Kennan is a good guy. I've read his stuff since Junior High.
Peace,
Chris
Saturday, March 19, 2005
Thursday, March 17, 2005
Mmm, the joys of experimenting in college
College Crab Surprise
1 lb crab/imitation crab (unshelled)
1 1/2 cup minute rice
1 unopened mac and cheese cheese packet
1 1/2 cup water
1/4 cup milk
a little butter
simmer crab for 15-20 minutes.
mix all ingredients together in large covered bowl. microwave for 2 minutes, stir, microwave for 3 more minutes. Stir. Let cool.
Serves 2-3.
1 lb crab/imitation crab (unshelled)
1 1/2 cup minute rice
1 unopened mac and cheese cheese packet
1 1/2 cup water
1/4 cup milk
a little butter
simmer crab for 15-20 minutes.
mix all ingredients together in large covered bowl. microwave for 2 minutes, stir, microwave for 3 more minutes. Stir. Let cool.
Serves 2-3.
a good explaination as to why the end times don't worry Lutherans
"Lutheran eschatology also plays a role. Because all is taken care of in Christ (justification by faith alone without the works of the law), we need not be busy reading the "signs of the times", something American Christians are especially busy doing. If Christ is coming today (and for all I know he is), I wish to be caught planting a tree, or blogging, or having a nice supper with my spouse. Fulfilling our daily vocations IS being prepared for Christ's coming, and this by the power of the Holy Spirit."
I slept until 9:37 today! And yesterday I watched TV and read a book for pleasure!
Peace,
Chris
I slept until 9:37 today! And yesterday I watched TV and read a book for pleasure!
Peace,
Chris
Monday, March 14, 2005
An unpleasant reminder
10,000 people a month are still dying in Darfur. 2 MILLION displaced. It is our bloody moral responsibility to stop it!
Good eve,
Chris
Good eve,
Chris
Check this picture from the Lutheran Bend trip
The guy in front is Joel, the RA here at Christus House, the guy in back is of course yours truly.
In bigger news I'm pretty sure what I'm going to be up to next year, going on a mission! I'll be in the ELCA's Under-30 program. My top 3 places I'd like to go are Kenya India Egypt.
Peace,
Chris
In bigger news I'm pretty sure what I'm going to be up to next year, going on a mission! I'll be in the ELCA's Under-30 program. My top 3 places I'd like to go are Kenya India Egypt.
Peace,
Chris
Friday, March 11, 2005
Tuesday, March 08, 2005
It is Finished
My Rousseau Paper is finished, I may twiddle with some grammar and such, but it is more or less done!
Ahhh. That means all I have left tomorrow is to read a couple of things for creative writing. Mmmm.
Peace,
Chris
Ahhh. That means all I have left tomorrow is to read a couple of things for creative writing. Mmmm.
Peace,
Chris
Monday, March 07, 2005
The first draft of the Falk paper is done
And the best part is it is only 4:10PM the night before, as opposed to 5AM the morning of!
Peace,
Chris
The message of the Fourteenth Chapter of the Book of Zechariah is very powerful; it is at least as powerful as the creation stories in Genesis. In fact these two texts are curiously intertwined. This end of the Book of Zechariah can be looked at as a sort of return to the world of Genesis one, and yet at the same time Genesis going in reverse; creation contracts in on itself returning to the one. This has some startling consequences, but first some background.
Zechariah chapter 14, verses 1-11 are part of a larger prophetic section of the Book of Zechariah known as Second Zechariah. Second Zechariah encompasses Zechariah chapters 9-14. Unlike First Zechariah, which can, at least theoretically, be dated precisely from 520BCE to 518BCE, dating of Second Zechariah can be very problematic as it is, “almost completely bereft of an identifiable historical context.” Still, that has not stopped people from trying to figure out when Second Zechariah was written. What makes things even more difficult is that many scholars think chapters 9-14 were not all written at the same time nor by the same authors. D. L. Petersen, a commentator writing at the same time the Anchor Bible of Zechariah 9-14 was being written, tends to think chapters 9-11 should be grouped together into a single booklet, as should chapters 12-14. Second Zechariah has been dated from the eight century BCE to 333BCE when Alexander the Great invaded Palestine. At bare minimum Second Zechariah was written in the post-exilic period.
