Author: BrJames

13Apr

Winning the Race

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(Two athletes, Greece, 4th century BC; From decorative vase in the Kunsthistorisches museum, Vienna)

The Olympic Torch relay is the event that traditionally marks the start of the Olympic Games. Over the years, the flame has been transported in some interesting ways. For example, in 1976, the flame was sent by radio signal between Greece and Canada. The flame was detected by heat sensors in Athens, and a signal was sent to Ottawa, where it triggered a laser beam to relight the torch. You can read about some of the other interesting methods of transporting the flame here.

In ancient times, the “lampadedromia” or “torch race” was a relay race, in which several teams of athletes ran through the city, bearing aloft torches. This kind of race took place at various times in Athens, Corinth, Ceos, Byzantium, and elsewhere. Initially there were religious overtones; the first person to reach the designated altar with flame still alight was granted the honor of relighting the sacred flame. All members of the winning team were considered equally honorable, and shared the glory of the victory. More about this event can be read at Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1898); accessed online at this Tufts University site.

In some of the earliest of Christian writings, the Saint Paul the apostle borrowed from Greek culture for a metaphor of the Christian life. For example, in his first letter to the Corinthians, he urged them:

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.

Here and in a famous passage from 2nd Timothy, Paul emphasizes running hard, being focused on the prize, and finishing the race. In the Timothy passage he looks back upon his efforts:

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

I don’t know if Paul was invoking “lampadedromia” specifically, or some other kind of race. The torch race was run in Corinth, to whose resident Christians his earlier passage was addressed. Some interesting things about that early torch race do come to mind.

1. Bearing a torch is both a joyous honor and a solemn responsibility. The sacred light that we bear aloft is no votive offering to pagan gods; in Christianity light is the symbol of God’s presence. Jesus declared himself to be the “Light of the World”. At Pentecost, as recorded in the book of Acts, the Holy Spirit manifested to the early disciples in the form of “tongues as of fire”. Even today we see that Christian literature, buildings, and denominational logos sometimes use the image of a flame to represent the Holy Spirit.

2. Being a relay race, the contest is a team effort. This isn’t a case where one guy runs and everyone else gets to sip beer and eat brats on the sidelines. We are all runners. All of us must do our part for team Christianity. We must strain and get sweaty, but we don’t do it alone. We help each other out, and we all share in the glory of the final victory.

3. As in the torch races of old, if we run well but don’t tend to the flame, allowing it to burn out, then we lose the race. May we run in such a way that we reach the end with torch alight, with God’s spirit still blazing forth in our lives. May we, with Paul, be able to say “I have finished the race. I have kept the faith.”

10Apr

It isn’t only the VA…

It appears that the British health system and the U.S. Veterans Administration, have been plagued with the same kind of institutional corruption. The venerable New England Journal of Medicine printed an editorial entitled “Scandal as a sentinel event: Recognizing Hidden Cost–Quality Trade-offs.”

A government-commissioned inquiry by Sir Robert Francis revealed how these circumstances combined to create a major health care scandal.4 Francis’s report describes how Mid-Staffordshire’s leaders imposed cuts without assessing risks, then intimidated staff into suppressing their concerns. Overwhelmed clinicians, Francis concluded, couldn’t remain conscientious and still keep up. Receptionists performed emergency department triage. Meals were left out of reach of bedridden patients. Drug doses were missed. Incontinent patients weren’t cleaned. And impossibility engendered emotional disconnection. One physician told Francis, “What happens is you become immune to the sound of pain” — or “you walk away. You cannot . . . continue to want to do the best you possibly can when the system says no to you.”

Meanwhile, management insisted that NHS performance targets be met, punishing breaches even when compliance did more harm than good. Emergency department nurses told of delaying the start of antibiotics, pain medication, and other needed treatment to attend to less-needy patients within the 4-hour wait-time limit. Staff who missed targets feared being fired. This fear, Francis found, led to premature discharges and falsification of records.

caregivers will move from frustration to insensitivity to corruption when put in an impossible bind between demands for frugality and demands for excellence.

A bit further on we get to the really interesting quote:

“There’s a defined pot of money,” Francis told me last year. “But there’s a public expectation — there’s also a professional expectation — I should be allowed to do everything that’s in my patient’s interest . . . . Politicians promise the same. When that doesn’t work, it’s the fault of the [institution’s] leadership.” The result is a “toxic atmosphere” that “prevents those who are running the show from telling the truth” — and signals caregivers to keep quiet.

This analysis doesn’t let clinicians off the hook for dishonesty or neglect. But it underscores that these scandals are sentinel events — indicators of the risk that caregivers will move from frustration to insensitivity to corruption when put in an impossible bind between demands for frugality and demands for excellence.

Filed under “Reflections of the Fall”.

29Mar

Suicide Bombing Mars Easter in Pakistan

Around 70 people were killed and more than 341 injured when a suicide bomber attacked a park in Lahore where Christians had thronged for Easter.  A high percentage of the victims were women and children.  You can read more at CNN.

