The Virtual Stoa

This is.

Over here.

UPDATE [13.8.2004]: Four arguments have been made against the Bish, one by Backword Dave, two by the Guardian editorialists and the fourth by someone in the Daily Telegraph.

Backword Dave says that he can’t see the racism to which Bishop was alluding. Note first, though, that the word “racist” is the Guardian’s, in the report linked to above, both in the headline and in the report, and that the Bish — on what’s given to us there — doesn’t link the question of race directly to the song (which would be silly) but only to “growing English nationalism, which he said was stoked by football fervour, and ‘a wish for a white-dominated simple world of Englishness’.”

The first reason presented by the Guardianistas can be dismissed. In fact, it’s precisely because the Holst tune is such a good tune that it needs to be saved from association with this wretched lyric so that people — perhaps not in our generation, but in a luckier one to come — can enjoy The Planets again, free from involuntarily making mental associations with Tories waving flags.

The Guardian’s second reason is that Spring-Rice, author of these words, was no jingo, did some good things and had some fine opinions. But this is the kind of occasion when we can go for the ball without necessarily attacking the man, and call for the song to be retired without seeking to diminish the historical reputation of the Poet Spring-Rice.

The Telegraph writes nonsense, especially when it points to the unquestioning patriotism of the first verse and remarks that “that is fine, stirring stuff in the context of the First World War, when the hymn was written”. Well, some of us might beg to differ.

Incidentally, Dave, I don’t think the “rebellious Scots to crush” verse was ever officially part of the British national anthem. It’s a fun verse, though.

Robot Alarm Clock at Smart or Happy has some thoughts.

And, thinking about things that collapse simultaneously appear to us under a triple aspect (see below), I was reminded yesterday of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints, and, in particular, its Medical Committee, which nicely brings together all three of Max Weber’s distinctive kinds of legitimate authority, being a crazy blend of traditional, charismatic and rational-legal forms.

Back in 1997 when I was teaching City of God for the first time to a bunch of American undergraduates, I remember trying to elucidate aspects of Augustine’s idea of the peregrinus by telling them that for them, as good citizens of the republic, 15 April should be the happiest day of the year, the day on which they make a significant sacrifice on behalf of the republic (res publica debet esse carissima, etc.), and, in so doing, strengthen the foundations of their lives as free citizens; whereas I, as a non-resident alien, or peregrinus, could justifiably resent having to pay taxes to the Feds.

I don’t think I persuaded them.

This one concerns the word Jew.

[Details here.]

[The Santorum googlebomb, incidentally, has been a triumph.]

Melanie Phillips has just sat through Mel Gibson’s almost-certainly-appalling new film about the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth:

Most of the reactions have focused on the astonishing sadism and violence. Very few have seen fit even to mention the way it portrays the Jews as the real killers of the son of God…

Yup. That’s probably why a google search on “Mel Gibson” and “anti-semitism” and “Passion” taken together generates, um, over twenty-two thousand hits…

The Presidential Prayer Team is currently urging us to “Pray for the President as he seeks wisdom on how to legally codify the definition of marriage. Pray that it will be according to Biblical principles. With any forces insisting on variant definitions of marriage, pray that God’s Word and His standards will be honored by our government.”

Any good religious person believes prayer should be balanced by action. So here, in support of the Prayer Team’s admirable goals, is a proposed Constitutional Amendment codifying marriage entirely on biblical principles:A. Marriage in the United States shall consist of a union between one man and one or more women (Genesis 29:17-28; II Samuel 3:2-5).

B. Marriage shall not impede a man’s right to take concubines in addition to his wife or wives (II Samuel 5:13; I Kings 11:3; II Chronicles 11:21).

C. A marriage shall be considered valid only if the wife is a virgin. If the wife is not a virgin, she shall be executed. (Deuteronomy 22:13-21).

D. Marriage of a believer and a non-believer shall be forbidden (Genesis 24:3; Numbers 25:1-9; Ezra 9:12; Nehemiah 10:30).

E. Since marriage is for life, neither this Constitution nor the constitution of any State, nor any state or federal law, shall be construed to permit divorce (Deuteronomy 22:19; Mark 10:9).

F. If a married man dies without children, his brother shall marry the widow. If he refuses to marry his brother’s widow or deliberately does not give her children, he shall pay a fine of one shoe and be otherwise punished in a manner to be determined by law (Genesis 38:6-10; Deuteronomy 25:5-10).