While First and Second Zechariah are quite different works in a lot of ways they do share some very similar features. Brevard Childs “believes that this compatibility is due to the fact that the same authoritative scriptures, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, lie behind both sections.” Still, some see Zechariah 9-11,12-14, and Malachi, not First and Second Zechariah, as sections of one prophetic body of work, each new section of prophecy accented with the word “oracle.” Paul Lamarche views Zecharaiah chapter 14 as the ending section of a Chiasmus started in chapter nine, thus pinning some sort of structural unity to Second Zechariah. Second Zechariah starts with the judgment and salvation of neighboring peoples and chapter 14 ends it with the judgment and salvation of all nations (Italic mine).
The name Zechariah, contains the Hebrew words (rkz) and (hy) the first word meaning remember and the second pointing to the divine name, so the name means something like the LORD remembers. This name was, “a common name… especially among the priests and Levites in the post-exilic period.” This fits with how Paul Hanson sees the author/authors of Second Zechariah; to him they are “a group of disenfranchised Levites who were struggling against the ruling hierocratic party for control of governmental and spiritual affairs of the early post-exilic community in Jerusalem.” Paul Tarazi takes this one step further and sees these angry Levites as attacking priestly definitions of purity.
Being that this was written post-exile, the author is dealing with disappointment with the return from the Exile, which did not live up to Deutero-Isaiah’s vision. As Tarazi writes, “the New Jerusalem had already been aborted.” This is probably what led the author from the genre of prophecy to that of apocalypse (though this claim is hard to maintain as there is no heavenly being interacting with the author.). The prophetic justice he sought had not arrived even after the Return, so a more God’s eye view of the world was necessary, one where he could see God acting decisively in history and changing the way of things. If this is not an apocalypse it is at least a major transition point from Prophecy to Apocolypticism.
One of the things that were changed was the very physical geography of Jerusalem. The boundaries of Jerusalem were no longer those of a city , but instead the capital involved all Judah, from Geba to Rimmon. Secondly, “the Mount of Olives, which is, in reality higher than the Mount of Zion, becomes only an archway for the victor-warrior to enter his city. Indeed, everything outside Jerusalem is merely level ground for God on his way to Jerusalem.” Finally, there is the mention of the earthquake in the day of Uzziah, this is also referenced in Amos 1:1.
There are a few phrases in Zechariah 14 that need to be defined in some way shape or form. They are “a day is coming for the LORD”(14:1), and “the LORD will be one and his name one”(14:9).
This first phrase is on one hand an eschatological term about a day in the future when the LORD intervenes ultimately in history. On the other hand the events of the exile and the destruction of the temple were viewed as the “day” so when post-exilic prophets referred to “the day” they referred to the completion of what had been started by those previous events.
The second phrase affirming the oneness of the LORD is interesting as well. “The LORD will be one,” goes back to the Shema, “Hear O Israel; the LORD our God, the LORD is One.”(Deut. 6:4). It is an affirmation of “Israelite monotheism.” That the LORD’s name shall be one too is where one can step out of the narrow ghetto of Israelite religion and into a wider ancient Near Eastern, or even Greek, frame of reference. Cyrus H. Gordon of Brandeis University takes “his name one,” literally. That is “the numeral (dxa) “1” will be the official name of God in the End of Days.” Gordon cites numerous ancient deities as examples of god with numbers as names, including Gemini the double god, and Amon-Re, who is also known as, “the one ‘ONE.’” He also sees this focus on oneness as related to Greek philosophical thought about the Prime Mover. In fact the philosopher Xenophanes of Colophon was the first Greek to identify The God, with the One.
At base the message of Zechariah 14 is this. Some really bad things are going to happen to Jerusalem; the whole world will be against it. This oppression is from God. Then God will intervene saving those who survive the cataclysm that had enveloped Jerusalem. This will change the geography of the battlefield, raising Jerusalem up and flattening out the areas surrounding it. This change then expands, changing weather patterns, the patterns of night and day, and it will create new rivers. Jerusalem will become a Theocracy with God as king and the borders of Jerusalem will be expanded, and protected.
