I have started my summer teaching and so will have much less time for the blog. I expect that over the next few weeks the blog will be relatively quiet, and will likely serve primarily as a place to post some teaching material and for commonplace book entries (quotations, etc.) I do still have some outstanding obligations in the Comments to some of my previous posts, and I hope to discharge those soon.
My best wishes for everyone’s summer!
Ed Mooney has begun a blog that promises to be very much worth following. Look for it here.
I’ve been missing for a couple of days. My son just graduated from AU, so I’ve been busy with ceremony and parties and suchlike. Great weekend for him I hope; certainly a great one for me: I’m proud of him.
Back in the South, celebrating Pascha. Fun trip–as I expected, I learned a lot; my paper will improve as a result. It was great to see my former students, and my old and new friends. My thanks to all of them!
I plan for the blog to pick up its pace again. For those of you who keep up with the blog, and especially those who comment, let me tell you how much I appreciate your time and how much I have profited from your comments. As I have said in the past, I am getting the better part of this deal.
Off to the north country: I’ll read my essay, see old friends and former students, enjoy the change of scenery. I will learn a lot, I’m sure. I return to the heart of Dixie on Saturday, I hope in time to celebrate the Paschal Divine Liturgy with my parish.
For those who do not know the Paschal Liturgy, one of its many highlights (and indeed one of my favorite pieces of writing of all time) is John Chrysostom’s Paschal Homily. I post it here:
If any man be devout and love God, let him enjoy this fair and radiant triumphal feast. If any man be a wise servant, let him rejoicing enter into the joy of his Lord. If any have labored long in fasting, let him now receive his recompense. If any have wrought from the first hour, let him today receive his just reward. If any have come at the third hour, let him with thankfulness keep the feast. If any have arrived at the sixth hour, let him have no misgivings; because he shall in nowise be deprived therefor. If any have delayed until the ninth hour, let him draw near, fearing nothing. If any have tarried even until the eleventh hour, let him, also, be not alarmed at his tardiness; for the Lord, who is jealous of his honor, will accept the last even as the first; he gives rest unto him who comes at the eleventh hour, even as unto him who has wrought from the first hour.
And he shows mercy upon the last, and cares for the first; and to the one he gives, and upon the other he bestows gifts. And he both accepts the deeds, and welcomes the intention, and honors the acts and praises the offering. Wherefore, enter you all into the joy of your Lord; and receive your reward, both the first, and likewise the second. You rich and poor together, hold high festival. You sober and you heedless, honor the day. Rejoice today, both you who have fasted and you who have disregarded the fast. The table is full-laden; feast ye all sumptuously. The calf is fatted; let no one go hungry away.
Enjoy ye all the feast of faith: Receive ye all the riches of loving-kindness. let no one bewail his poverty, for the universal kingdom has been revealed. Let no one weep for his iniquities, for pardon has shown forth from the grave. Let no one fear death, for the Savior’s death has set us free. He that was held prisoner of it has annihilated it. By descending into Hell, He made Hell captive. He embittered it when it tasted of His flesh. And Isaiah, foretelling this, did cry: Hell, said he, was embittered, when it encountered Thee in the lower regions. It was embittered, for it was abolished. It was embittered, for it was mocked. It was embittered, for it was slain. It was embittered, for it was overthrown. It was embittered, for it was fettered in chains. It took a body, and met God face to face. It took earth, and encountered Heaven. It took that which was seen, and fell upon the unseen.
O Death, where is your sting? O Hell, where is your victory? Christ is risen, and you are overthrown. Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen. Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice. Christ is risen, and life reigns. Christ is risen, and not one dead remains in the grave. For Christ, being risen from the dead, is become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. To Him be glory and dominion unto ages of ages. Amen.
Expect the blog to be slow for the next ten to twelve days. I am in full prep mode, trying to finish an essay that I am due to share publicly at the end of next week. I have no illusions of grand success; but I devoutly hope not to waste my audience’s time–and there is a real danger that I will do so. –Some days I fear Lady Philosophy has in fact and finally relegated me to the Friend Zone.
Back from a few days vacation. Good to be home and back to the blog. Look for some new bits and pieces in the next few days.
Another long day banging my head against the computer, trying to write. Hours later all I have to show for my efforts is a longish, so-so paragraph that may someday be the ancestor of a paragraph that will appear in a different paper. Gah! I need a better writing plan than this: Write out of your own inner disorder.
Just back from the (this-time-not-so-) Windy City. I travelled up for the Central APA, along with some colleagues and about ten students. It was a good trip: I heard a terrific talk at UC by Matt Boyle (“Transparent Self-Knowledge”), got a chance to spend time with old friends (Jim Conant and Michael Kremer), to see former students now at UC (Ben Pierce and Stephen Shortt), and to meet charming new folks–including Rachel Cohen (thanks to her for a useful conversation on Montaigne), and a graduate student from Eugene, Oregon, with whom I had a brief but upbuilding conversation (but whose name, may she pardon me!, has slipped my mind). I also saw my teacher, Deborah Modrak, and got a chance to catch up with her.
And of course I spend time at Iwan Reis, the amazing pipe shop, at Powells Books, and the Seminary Co-op. But now it is time to get back to work.
I hope to get back to work on Monday. That should mean that the especially desultory posting of the last month will become less especially desultory. I plan to get back to work on Emerson and Montaigne, on Otto Bollnow and on a few other things I have left hanging. –I appreciate the well-wishes after my surgery. Thanks to everyone!