G. In lieu of marriage, if there are no acceptable men in your town, it is required that you get your father drunk and have sex with him (even if he previously offered you up as a sex toy to men young and old), tag-teaming with any sisters you may have. Of course, this rule applies only if you are female (Genesis 19:31-36).

If you have other Biblical injunctions to add to this list, please share them with the Presidential Prayer Team.[Doing the rounds.]

You are Pope St. Pius X. You’d rather be right than newfangled.

Judging from the sound of this report, it won’t be too long before we have a conclave…

Here’s a good description of what goes on at a conclave, from a time when they had them fairly frequently…

The Pope [John XXI] had added a new wing to his palace at Viterbo. It was carelessly built. On 12 May 1277 as he lay sleeping his his new bed-chamber the ceiling collapsed on him. He was terribly hurt and died eight days later… One of Pope John’s few acts had been to revoke the decrees passed at Lyons whiich confined the cardinals, with increasing austerity, till they appointed a successor to the Papacy. At the time of the Pope’s death only eight of the eleven cardinals in the College were near enough to Viterbo to take part in the election. Four of these were Italians and four Frenchmen. They could not agree between themselves. For six months they bickered, till the citizens of Viterbo in exasperation imprisoned them in the papal palace, and at the same time made it clear that they wished for an Italian. The French cardinals gave way. On 25 November 1277 Cardinal John Gaetan Orsini was elected as Pope, with the title of Nicholas III.

From The Sicilian Vespers by Steven Runciman, pp.181-2.

It is always exciting when Cardinal Ratzinger speaks, but loyal Catholics around the world will be concerned to learn that his arguments against the legal recognition of gay marriage are somewhat weak. It’s always fun to read a spot of contemporary Thomism, though.

Following the recommendation of other bloggers (Kieran Healy, Junius, Matthew Yglesias), I’ve just taken, and enjoyed, the Battleground God test, receiving one direct hit and biting one bullet along the way. It’s excellent, a lot more sophisticated than the usual e-quiz, and provides good stuff to think about. It’s also fun.

As a baptised member of the Church of England, I’m not really religious (I’m not terribly philosophichal, either, as my colleagues in Philosophy know: greetings, Martin, Mary and Olly), but I do have an Inner Jansenist, and the quiz rebelled against the two answers my IJ prompted me to give, sticking up for divine omnipotence (even at the cost of philosophical absurdity: God can make 1+1=72) and thinking that belief in God is justifiable even when it is not based on the kinds of things which are needed to justify beliefs about the external world. So I’m not entirely happy with the results it has spat back at me, even though the quiz has given me its second-highest award, which is clearly a good thing to have.

I’m not unhappy having a bit of an Inner Jansenist, though it can be slightly alarming at times. I know other people who report an Inner Bearded Trade Unionist and an Inner Tory, and I think these are probably far more disturbing over the long run.

This just arrived:

Dear Sir,

I just came across your website and noticed how energetic and determined you are to try and make this world a more safer and peaceful one, but my friend, this is just not possible. Please Don’t be Preoccupied by trying to undo what has already happened in eternity past. The Bible tells us that man has an evil and incurable heart, (Jer 17:19 & Hebrews 3:12). We sadly live in a fallen world. - Satan’s world. Only the second coming of Jesus Christ, can and will, transform this world forever!

Whether there is war in Iraq or not is irrelevant, for the Lord Jesus spoke about this in Matt 23:6 ” And you will hear of wars and rumours of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things will must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are beginning of sorrows”.

As for the Palestine problem, well this will never be solved until Jesus returns. Please see what the Prophet Zechariah 12:2-4 wrote in 520 BC concerning Israel and her enemies before the Second Coming: “Behold I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. “And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all the people; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it.”

Please don’t take offence to this e-mail, but the future has already been and gone as far as God is concerned. All men must be born again, John 3:3, if they are to enter the kingdom of heaven. May I leave you with this verse from Hebrews 9:27, it is appointed unto men once to die and after this, the judgment.

May God bless you richly.

Yours in Christ,

James G. Battell

Ho hum.

Oh dear: I seem to be experiencing another anti-Catholic moment. (Last month’s anti-Catholic moment, you will recall, concerned the way the Church in Boston is behaving like a bunch of thugs as it tries to evade responsibility for ruining many people’s lives: this piece by Christopher Hitchens also deserves a link). This month’s takes a different tack:

OUTRAGE OF THE WEEK
Vatican Says Word ‘Gender’ Is Anti-Church Code(WOMENSENEWS)–The Vatican announced it will publish a collection of phrases and words including “reproductive rights” and “gender” that it says are code for anti-Catholic sentiments.