While it goes beyond the scope of verse 1-11 it seems right to finish summarizing the events of the last chapter of Zechariah. Just as the people of Jerusalem were afflicted by God, God turns on those nations who attacked Jerusalem. They are afflicted with plague and drought. The survivors of this will worship God enthroned in Jerusalem, those who do not will be punished. Finally all things, from the bells of horses to the common cooking pot, will be made as holy as the bowls used for temple sacrifice. The God of Israel will be able to be worshipped everywhere.
The last chapter of Zechariah is packed with allusions to the first Creation story in Genesis. It is like there is a, “re-creation of social, political, ecological, and cosmic structures on Yahweh’s day.” At times, these verses can also be viewed as if the Genesis one story has been put on video and the reader is watching it rewind.
In verse four of Zechariah 14 we have our first allusion to the creation account. The first creation story, the priestly account, in Genesis is a demythed version of other ancient creation myths where a god would rip a defeated enemy’s body asunder and create the world from it. In verse four the LORD stands against the nations and in doing so he rips asunder the Mount of Olives.
In verse six of Zechariah there is a phrase that is often translated, “cold or frost,” but quite literally it should read “there shall not be light.” The MT (Masoretic text) reads “roAa hyhy-la” but most translators have amended it to (rWa) and translate it to mean heat or flame. What if “there shall be no light” refers to “the lights in the dome of the sky” that “separate the day from the night.”(Gen. 1:14) This would make some sense, especially since verse seven reads, “And there shall be continuous day… not day and not night.” This fits well, especially considering that previous to Genesis 1:14 there was still light. What is happening here may be that on the Day of the LORD the Cosmos itself is reverting back to the first day of creation when God created light!
In verse eight of Zechariah water springs from Jerusalem and is split, half flowing east and half west. This is again looking back to the ancient tradition of the creator defeating and splitting cosmic waters; thus this verse points to “Yahweh’s universal rule, mythically portrayed in divine control over cosmic waters.” That is not all it does though, it also reinterprets Genesis 2:6, where “a stream would rise from the earth, and water the whole face of the ground.”
The phrase, “the LORD will be one and his name one,” has already been discussed above to some extent. Yet, looking at this phrase in light of Genesis one it can be interpreted as all of creation, which per Plotinus, “are extant by reason of The One,” return to the One, and all that remain is God, “in the beginning.” That Zechariah does not end right at the word (dxa) makes this interpretation rather weak, although intriguing.
Once again overstepping the bounds of verses 1-11 the festival that God wants the remnant of both Jew and Gentile to keep is the festival of booths. This is a festival that lasts seven days, and happens on the seventh month, and involves complete rest on it’s first and eighth day (Lev. 23:39-43). This echoes Genesis 2:2, where on the seventh day of creation God rests.
Zechariah, seen in light of creation, leads toward one main conclusion, equality. economic equality, destruction of hierarchy and equality of purity. The rough land, which is bad for farming, has been flattened out so it is plowable. Also the abundance of water from the Jerusalem, and the constant light, will destroy the “inevitable and habitual disparity in the productivity of agrarian units,” thus creating, “conditions optimal for social harmony and stability. Resources would be equally and abundantly available to all.” Through this new creation the hierarchy that Tarazi writes plagued the post-exilic era will come to an end, because the priests will no longer have a monopoly on purity. Instead, “every cooking pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be sacred to the LORD of hosts.” In fact the gentiles too will be pure enough to worship God enthroned in Jerusalem. There are no more “traders/Canaanites in the house of the LORD of hosts on that day” (Zec 14:22) because they are now as pure as the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
Peace,
Chris
The message of the Fourteenth Chapter of the Book of Zechariah is very powerful; it is at least as powerful as the creation stories in Genesis. In fact these two texts are curiously intertwined. This end of the Book of Zechariah can be looked at as a sort of return to the world of Genesis one, and yet at the same time Genesis going in reverse; creation contracts in on itself returning to the one. This has some startling consequences, but first some background.
