Intellectuelle

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First of all, I want to apologize for how my presentation of this series is dragging out. (Believe me, it's a lot more painful for me than it is for you.) This is a very ambitious project and unfortunately my time and energy are limited, as are the logistics of writing and being online. Thanks so much for your patience.

Second of all, I had to take Vlastos' book on Socrates back to the library and haven't had a chance to check it out again. But meanwhile, I found another book, "The Feminization of America", so I'll write about that until I can resume my commentary on Vlastos' Socratic introduction.

Written by an educational consultant and an anthropologist, both female, and published in1985, TFOA defines "feminization" as

the head-spinning changes now occurring in American life as a result of women's transitions from their historic domestic world to the public world of business, industry, and the professions...and the public world of action and achievement. (p. 1, p. 5)

This feminization entails the burgeoning (now flourishing) female presence in the work force, especially the upper echelon. It does not refer to a feminine (or feminist) takeover, however, nor a pushing-out of male presence and influence. It encourages addition of the female to a predominantly male milieu, for the purpose of bringing it legitimately to bear, not in the interest of kicking masculinity out.

(The "feminization of poverty," the earliest use of the term "feminization" that I have found, is also mentioned, on p. 100.)

It seems that those who have recently used the term "feminization" have either not use it in the manner in which it was first introduced, or have disdained such feminization, criticizing the influence which has entered society either as a result of it (both good and bad), or else have used the term to refer, not to legitimate gender (sex) traits, but to undesirable human ones. Both they and the authors of this book generalize, limit, or fail to appreciate certain traits as appearing in one sex or the other, through use of the wrong rubric.

Yet the book makes cogent observations about the necessity of the female viewpoint and presence in public (and private) life, and offers a noteworthy definition of culture (p. 6):

Continue reading "Feminization and the church, part....: the feminization of America"

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Last Friday's Breakpoint commentary hit close to home, and brought up something crucial that I think has been missing in many discussions of how to reach those who are hurting.

Prison Fellowship Ministries president Mark Earley wrote of Helping Those Who Feel Helpless. It's been said that people need Jesus, not therapy; salvation from sin, not strokes for their self-serving emotional affectations, and this is surely true. But I think many are unaware of the state of utter hopelessness that many hurting people live in.

It is not unusual for people to lash out at others to release pent-up anger and hopelessness. At Prison Fellowship, we have seen this over and over again, with prisoners who resort to violence as a way of dealing with abuse, loneliness, and fear. But there is another way that people respond to these feelings--they take it out on themselves.

In speaking out against the cultural normalization, shrugging off, or glamorizing of self-destructive behavior, Earley urges us to see self-injury for what it is: a coping mechanism.

I know this only too well. There is suicide and depression in my family, and 1/3 of my own life was spent turning unspeakable emotional turmoil inward in the form of bulimia. On the "other side" now, I can look back and see a pervasive sense of hopelessness and helplessness, even long after I "knew" the gospel.

How can this be? I'd say that I didn't really "know" the gospel. The gospel I'd heard and thought I needed to live was mostly a bunch of "shoulds" that I couldn't possibly live up to. Far from needing to hear how sinful and in need of salvation I was (I knew that already, for gosh sakes!), what I needed was what one of To Write Love on Her Arms founder's suicidal friend needed: friends to stick by her, treat her well, show her that she was worthwhile, and remind her that she was truly loved.

The group has rallied the support of bands like Switchfoot with the simple message to love the brokenhearted.

Folks, the person overcome with hopelessness and helplessness doesn't want or need to hear about his or her sin. No, he needs to be convinced that there is goodness in and around him: the goodness of God's creation, the imago dei. He needs to know and be shown that this good is truly good. He needs to be shown that he is redeemable, and that the goodness of God is available to him.

You see, for many, "love" is not touchy-feely lovey-dovey Jesus-is-my-boyfriend/girlfriend sentiment, it's simply hope, and a sense of worth and power to overcome. And this worth is what most of the self-esteem talk is about. It's not that nobody needs good self-esteem, of course they do. We just need to clarify what proper self-esteem is, which is knowing who we are in Christ. The good and the bad.

So to those who only know the bad, let's show them the good.

Posted by Bonnie at 10:11 PM | Permalink | Christian living Comments (4) | TrackBack (0) | Stumble It!

This past April, the evangelical outpost announced the 2008 EO/Wheatstone Academy Symposium call for essays. The topic question was:

"If the medium affects the message, how will the Christian message be affected by the new media?"

Pardon me while I pat myself on the back. :)

This morning, the results were announced and the winners notified by e-mail. In the top five, placing fifth was yours truly. I gasped, and I screamed, and I jumped up and down for joy. It is truly an honor to see my name among the top Christian writers in the blogosphere. I encourage more people to participate in upcoming symposiums for EO, especially the bloggers and readers of the 'Elles. What a blast!

You can read my essay at my blog.

And also read more about it at the evangelical outpost.

Here's a list of the winners:
First Place: Mark Fedeli at A Deo Lumen
Second Place: Jordan J. Ballor at The Acton Institute Power Blog
Third Place: Mark Stanley at Digital Reason
Fourth Place: Jeff Nuding at Dadmanly
Fifth Place: Letitia Wong at Talitha Koum
Honorable Mention: Donnell Duncan at The Cracked Door

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A thief in Paris planned to steal some paintings from the Louvre. After careful planning, he got past security, stole the paintings and made it safely to his van. However, he was captured only two blocks away when his van ran out of gas.