The Vatican said these and approximately 76 other neutral-sounding terms about family and life are used to cover up deeper, anti-Church meanings, according to The Associated Press. The Vatican will publish the 1,000-page lexicon of the terms soon.

In an interview with the religious affairs monthly journal 30 Giorni (30 Days), Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, president of the Pontifical Council for the Family, said the phrase “reproductive rights” is misleading because it “is used for propaganda–not for the right to reproduction but . . . to abortion,” The Washington Times reported.

The Vatican decided to create the book after nongovernmental organizations complained about “ambiguous” words and phrases used at United Nations meetings…

It will be great fun to get a copy of this thousand-page lexicon when it comes out, which will be required and entertaining reading. But what’s sad — more than sad, in fact — is that this isn’t just the usual run of harmless religious lunacy, since these interventions on the subject of “gender” have a real impact on the development of the international legal regime.The International Criminal Court website, for example, trumpets this:

“The Rome Statute explicitly recognizes rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization and sexual violence as war crimes and crimes against humanity. Trafficking is encompassed within the crime against humanity of enslavement. Also, for the first time, gender-based persecution is included as a crime against humanity. The codification of these crimes in the Statute is significant as prior humanitarian law has afforded trivial treatment to such grave violence.”

This sounds excellent, and indeed, it mostly is. Turn to Article 7, Paragraph 3, however, and you find the weaselly definition of “gender” being used by the Statute, negotiated by the Vatican and supported by various Islamic regimes and the United States (which isn’t proposing to cooperate with the Court after all):

It is understood that the term ‘gender’ refers to the two sexes, male and female, within the context of society. The term ‘gender’ does not indicate any meaning different from the above.

So much for the work of a generation of gender studies. And so much for the human rights of transsexuals and other gender queers who alone seem to be exempted from international legal protections against gender-based violence. The small print bit: Credit where it’s due: the above information came to me via Raj, but is originally from Women’s Enews, which is a nonprofit independent news service covering issues of concern to women and their allies: an incubator program of the Fund for the City of New York, Women’s Enews is supported by readers and various progressive foundations. Donate now by going here.

Brad deLong is dumbfounded:

I must say that I had always thought that by the time I reached 40 I would have heard about or thought of every possible kind of sin. But the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston has proved me wrong. I had never thought of:

* “Reaching out” to the victims of sexual abuse by priests, telling them that the church cares about them, suggesting that they get therapy and counseling.

* Offering to pay for the therapy.

* Then subpoenaing the therapists, trying to break the confidentiality of the patient-therapist relationship, in the hope of learning something (a) that will weaken the victim’s case in court, or (b) that would be so embarrassing if it were revealed in court that the plaintiff can be induced to drop or cheaply settle his or her legal case.

I am dumbfounded. This is betrayal of a high order: Dante’s Inferno Tenth-Circle buried-in-ice-for eternity order. Moreover, this is something that I would never have thought of doing in ten-thousand years.

He’s commenting on this article, from the Boston Globe.

Over to the Vatican for the latest words of wisdom from Cardinal Ratzinger…

Off to Newcastle for a few days tomorrow morning. (Or Newcastle Gateshead, as we now have to call it).

So, while I’m away, Season’s Greetings from the Virtual Stoa. (Appropriate nativity image from The Brick Testament, of course.)

Both Naunihal and Simon have written in to alert me about the appearance of a kind of Turin Chapati, but in Bangalore. The face of Christ miraculously appeared on a chapati a few days ago, and twenty thousand pilgrims have flocked to admire. The photo is from the BBC; there’s some more in the ANI story in the Hindustan Times.

God is certainly moving in some pretty mysterious ways these days. Only three months ago, He was indulging in a spot of aubergine interior design, giving a boost to Sikhism everywhere, and especially in Coventry.

The Pope has just canonised the wretched Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer, founder of Opus Dei. The BBC report is here, Opus Dei’s own annoucement is here, the official Vatican canonisation website is here (which contains a link to the details of “the approved miracle”!), and — I’ve linked to this before — for those who want to know just why Opus Dei is regarded with such loathing and suspicion, the useful unofficial Opus Dei homepage is here, and the Opus Dei Awareness Network is here.