Zechariah chapter 14, verses 1-11 are part of a larger prophetic section of the Book of Zechariah known as Second Zechariah. Second Zechariah encompasses Zechariah chapters 9-14. Unlike First Zechariah, which can, at least theoretically, be dated precisely from 520BCE to 518BCE, dating of Second Zechariah can be very problematic as it is, “almost completely bereft of an identifiable historical context.” Still, that has not stopped people from trying to figure out when Second Zechariah was written. What makes things even more difficult is that many scholars think chapters 9-14 were not all written at the same time nor by the same authors. D. L. Petersen, a commentator writing at the same time the Anchor Bible of Zechariah 9-14 was being written, tends to think chapters 9-11 should be grouped together into a single booklet, as should chapters 12-14. Second Zechariah has been dated from the eight century BCE to 333BCE when Alexander the Great invaded Palestine. At bare minimum Second Zechariah was written in the post-exilic period.
While First and Second Zechariah are quite different works in a lot of ways they do share some very similar features. Brevard Childs “believes that this compatibility is due to the fact that the same authoritative scriptures, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, lie behind both sections.” Still, some see Zechariah 9-11,12-14, and Malachi, not First and Second Zechariah, as sections of one prophetic body of work, each new section of prophecy accented with the word “oracle.” Paul Lamarche views Zecharaiah chapter 14 as the ending section of a Chiasmus started in chapter nine, thus pinning some sort of structural unity to Second Zechariah. Second Zechariah starts with the judgment and salvation of neighboring peoples and chapter 14 ends it with the judgment and salvation of all nations (Italic mine).
The name Zechariah, contains the Hebrew words (rkz) and (hy) the first word meaning remember and the second pointing to the divine name, so the name means something like the LORD remembers. This name was, “a common name… especially among the priests and Levites in the post-exilic period.” This fits with how Paul Hanson sees the author/authors of Second Zechariah; to him they are “a group of disenfranchised Levites who were struggling against the ruling hierocratic party for control of governmental and spiritual affairs of the early post-exilic community in Jerusalem.” Paul Tarazi takes this one step further and sees these angry Levites as attacking priestly definitions of purity.
Being that this was written post-exile, the author is dealing with disappointment with the return from the Exile, which did not live up to Deutero-Isaiah’s vision. As Tarazi writes, “the New Jerusalem had already been aborted.” This is probably what led the author from the genre of prophecy to that of apocalypse (though this claim is hard to maintain as there is no heavenly being interacting with the author.). The prophetic justice he sought had not arrived even after the Return, so a more God’s eye view of the world was necessary, one where he could see God acting decisively in history and changing the way of things. If this is not an apocalypse it is at least a major transition point from Prophecy to Apocolypticism.
One of the things that were changed was the very physical geography of Jerusalem. The boundaries of Jerusalem were no longer those of a city , but instead the capital involved all Judah, from Geba to Rimmon. Secondly, “the Mount of Olives, which is, in reality higher than the Mount of Zion, becomes only an archway for the victor-warrior to enter his city. Indeed, everything outside Jerusalem is merely level ground for God on his way to Jerusalem.” Finally, there is the mention of the earthquake in the day of Uzziah, this is also referenced in Amos 1:1.
There are a few phrases in Zechariah 14 that need to be defined in some way shape or form. They are “a day is coming for the LORD”(14:1), and “the LORD will be one and his name one”(14:9).
This first phrase is on one hand an eschatological term about a day in the future when the LORD intervenes ultimately in history. On the other hand the events of the exile and the destruction of the temple were viewed as the “day” so when post-exilic prophets referred to “the day” they referred to the completion of what had been started by those previous events.
