Theology That Bites Back
Introduction: At times it may appear to us that America is like that fat kid in boot camp, and God is acting the part of a drill instructor who won’t lay off, with an apparent insatiable desire to get that kid to throw up two more times today. To change the metaphor (you’re welcome), it …
“But to represent this epic poem as a portrayal of the internal subjective struggles of a narcissistic modern is as anachronistic and foolish as to start looking for Beowulf’s inner child. The poet is addressing a problem which this people as a people knew they had. A poem like this should not be used as a blank screen on which we project problems that we know we have. Maybe Hrothgar was actually worried about global warming or high cholesterol”
Letter to the Editor: Recommend for Man Rampant guest invitation: Pr. James Coates from Grace Life Church, Edmonton. Thanks for all you are doing in our Lord and Saviour’s name. Ian ...
Introduction: The only real science involved in all the corona-panic anymore is the science of crowd control. And however poorly our governments may have done with regard to the virus itself, having run out of rest homes to put the contagious in, they have done a marvelous job when it comes to manipulating and all-round …
“Their long-established way of doing things gives them all the civilization-building power of a biker gang. It is hard for us to imagine Viking angst, but I want to argue that the author of Beowulf is delivering a vision of exactly that”
“The paganism that is so evident throughout this poem is presented to us by a thoroughly Christian poet, and he does not show us this paganism in order to say, ‘See, pagans can be noble, too—even without Jesus!’ Rather, he is doing precisely the opposite—he is refusing to engage in a fight with a heathen straw man of his own devising. He acknowledges the high nobility that was there, but then he bluntly shows us that nobility at the point of profound despair . . . This is nobility at the end of its tether”
“She dreaded doom of battle, the days to come
Would be devastating, deadly, dark, and shameful.
There would be sorrow and sadness. The sky drank the smoke”
Introduction: When man aspires to become Deity, the nature of the folly is such that he does not start to close in on his goal. The demented vision is such that what starts happening is divergence, ...
“Then for the king they kindled a colossal blaze,
Clouds of smoke curled upward, closing the sky,
Black smoke, blaze red, and blending in sorrow
Was the crackling fire and keening people—quiet was the wind—
Until the body burst and the bones were blackened
By the great heat at the heart of it”