26Mar

Glory of the Resurrection

2000 Years ago something truly extraordinary happened…

Photo Credits
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1. Partially Sealed tomb, from Renewal Journal blog, online at: https://renewaljournal.wordpress.com/…
2. Sealed tomb: http://www.catholiclane.com/wp-conten…
3. Inside burial chamber: http://www.matrix24.gr/2014/09/agonia…
4. Mount Carmel tomb, from http://www.standwithisrael.net/images…
5. Image of empty grave: “Empty Tomb Picture, 6”, available at http://www.turnbacktogod.com/empty-to…
Shaft of Light, Westing, by Mike Pennington, UK, 2007, obtained from Wikimedia commons, used in accordance with creative Commons 2.0 license
6. Robed man, altered from photo available at http://www.metallyrica.com/lyrica/avi…
7. Mary Magdalene at the tomb, unknown original source, obtained from blog: http://thesestonewalls.com/gordon-mac…
8. Image of empty grave: “Empty Tomb Picture, available at http://www.turnbacktogod.com/empty-to…
9. Shaft of Light, Westing, by Mike Pennington, UK, 2007, obtained from Wikimedia commons, used in accordance with creative Commons 2.0 license

Audio effects and music
________________________________

1. The Scripture is read from KJV, in public domain by LibriVox.
2. The Paschal Chant is public domain, obtained from Archive.org
3. The other sound effects were from soundbible.com

25Mar

What is ISIS?

On the heels of the attack by terrorists upon the airport in Brussels, it seems a good opportunity to revisit the question, “what is ISIS?” I recall a very good article by Graeme Wood in the Atlantic which lays out a lot of information on ISIS. One of the points that struck me was this one:


The reality is that the Islamic State is Islamic. Very Islamic. Yes, it has attracted psychopaths and adventure seekers, drawn largely from the disaffected populations of the Middle East and Europe. But the religion preached by its most ardent followers derives from coherent and even learned interpretations of Islam.

This echoes the assessment of former Muslim Dr. Nabeel Qureshi, who is a speaker with Ravi Zacharias Ministry, and wrote a recent essay for USA Today:


This is not at all to say that most Muslims are violent. The vast majority of Muslims do not live their lives based on chapter 9 of the Quran or on the books of jihad in the hadith. My point is not to question the faith of such Muslims nor to imply that radical Muslims are the true Muslims. Rather, I simply want to make clear that while ISIL may lure youth through a variety of methods, it radicalizes them primarily by urging them to follow the literal teachings of the Quran and the hadith, interpreted consistently and in light of the violent trajectory of early Islam. As long as the Islamic world focuses on its foundational texts, we will continue to see violent jihadi movements.

In order to effectively confront radicalization, then, our tools must be similarly ideological, even theological. This is why I suggest that sharing alternative worldviews with Muslims is one of the best methods to address radicalization. Indeed, this is what happened to me. As I faced the reality of the violent traditions of Islam, I had a Christian friend who suggested that Islam did not have to be my only choice and that there were excellent reasons to accept the gospel.

20Mar

England Afraid of “Muscular Christianity”

Apparently a new “muscular” Christianity is threatening to shake the teacups out of the hands of our genteel British brethren.

The BBC’s head of religion has warned that Britain needs to address its “chronic lack of religious literacy” if it is to accommodate the rise through new immigration of “more assertive” forms of Christianity with “conflicting views” on same-sex marriage and other human rights issues.

Aaqil Ahmed, writing for The Independent, identifies a “more muscular Pentecostalism” emerging among African immigrants and an “upsurge in Catholic numbers” from Poland and elsewhere in Eastern Europe. “Christianity may have been pronounced to be at death’s door in the last century but now it’s firmly back in the public space and how we deal with that is the real battle for Christianity here in the UK.”

You can read more at The Independent.

18Mar

St. Patrick’s, Imogene, Iowa

This was a heartwarming article:

How an Iowa Church Helped Save Its Small Town.

For decades, rural towns in America have struggled to survive. Imogene has, too. The ranching community from the 1860’s soon turned to the railroad boon. “The daughter of one of the railroad engineers had the name of Imogene and that’s where it got started,” said 70-year-old Joe Cheney, who was baptized in the church.

Five years ago, Imogene city leaders discussed whether the town should cease from being a town anymore, meaning no local government. Imogene needed inspiration.

“With the church and rich heritage and the nearby Wabash Trail, proud people of Imogene, I was never worried about it,” said Becca Castle who helped start the Sons & Daughters of Imogene, a community betterment organization.

You have to click the link or search images of this church; due to copyright uncertainty I did not reproduce the pictures. The interior is spectacular.

01Mar

Textual Criticism and the Donation of Constantine

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(A 13th-century fresco of Sylvester and Constantine, showing the purported Donation. Santi Quattro Coronati, Rome; public domain)

Someone at a satellite music channel has declared March to be “Bible appreciation month”. Of course, we ought to appreciate (and read and study) those remarkable writings year round. I am going to stray a bit to comment on one of the ways the Bible has been studied and scrutinized, namely the discipline of textual criticism. Textual criticism entails the careful examination and comparison of manuscripts and copies. I was recently reminded of one of the earliest examples of textual criticism, being used to demonstrate that a medieval document was a forgery.

