In the estimation, hear the calculation;
In the definition is the proposition:
Binding minds with knotted wording,
Wrapping, twisting, thought-confining
Let our words be free and fluid,
Not dividing, undefining.
Then our conversation is equivocation
And origination merely duplication.
Tim Keller spoke recently at the multi-faith Service of Remembrance and Peace for 9/11 Victims' Families held at Ground Zero. His talk, though brief, set forward the Christian hope. He did not preach the gospel, but what he did speak was radiant with godly light.
» At the moment, I am enjoying the Arte Nova recording of 
Rachmaninov's Aleko and Tchaikovsky's Iolanta (1994). Much like Naxos's, Arte Nova's strategy is to produce cheaper recordings than mainstream labels by using relatively unknown European singers. As from any budget label, there are many recordings that are merely acceptable for the price, but there are also a few gems, in which category I am convinced Iolanta, especially, falls.
We all know what it is to play warfare in mock battle, that it means to imitate everything just as it is in war. The troops are drawn up, they march into the field, seriousness is evident in every eye, but also courage and enthusiasm, the orderlies rush back and forth intrepidly, the commander’s voice is heard, the signals, the battle cry, the volley of musketry, the thunder of cannon–everything exactly as in war, lacking only one thing … the danger.
There is an astonishing amount of theological course material freely available online. In particular, two web sites have distinguished themselves by their course offerings. Covenant Worldwide make available 21 courses from Covenant Theological Seminary:
Bad poetry is a delight to the soul, especially when it is so unashamedly bad that no one could contest its enormity. For example, listen to these words that no doubt brought a smile to the Rev Gilfillan of Dundee, and have been bringing smiles to countless people since…
"The cross is the surest, truest and deepest window on the very heart and character of the living and loving God; the more we learn about the cross in all its historical and theological dimensions, the more we discover about the One in whose image we are made and hence about our own vocation to be the cross-bearing people, the people in whose lives and service the living God is made known.
"And when therefore we speak of shaping our world, we do not–we dare not–simply treat the cross as the thing that saves us 'personally,' but which can be left behind when we get on with the job. The task of shaping our world is best understood as the redemptive task of bringing the achievement of the cross to bear on the world, and in that task the methods, as well as the message, must be cross-shaped through and through."
Ben Witherington has posted a helpful critique of the prosperity gospel (in addendum to Time's recent article). He writes:
The health and wealth Gospel is a profoundly American Gospel, especially connected to blue collar Protestant religion, that thrives on the rags to riches mythology of our culture in general.
A remarkable story circulates concerning a certain very fine Oxford college. Apparently, after the decision to admit women to the college, the fellows were confronted with a problem. Men, of course, could participate in sport. But what would women want to do in their free time? After a long deliberation, they decided on a course of action. Women iron. So, to make women comfortable in the college, they would arrange for ‘ironing rooms’ to be established. Today, ironing rooms are not to be found, but the principle is an interesting one.
Until recently, the image at the head of my web page was a detail from Vermeer's View of Delft.
The View of Delft rightly deserves admiration, and none apparently recognised that more than Proust, who not only died with Vermeer's name on his lips, but who named the View as the painting beloved by Bergotte, a character from in À la recherche du temps perdu who best seems to hold Proust's own views on art.