The second phrase affirming the oneness of the LORD is interesting as well. “The LORD will be one,” goes back to the Shema, “Hear O Israel; the LORD our God, the LORD is One.”(Deut. 6:4). It is an affirmation of “Israelite monotheism.” That the LORD’s name shall be one too is where one can step out of the narrow ghetto of Israelite religion and into a wider ancient Near Eastern, or even Greek, frame of reference. Cyrus H. Gordon of Brandeis University takes “his name one,” literally. That is “the numeral (dxa) “1” will be the official name of God in the End of Days.” Gordon cites numerous ancient deities as examples of god with numbers as names, including Gemini the double god, and Amon-Re, who is also known as, “the one ‘ONE.’” He also sees this focus on oneness as related to Greek philosophical thought about the Prime Mover. In fact the philosopher Xenophanes of Colophon was the first Greek to identify The God, with the One.
At base the message of Zechariah 14 is this. Some really bad things are going to happen to Jerusalem; the whole world will be against it. This oppression is from God. Then God will intervene saving those who survive the cataclysm that had enveloped Jerusalem. This will change the geography of the battlefield, raising Jerusalem up and flattening out the areas surrounding it. This change then expands, changing weather patterns, the patterns of night and day, and it will create new rivers. Jerusalem will become a Theocracy with God as king and the borders of Jerusalem will be expanded, and protected.
While it goes beyond the scope of verse 1-11 it seems right to finish summarizing the events of the last chapter of Zechariah. Just as the people of Jerusalem were afflicted by God, God turns on those nations who attacked Jerusalem. They are afflicted with plague and drought. The survivors of this will worship God enthroned in Jerusalem, those who do not will be punished. Finally all things, from the bells of horses to the common cooking pot, will be made as holy as the bowls used for temple sacrifice. The God of Israel will be able to be worshipped everywhere.
The last chapter of Zechariah is packed with allusions to the first Creation story in Genesis. It is like there is a, “re-creation of social, political, ecological, and cosmic structures on Yahweh’s day.” At times, these verses can also be viewed as if the Genesis one story has been put on video and the reader is watching it rewind.
In verse four of Zechariah 14 we have our first allusion to the creation account. The first creation story, the priestly account, in Genesis is a demythed version of other ancient creation myths where a god would rip a defeated enemy’s body asunder and create the world from it. In verse four the LORD stands against the nations and in doing so he rips asunder the Mount of Olives.
In verse six of Zechariah there is a phrase that is often translated, “cold or frost,” but quite literally it should read “there shall not be light.” The MT (Masoretic text) reads “roAa hyhy-la” but most translators have amended it to (rWa) and translate it to mean heat or flame. What if “there shall be no light” refers to “the lights in the dome of the sky” that “separate the day from the night.”(Gen. 1:14) This would make some sense, especially since verse seven reads, “And there shall be continuous day… not day and not night.” This fits well, especially considering that previous to Genesis 1:14 there was still light. What is happening here may be that on the Day of the LORD the Cosmos itself is reverting back to the first day of creation when God created light!
In verse eight of Zechariah water springs from Jerusalem and is split, half flowing east and half west. This is again looking back to the ancient tradition of the creator defeating and splitting cosmic waters; thus this verse points to “Yahweh’s universal rule, mythically portrayed in divine control over cosmic waters.” That is not all it does though, it also reinterprets Genesis 2:6, where “a stream would rise from the earth, and water the whole face of the ground.”
The phrase, “the LORD will be one and his name one,” has already been discussed above to some extent. Yet, looking at this phrase in light of Genesis one it can be interpreted as all of creation, which per Plotinus, “are extant by reason of The One,” return to the One, and all that remain is God, “in the beginning.” That Zechariah does not end right at the word (dxa) makes this interpretation rather weak, although intriguing.
Once again overstepping the bounds of verses 1-11 the festival that God wants the remnant of both Jew and Gentile to keep is the festival of booths. This is a festival that lasts seven days, and happens on the seventh month, and involves complete rest on it’s first and eighth day (Lev. 23:39-43). This echoes Genesis 2:2, where on the seventh day of creation God rests.