When asked how he could mastermind such a crime and then make such an obvious error, he replied,

"Monsieur, that is the reason I stole the paintings.

I had no Monet

to buy Degas

to make the Van Gogh."


See if you have De Gaulle to send this on to someone else.

I sent it to you because I figured I had nothing Toulouse.

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A couple weekends ago in Philadelphia I spotted the following historic marker before City Hall, across from the old Wanamaker's building:

(photo credit: KYW Newsradio 1060 Philadelphia)

MOTHER'S DAY Founded by Anna Jarvis of Philadelphia. First officially observed in 1908, it honored motherhood & family life at a time of rising feminist activism. An early supporter was John Wanamaker, whose store stood opposite. Mothers' Day was given federal recognition, 1914.

There is also a marker in Albion, Michigan attributing the founding of Mother's Day, at least in Albion, to Charles and Moses Blakeley and the Albion Methodist Episcopal Church, in the 1880s.

According to the West Virginia State Archives, Anna Jarvis' mother, Ann Maria Reeves Jarvis, daughter of a Methodist minister and wife of the son of a Baptist minister, set up work clubs to improve health and sanitary conditions in communities of West Virginia near her home in the mid-to-late 1800s. During the Civil War, these clubs provided aid to soldiers on both sides.

After her husband's death, Jarvis moved to Philadelphia to be with her children. She died in 1905. Her daughter Anna was responsible for the institution of Mothers' Day, officially recognized at Andrews Methodist Church, where her mother served in Grafton, VA, and at Wanamaker's Department Store, on May 19, 1908.

Only four of Ann Maria Reeves Jarvis' twelve children lived to adulthood.

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Posted by Bonnie at 10:42 AM | Permalink | Fun Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) | Stumble It!

Just wanted to throw in that, while I was making the final edits to the previous post, my kids marched through the house playing their parts to "Stars and Stripes Forever," preparing for the local Memorial Day parade when they will march with their dad's school band. (Now you know the secret to my great writing, ha.)

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I can't remember the last time I found the introduction to a book so completely and delightfully satisfying as the one in Gregory Vlastos' Socrates: Ironist and Moral Philosopher. Really. I hope to someday read the entire book, though I may never fully understand it, as it is part of a body of scholarship with a history that can only be apprehended substantially by the lifetime student of the specific discipline of Socratic study. (Which is part of my point in telling you about the introduction. But I'll get to that.)

"How This Book Came to Be" starts off like this:

Socrates' "strangeness" (ατοπια) is the keynote of Alcibiades' speech about him in the Symposium. The talk starts on that note (215A); and reverts to it near the end:

Such is his strangeness that you will search and search among those living now and among men of the past, and never come close to what he is himself and to the things he says. (221D)

This book is for readers of Plato's earlier dialogues who have felt this strangeness, have asked themselves what to make of it, have pondered answers to its enigmas, and are willing to work their way through yet another. What I offer should not distract them from their encounter with the Socrates who lives in Plato's text. It should take them back there for a closer look.

By this time there are two long footnotes, together about two-thirds the length of the text I just quoted. The 20-page Introduction has more footnotes than some books I've read (74). But I'm glad, because they explain and support the text and provide sources. (When it comes to scholarship, thoroughness is a cardinal virtue.)

In as abbreviated form as I can manage (these are, after all, blog posts), I will synopsize the story:

Continue reading "Feminization and the church, part III: "humanism" and integrity in scholarship, part I"

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Like everyone else, I reacted to Eight Belle's demise following the Kentucky Derby with shock, sadness, and dismay.

I'd like to open a thread for your comments: is such a fate an inevitable risk of the sport? How much risk is too much -- are the stakes too high?

Consider this statement:

"You've really got to look at the whole picture," said trainer and former jockey Art Sherman. "Years ago you didn't have as much racing; now you have it year-round and horses don't get a break. To turn one out (let the horse rest a while) is not feasible to a lot of owners because it's so expensive even on the farm. The game has got to the point that it's just so hard to maintain them at their peak all year long. Racing is so rich for younger 2-year-olds that people push younger stock and then when they are three they're more apt to get hurt."

More commentary from Sports Illustrated.

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This past weekend I attended a Veritas seminar held at my church, led by Dr. John Wenrich of the Evangelical Covenant Church. Veritas: Telling the Truth About Revitalization helps church leaders "confront [their] current reality with faith, honesty, hope, and courage." In reference to the seven churches of Revelation, Wenrich, speaking truth in love, outlines four general categories of church health and presents ideas for assessing one's own church and improving its health.

A few nuggets from the seminar:

* Vitality is not the goal - it is the by-product of doing good ministry, and of the movement of the Holy Spirit.

* Conflict is normal and natural, especially as churches confront the need to change. Churches do well to adopt a "Behavioral Covenant" based upon Colossians 3:12-17 and I Thessalonians 5:12-26.

* There is no resurrection without death. Dysfunction (human sinful attitudes and practices) must die for a church to experience revitalization.

*Many churches are in denial about their state of health (Romans 12:3); their church has become an idol.

* "Attracting people" is the wrong focus. "If only..." thinking is fantasy.

* The church ought "comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable."

* The less healthy a church, the greater the cost to change

* Crisis decisions tend not to be wise ones. Short-term fixes become long-term liabilities.

* To "break out," there must be awareness of what's needed, brokeness (willingness to change), commitment, and a sense of urgency.

* The bottom line is that spiritual health is a matter of spiritual discernment.

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(turn sound up)

Five-minute video of the full story

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