Old news, but interesting news, from Opus Dei:

Blessed Josemaría Escriva to be canonized October 6, 2002

Pope John Paul II will canonize Blessed Josemar�a Escriv�, Opus Dei’s founder, the Vatican announced on February 26, 2002. The canonization will take place in Saint Peter’s Square on October 6, 2002. …

Blessed Josemar�a founded Opus Dei in Spain in 1928 to help people seek holiness in everyday life, especially through work. By the time of his death, on June 26, 1975, Opus Dei had spread to 32 countries and had 60,000 members.

“By his example and preaching, Blessed Josemar�a has taught many thousands of people that their daily activities can bring them closer to God,” said Rev. Arne Panula, the vicar of Opus Dei in the United States. “The Church, in declaring Blessed Josemar�a a saint, reminds us that all men and women are called to sanctity.”

Blessed Josemar�a�s emphasis on lay holiness, while first considered radical by some within the Catholic Church, was later re-affirmed by the Church�s Second Vatican Council. Pope John Paul and other Church leaders have described Blessed Josemar�a as a precursor of the Council.

“Your institution has as its aim the sanctification of one�s life, while remaining within the world at one�s place of work and profession,” Pope John Paul once told members of Opus Dei. “This is a truly great ideal, which right from the beginning has anticipated the theology of the lay state, a mark of the Church and the Council.”

Blessed Josemar�a was born in Barbastro, Spain, on Jan. 9, 1902. He founded Opus Dei on Oct. 2, 1928. After his death in 1975, a third of the world�s bishops petitioned the Vatican to open his cause of beatification and canonization.

Vatican procedures for canonization � a formal declaration that someone is a saint � require an exhaustive investigation of a potential saint’s life, plus two authenticated miracles.

Pope John Paul II beatified Monsignor Escriv� in Saint Peter’s Square on May 17, 1992, attracting an audience of about 300,000 people.

On Dec. 20, 2001, the Vatican authenticated a second miracle attributed to Blessed Josemar�a, thus clearing the way for the canonization. A Spanish doctor suffering from chronic radiodermatitis, damage to his hands caused by repeated exposure to x-rays, was miraculously healed after praying for Blessed Josemar�a’s intercession.

The canonization later this year coincides with a worldwide, year-long series of events commemorating the hundredth anniversary of Blessed Josemar�a’s birth. At one of these events last month Pope John Paul said, “Blessed Josemar�a placed at the center of his own preaching the truth that all the baptized are called to the fullness of charity, and that the most immediate way to reach this common goal is through the ordinary events of each day.”

Since Blessed Josemar�a’s death in 1975, the number of people in Opus Dei has grown to 84,000 people worldwide, with 3,000 in the United States. …

In what sense precisely was Escriv� a “precursor” of Vatican Two? For an alternative perspective, and to learn a bit about What’s Wrong with Opus Dei, try rickross.com or the Opus Dei Unofficial Home Page.

Job 41: 1-34 (KJV):

1 Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook? or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down?
2 Canst thou put an hook into his nose? or bore his jaw through with a thorn?
3 Will he make many supplications unto thee? will he speak soft words unto thee?
4 Will he make a covenant with thee? wilt thou take him for a servant for ever?
5 Wilt thou play with him as with a bird? or wilt thou bind him for thy maidens?
6 Shall the companions make a banquet of him? shall they part him among the merchants?
7 Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons? or his head with fish spears?
8 Lay thine hand upon him, remember the battle, do no more.
9 Behold, the hope of him is in vain: shall not one be cast down even at the sight of him?
10 None is so fierce that dare stir him up: who then is able to stand before me? 11 Who hath prevented me, that I should repay him? whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine.
12 I will not conceal his parts, nor his power, nor his comely proportion.
13 Who can discover the face of his garment? or who can come to him with his double bridle?
14 Who can open the doors of his face? his teeth are terrible round about.
15 His scales are his pride, shut up together as with a close seal.
16 One is so near to another, that no air can come between them.
17 They are joined one to another, they stick together, that they cannot be sundered.
18 By his neesings a light doth shine, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.
19 Out of his mouth go burning lamps, and sparks of fire leap out.
20 Out of his nostrils goeth smoke, as out of a seething pot or caldron.
21 His breath kindleth coals, and a flame goeth out of his mouth.
22 In his neck remaineth strength, and sorrow is turned into joy before him.
23 The flakes of his flesh are joined together: they are firm in themselves; they cannot be moved.
24 His heart is as firm as a stone; yea, as hard as a piece of the nether millstone.
25 When he raiseth up himself, the mighty are afraid: by reason of breakings they purify themselves.
26 The sword of him that layeth at him cannot hold: the spear, the dart, nor the habergeon.
27 He esteemeth iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood.
28 The arrow cannot make him flee: slingstones are turned with him into stubble.
29 Darts are counted as stubble: he laugheth at the shaking of a spear.
30 Sharp stones are under him: he spreadeth sharp pointed things upon the mire.
31 He maketh the deep to boil like a pot: he maketh the sea like a pot of ointment.
32 He maketh a path to shine after him; one would think the deep to be hoary.
33 Upon earth there is not his like, who is made without fear.
34 He beholdeth all high things: he is a king over all the children of pride.