Zechariah, seen in light of creation, leads toward one main conclusion, equality. economic equality, destruction of hierarchy and equality of purity. The rough land, which is bad for farming, has been flattened out so it is plowable. Also the abundance of water from the Jerusalem, and the constant light, will destroy the “inevitable and habitual disparity in the productivity of agrarian units,” thus creating, “conditions optimal for social harmony and stability. Resources would be equally and abundantly available to all.” Through this new creation the hierarchy that Tarazi writes plagued the post-exilic era will come to an end, because the priests will no longer have a monopoly on purity. Instead, “every cooking pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be sacred to the LORD of hosts.” In fact the gentiles too will be pure enough to worship God enthroned in Jerusalem. There are no more “traders/Canaanites in the house of the LORD of hosts on that day” (Zec 14:22) because they are now as pure as the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
Famous Athiest becomes Deist
Also here is the answer to why we can't recruite enough soldier. "There's a bottom line to the recruiting debate. People don't want to die."
Well, back to the grindstone. I'm going to work til midnight, sleep, and work some more.
Peace,
Chris
Well, back to the grindstone. I'm going to work til midnight, sleep, and work some more.
Peace,
Chris
Friday, March 04, 2005
Thursday, March 03, 2005
The Questions
The Questions
1. Is “Death with dignity” something that Jesus would condemn or support?
2. What would Jesus think of a typical modern Christian Church? Muhammad about a typical Mosque? The Buddha about a typical temple? Moses about a typical Synagogue?
3. What would a truly Christian response to 9/11 have been?
4. Where will Jesus return when he returns? Is the idea of the return simply metaphorical? What’s taking him so darn long?
5. God is often called the LORD of Hosts, or to go with a more literal interpretation, “LORD of Armies.” How is this type of imagery relevant today?
6. Are there modern day prophets? If so who?
7. Are both Jesus and the Bible the Word of God? If so how do they interact?
1. Is “Death with dignity” something that Jesus would condemn or support?
2. What would Jesus think of a typical modern Christian Church? Muhammad about a typical Mosque? The Buddha about a typical temple? Moses about a typical Synagogue?
3. What would a truly Christian response to 9/11 have been?
4. Where will Jesus return when he returns? Is the idea of the return simply metaphorical? What’s taking him so darn long?
5. God is often called the LORD of Hosts, or to go with a more literal interpretation, “LORD of Armies.” How is this type of imagery relevant today?
6. Are there modern day prophets? If so who?
7. Are both Jesus and the Bible the Word of God? If so how do they interact?
Tuesday, March 01, 2005
Cancer sticks save lives, in Iraq
Parzych and the three Marines got out of the Humvee to talk. Because Parzych couldn't light his cigarette in the wind, he leaned into the back of the Humvee, between two steel doors, just as a car ran into the side of the Humvee, detonating an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) in the car.
He was knocked unconscious and woke up with a fractured tibula and two holes in his right calf.
He was the only one who survived the explosion.
He was knocked unconscious and woke up with a fractured tibula and two holes in his right calf.
He was the only one who survived the explosion.
Friday, February 25, 2005
My problematic Background check
I need to fill out this online form for my background check for the ELCA. The problem is it asks for addresses for places I've lived for the last 7 years. Only 4 differant places of residence, but for the life of me I can't remember my address in San Antonio (though I figured out my Zip code was 78217). Odd.
Peace,
Chris
Peace,
Chris
Wednesday, February 23, 2005
I done got flowery on myself
Sometimes Rousseau’s thinking comes out of left field. It could be that is because his thinking is divorced from reality to such an extreme that he is no longer even talking theory, because theories are supposed to involve possible real world results, but myth or metaphysics. It could be that Rousseau’s simply thought from a different context from almost everyone around him; his childhood included losing his mother, wandering the world alone at a young age, and converting to several different sects of Christianity. If the former is true Rousseau is to be pitied, and the French Terror to be expected, but if the latter is true it is possible Rousseau could be seen in his own right as a sort of Lawgiver. A man who experienced the Europe around him at a more cosmic scale, and was able to predict trends, relativize faiths, and, as some of his disciples suggested, become a prophet of his age. Either way at times facts, empiricism, the validity of myth, and perhaps reality itself, become beholden to Rousseau’s own thoughts.
Sunday, February 20, 2005
Went to a pre-V2 Catholic Church today
The whole service was in Latin. I was quiet and respectful, but felt like tapping a few thesises on the door.
Peace,
Chris
Peace,
Chris
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)