Concerning the rose which blooms but knows not why

So I have finished up my first semester of graduate work and I cannot be happier with my school, my program, the classes I took. It's been a very rewarding time these past few months. Although, I do miss my friends and I do miss the songs we sang and the chords we strummed. But, oddly enough, just like when I got to GC and felt like that was where I was supposed to be, I feel like BC is where I'm supposed to be for now.

That said, I have a surprisingly beautiful quote from St. Augustine which I need to share. It's from book X of his Confessions and sometimes gets called "Late Have I Loved Thee." For me, it's up there with Rilke. At least for now.

Too late have I loved you,
O Beauty so ancient and so new,
too late have I loved you!

Behold, you were within me, while I was outside:
it was there that I sought you,
and, a deformed creature,
rushed headlong upon these things of beauty
which you have made.
You were within me, but I was not with you.
They kept me far from you,
those fair things which,
if they were not in you, would not exist at all.

You have called to me,
and have cried out,
and have shattered my deafness.
You have blazed forth with light,
and have shone upon me,
and you have put my blindness to flight!

You have sent forth fragrance,
and I have drawn in my breath,
and I pant after you.
I have tasted you,
and I hunger and thirst after you.

You have touched me, and I have burned for your peace.

Do Anything Special?

So papers are needing to be written but I have discovered a new addiction. Well, make that two. In the midst of thinking about differance, undecidability, the condition of possibility for ethical action within the intersubjective relation and divine economy, participation and separation, ontological difference, etc...I have been introduced and consequently held hostage by two shows.

[1] Heroes. I was extremely skeptical of this show when it first was advertised and because I usually worked mondays I didn't get to see it. Well, I've put off writing papers to watch the first season. I've stayed up later than I should to watch the show. I think the charm comes from a creative use of traditional heroic archetypes. The most interesting characters are usually those who don't have any abilities (the cheerleader's dad, the politician) because there is more to gain/lose and I can't tell whose side they're on pretty much ever. In some ways, it reminds me of Firefly

[2] Flight of the Conchords. can help myself. like i said before...it's brilliant.

p.s. you should listen to midlake.

The Curious Incident of a Butterball Turkey Stuffed With Rice and Other Assorted 'Fixins' or How I Spent My Puerto Rican Thanksgiving

This will be a short list of insight (not to be confused with the tome of the same name by Bernhard Lonergan which i would probably use as a doorstop although who uses doorstops anymore?)

-I am allergic to Pennsylvania
-The train is exponentially more comfortable than any airplane I've been on
-Sometimes I miss Philadelphia but mainly because of the music
-Through a strange miscommunication I ended up being unable to drive and had to be driven around by my parents like I was 15 all over again.
-The National and Editors. You need to know about them if you don't already.
-I couldn't be a yuppie if I tried...I felt legitimately sick when I walked into Banana Republic looking for a jacket.
-I am really happy here in Boston. Much more than I anticipated
-Flight of the Conchords is brilliant
-No Country for Old Men might be the second best film the Coen bros. have made (next to the big lebowski...don't get me wrong, fargo was good but it wasn't this good)
-I am really glad I don't have a tv...I certainly get more work done.
-Speaking of work...I've got around 8 pages of a 12 pager done and I'm barely on the second of three parts...what is wrong with me?

well...that's all I got for now.

Passing Notes

Man, there are some days that I really miss making music (how's that for alliteration). It's always been a communal thing for me and rarely do I make anything I find worthwhile on my own. That said, I've become more and more inspired by my artist friends. If you haven't heard the new Berry you need to. The song "Sing Out" is worth it alone but the whole new ep "floundering" is excellent. Nick and I saw them in Philly back in february and man were they tight so do yourself a favor and give them a listen.

They're based in Chicago now which is the same place as Enoch and Jadiid (Peter Matt Boll). Enoch sounds like...well I don't know what he doesn't sound like. It's passionate and beautiful and quite possibly the most honest thing I've heard in a long time. Jadiid reminds me of Matt Pond PA and has one of those unforgettable Aaron Appleton basslines that make me miss that guy a lot.

Hopefully, a great and mighty wind of inspiration will sweep over me and I'll feel the need to write something. until then, you know I'll be listening to stuff non-stop.

Other Music of Note:

Kevin Drew: basically, broken social scene without women (he's the leader or something)
Midlake: if you are not yet listening to them you are not worth knowing. The best album i bought last year (better than brother sister maybe...)
The Mercury Program: sound a lot like the album leaf but more guitar driven i guess.
Dave Bazan: I think he's the best songwriter I've ever heard. I think he could write anything.

A Good Day For Questions

Perhaps it has something to do with deciding that I was going to dress like a grad student and not like a musician. Perhaps it was the autumnal chill that has settled (finally) in the Town of Boston complete with the beginnings of color change in the leaves. Whatever it was, today was a great day for questions. There are times when I feel the only questions I ask when I'm reading something or listening to a lecture are "what are you trying to say?" or "is this supposed to sound like nonsense?" Today was much different. Maybe Sartre is an easy target but his concept of the relation between perception and imagination just wasn't cutting it for me.

So I asked, "Is there ever a phenomena that exceeds the imaginative capacity of the subject?" Put another way, is there ever anything that presents itself to us that is bigger and beyond our ability to understand it? There are obvious theological undertones within the question but I think that there are non-religious phenomena that exceed our conception of them. Like another person.

That was my favorite question from today and, as most good questions do, it lead to more questions. So I ask this:

Is God a phenomenon that would exceed our imaginative concepts? Does God appear as a phenomenon at all? Is it through other phenomena that God is perceived?

Just Bring It Down From The Mountain To Me

I've been thinking about community and identity today (amongst other things). What does it mean to live in a community that would welcome others and yet maintain a sense of what that community's identity is?

I've also been thinking about this line from a Derek Webb song "new law" which I heard while listening to the Speaking of Faith podcast on new monastics...

(Shane Claiborne and the New Monasticism)

...anyway...the line goes like this

"don't teach me about/moderation and liberty/i just want a shot of grape juice"

hmmm....

Something New

I thought that I would start something new here. I just got tired of the look of the old site...as tends to happen every 3 years or so. I remember changing the colors to look like a book I got for my thesis because I really liked the design...but now I need something other than green(s).

I've been thinking recently about what it means to be an evangelical. I can't find anybody with "straight" answer. So what do you think it is?

I tend to explain it in two ways:

[1] from the greek evangelion. It means good news. But it is also the word also means the gospel as in the writings about Jesus. I tend to see Jesus and the gospels as the hermeneutic 'lens' through which the rest of scripture is read if it is to be a Christian reading of scripture. As a result, this reading, and the tradition which follows it, is both the narrative tradition I am a part of and the one that I am also curious about. So the gospels and the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus is the hermeneutic 'lens' through which I engage in questioning my world.

In this sense I am evangelical (adjective).

[2] A term used to explain a large group of predominantly conservative, non-mainline Christians. Evangelical Christianity has it's own culture and traditions, arguably it's own liturgy even though it might not be in a published form. (Notice how everyone knows when to stand and sit during a worship service and how familiar the order of the service is and you'll be witnessing something of an evangelical liturgy.) This is the culture out of which I was raised and from which I became disillusioned but never really left.

In this sense I am or used to be an evangelical (noun).

But what separates evangelical as a descriptor from being added to some catholics or even eastern orthodox practitioners? Why would some intellectual movements (such as radical orthodoxy) have such an aversion to the term?

I have my thoughts on the matter...but my church history is rusty so I'm eliciting the thoughts of others.

let the great experiment begin.