In the western half of the Roman Empire, as the remnants of political power crumbled into the chaos of the “dark ages”, the papacy emerged as an energetic contender. The bishop of Rome had originally been one among many sources of authority within the church in the immediate post-apostolic period. His power grew over time, and the Pontiff began to claim temporal authority as well as spiritual primacy.

Pope Innocent III (1160-1216) had this humble impression of his role as not just a spiritual leader, but as one to whom kings are subject:

Just as the founder of the universe established two great lights in the firmament of heaven, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night, so too He set two great dignities in the firmament of the universal church…, the greater one to rule the day, that is, souls, and the lesser to rule the night, that is, bodies. These dignities are the papal authority and the royal power. Now just as the moon derives its light from the sun and is indeed lower than it in quantity and quality, in position and in power, so too the royal power derives the splendor of its dignity from the pontifical authority…
(Letter to the prefect of Aserbius and the nobles of Tuscany, available online at this Fordham University site).

By the end of the 13th century Pope Boniface IV was claiming ultimate authority on earth. His papal bull Unam Sanctam insisted that

“We are informed by the texts of the gospels that in this Church and in its power are two swords; namely, the spiritual and the temporal.”

And of course, the papacy claimed both. The document concluded:

“Furthermore, we declare, we proclaim, we define that it is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff.

(The text may be read here.)

I might pause and note that Boniface was unable to wield anything like the power he claimed to have. In his dispute with King Phillip IV of France, whom he excommunicated, he ultimately lost out to such an extent that mercenaries loyal to Phillip attacked his palaces at Anagni and kidnapped the pontiff, nearly killing him. Although he survived, he died just a few weeks later, in October 1303. Upon reading of the “two swords” in the Bull, one of Philip’s ministers is alleged to have remarked, “My master’s sword is steel; the Pope’s is made of words” (Ruggio 51).

One of the sources upon which this kind of papal authority and power was justified is the so-called “Donation of Constantine.” This document appears to have been “discovered” conveniently in the ninth century. The document purports to be by the emperor Constantine the Great in 315, and “donates” the western empire, including Rome and all lands to its west, to Sylvester, bishop of Rome, supposedly out of thanks for curing him of leprosy at his baptism. (Portions of the Latin and English texts may found at Hanover.edu).

The Renaissance, with its flourishing of scholarship in ancient latin texts, spelled the end of this forgery. In 1440, the priest and humanist scholar Lorenzo Valla (1407-1457), in De falso credita et ementita Constantini donatione declamatio, demonstrated that the donation was a more recent forgery (text available here). To be fair, by the time of Valla, the document was no longer as important as it had been in prior centuries.

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Valla began his discourse by noting that Constantine wasn’t the sort to enter into this kind of agreement, and furthermore all of the historical evidence would suggest that he continued to reign over the western Roman Empire, while there is no evidence that Sylvester had done so. He then analyzed the language of the document, showing that terms used, such as “satrap” were not from the 3rd century, but rather much later in the 8th century. The terms “consul” and “patrician” were misused in a clumsy way that would not have happened in ancient Rome. There is reference to the Patriarchate of Constantinople, at a time when the city of Byzantium was neither the seat of a patriarchate nor even yet renamed “Constantinople.” His other arguments can be read in the site which was linked at the end of the previous paragraph.

The work of Valla did much to fuel the anti-papacy furor of the Protestant Reformers. The work was apparently read by Martin Luther in 1519. He described his reaction to discovering the truth about the forgery to his friend Spalatin:

I have at hand Lorenzo Valla’s proof (edited by Hutten) that the Donation of Constantine is a forgery. Good heavens! what a darkness and wickedness is at Rome! You wonder at the judment of God that such unauthentic, erass, impudent lies not only lived but prevailed for so many centuries, that they were incorporated in the Canon Law, and (that no degree of horror might be wanting) that they became as articles of faith. I am in such a passion that I scarecely doubt that the Pope is the Antichrist expected by the world, so closely do their acts, lives, sayings, and laws agree. (Martin Luther, Letter to Spalatin, Feb. 24, 1520., as recounted in epistole blog).

In 1534, Valla’s work was translated by William Marshall for Thomas Cranmer in England, where it was used to bolster claims of independence of the English church (Parrish, 119).

For further reading:

  • “Donation of Constantine” in Wikipedia
  • Pearse, Roger. “The Donation of Constantine”, online at his blog, Tertullian.org.
  • “The Donation of Constantine” in Catholic Encyclopedia, online at newadvent.org.
  • Lorenzo Valla,
    Discourse on the Forgery
    of the Alleged Donation of Constantine    , In Latin and English translation by Christopher B. Coleman
    (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1922). Available online at Hanover College
  • Whitford, David. “The Papal Antichrist: Martin Luther and the Underappreciated Influence of Lorenzo Valla”, Renaissance Quarterly, 61 (2008): 26-52; abstract online here)
  • Lorenzo Valla, a review of his life and works online at Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.