a lot of words, cut his piece by two thirds and more readers would have finished it instead of cutting out before halfway, but he's obviously being paid by word count. Determined, I read it all the way through. Most won’t, most will read until they take offense, which will be early on, and cut out. But he’s right. Easter is about here and now, not peach pie on High bye and bye. This here life is where God’s kingdom is, or not at all, doing good (agape') here, for others. I don’t expect to get another chance to live into Jesus in some future life, and I don’t expect to get either rewarded or punished for whatever I did or didn’t do this time round. I have to do it here and now or I've blasphemed the Time and Space allotted to me.
Ready anytime, I’m nevertheless trying, but not hard enough, to extend +Time because Life Is Good, at least I’m finding it so at present. And I’m not done with what Ambrosino says I’m called to do and be. I certainly haven't done my best, that's fer sure, that's fer dang sure.
I do have serious issues with some of it, Easter and Jesus' message as the gospels have it, of loving enemies and turning the other cheek. Especially the struggle with what to do about consummate evil, those who hurt other people for no reason but hatred alone, religion as a force of unconscionable cruelty. I don't love them, I detest them with sheer contempt; however, to any extent that love is what I do, not what I feel, my feeling sad about them rather than wanting to obliterate their part of the planet is love, agape'.
Sometime maybe, a +Time blog post on that my struggle. It isn't pretty. Expect to be appalled.
Meantime, last evening I kept my promise to my friend by posting my Good Friday homily.
And pot calling the kettle black, this post is no less too long than what Brandon and Kurt write. At least no one is paying me for this nonsense.
TW+
An unintended result is now being subscribed to email news reports from Vox.com. They may cover me up, along with TWP, NYT, CSM, and somethings that arrive from Fox News and HuffPost not automatically. VesselSchedule would cover me up except when a new one comes I try to remember to delete the last one. I’m behind on deleting and clearing out, along with everything else in life. No matter. When the bell rings, it rings.
until the writer started proving his point by citing something Jesus had said by quoting something from Matthew that was actually Matthew’s addition, for reasons of Matthew’s agenda, to whatever Mark had written. I don’t remember what it was, and didn't spot it when I browsed the article again this morning looking for it. No matter. As soon as the BS popped up I stopped and looked up the author. Not a scholar, just another mediathlete selling by the truckload, just like most of what shows up on TV this season and Xmas.
It all reminds me of an occasional humor article in The Saturday Evening Post from the 1950s in which a company owner was ordering shiploads of coffee from a supplier in South America. The coffee kept arriving with rat s___ pellets mixed in the coffee beans. The buyer, a German writing in broken English, finally gave up trying to get just the coffee beans, and asked if the supplier could at least ship the two products separately.
Still, it's not a bad piece, I’ve read worse. He’s not a scholar though, Ambrosino is no Bible scholar nor is he qualified to speak for Christianity, which under cover of Opinion he tries here; but it is an opinion, and for that everyone qualifies, including Brandon. Besides, if I want scholarly, it's easy enough to find. Ambrosino sees Jesus‘ purpose as coming down to summon us to God’s kingdom of agape' in this world (though he doesn't use agape'), not the usual Xn rubbish about saving us so we can escape Hell and enjoy eternity in Heaven. Brandon doesn’t know much about church history or the development of Xn theology or the Bible, but I think he’s right in his article; in other words, his opinion and mine meet. It's too long. He could have saved himself a lot of words, cut his piece by two thirds and more readers would have finished it instead of cutting out before halfway, but he's obviously being paid by word count. Determined, I read it all the way through. Most won’t, most will read until they take offense, which will be early on, and cut out. But he’s right. Easter is about here and now, not peach pie on High bye and bye. This here life is where God’s kingdom is, or not at all, doing good (agape') here, for others. I don’t expect to get another chance to live into Jesus in some future life, and I don’t expect to get either rewarded or punished for whatever I did or didn’t do this time round. I have to do it here and now or I've blasphemed the Time and Space allotted to me.
Ready anytime, I’m nevertheless trying, but not hard enough, to extend +Time because Life Is Good, at least I’m finding it so at present. And I’m not done with what Ambrosino says I’m called to do and be. I certainly haven't done my best, that's fer sure, that's fer dang sure.
Sometime maybe, a +Time blog post on that my struggle. It isn't pretty. Expect to be appalled.
Meantime, last evening I kept my promise to my friend by posting my Good Friday homily.
And pot calling the kettle black, this post is no less too long than what Brandon and Kurt write. At least no one is paying me for this nonsense.
TW+