“Neesings” is a very good word indeed, and not one I think I have encountered before. The OED rises to the occasion, defining it as “Sneezing; a sneeze” and giving us these useful attestations:

1382 WYCLIF Job xli. 9 His nesing [is] shynyng of fyr, and his eyen as eyelidis of morutid. 1432-50 tr. Higden (Rolls) V. 389 A mervellous pestilence folowede.., pereschynge moche peple in yoskenge or nesynge. 1530 PALSGR. 247/2 Nesyng with the nose, esternuement. 1543 TRAHERON Vigo’s Chirurg. IV. 148 Nysynge also, provoked by arte, is convenient in thys case. 1578 LYTE Dodoens 194 The same roote… put into the nose causeth Sternutation or niesing. 1609 B. JONSON Sil. Wom. IV. i, The spitting, the coughing, the laughter, the neesing. 1663 J. SPENCER Prodigies (1665) 61 That..usage of praying for a Person upon neezing. 1676 Gentleman’s Jockey 286 There be two other excellent helps for sick Horses, as Frictions and Neesings.

This is very helpful.

Chris adds [6.2.2002]: I was discussing “neesings” earlier today with a colleague, who told me that the shift from “neesing” to “sneezing” is probably a phonesthemic change — I think that’s the right word — in which a word which makes a great deal of sense on its own (through its connection to “nez”, “nose”, etc.) gets an “s” stuck on the front of it, which brings it into the family of “sn-” words with general family resemblances, including “sniffle”, “snuffle”, “sniff”, “snort”, and so on.

Mrs Betty Bowers is a better Christian than you! And she has a very fine website to prove it.

I was lucky enough earlier this evening to come across the email address of the last remaining Shaker community in the United States, so I sent them a polite note to express a modicum of admiration and find out how they were getting along. They replied within a couple of hours to report that there were now five Shakers, aged between 38 and 74, that they continue to be open to new members, that the most recent arrival became a Shaker in May of last year, and that they continue the traditional Shaker way of life, farming cattle, sheep and pigs, and growing various vegetables. It is excellent to hear from them.

The Shakers are, of course, the oldest communal association in the United States, with a history of over two hundred years of utopian socialism in action. You may have come across their furniture, of course, which is fine (if a little expensive these days); and the tune of the classic hymn “Lord of the Dance” is an old Shaker tune, which Aaron Copland appropriated for his Appalachian Spring, and for which Sydney Carter supplied a new set of words. There were once many thousands of Shakers across the North and East of the United States — and now, we learn, there are five; but from the evidence of this message, they still seem to be in good spirits, and we all wish them well.

For more on the Shakers, try www.shakers.org or the Sabbathday Lake community.

From the BBC:

Pope John Paul II has sent an apology by e-mail for a string of injustices, including sexual abuse, committed by Roman Catholic clergy in the Pacific nations. The 81-year-old pontiff transmitted the message, his first virtual apology, in a recent string of statements of contrition, from a laptop in the Vatican’s frescoed Clementine Hall on Wednesday.

Pope John Paul II Reporting on a Synod meeting held in 1998, the Pope wrote that bishops from the region “apologised unreservedly” for the “shameful injustices done to indigenous peoples” in Australia, New Zealand and the islands of the South Pacific.

The Vatican website is still highly recommended.Nick writes [23.11.2001]: “My favourite detail was in the last paragraph of the Grauniad account:

“The Pope pressed the send button which emailed the document, by tradition a publication he would deliver by hand. Aides said it was intended to spare him a lengthy journey.”

A perfect example IMO of your old friend, “traditional values in a modern setting.”