Week 43 (2024)
toasting & Terrence Malick, Orthodox men & the eucharist, surrendering & receiving children, our greying world & sacrificial hawthorns
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to read: books
Jesus And The Jewish Roots Of The Eucharist — Brant Pitre — Need a support group for this one.
Why I Am Roman Catholic — Matthew Levering — Brief thoughts.
(And here’s a podcast conversation he did about it. It was refreshing that his entrance to the faith was less an air-tight, heady exercise than one would assume by his academic work. The wind of the Spirit blows where He wishes.
I was chuckling in amazement that it was his sincere and honest lack of knowledge regarding the faith—along with a desire for Jesus—which was his impetus for going on to study, dig, and write dozens of books. “I realized I had no idea!” Just incredible. That we all would have this humble posture, recognizing all we don’t understand. And asking God’s help as we seek Him in the truth.
My favorite comments, regarding the traction of interviews with such people: “I think because Dr. Levering doesn't do a lot of interviews, people who just consume theology via podcasts don't realize the stature of his scholarship” and “…a lot of disciplines are like that, the folks doing the heavy lifting academically speaking are often not the ones making content for wider audiences.” Let the fellow online reader understand.)
to read: essays, articles, newsletters
The Eucharist: Ceremony, Doctrine, And The Real Presence — Brad East — “Where can I find the church, the body and bride of Christ? …It’s a worthwhile question, one of the most important you can ever ask in this life. Even in the confusions of ecclesial division and brokenness, it’s worth pursuing with the utmost seriousness.”
(related: How Not To Be A Schismatic, shared previously)
Fight Club, Mark Driscoll, And The Young Men Returning To Church —
, Trimming the Wicks — “The Divine Liturgy has gravitas… you will hear echoes of this masculine desire for difficulty, for a noble conflict, and for sacrifice finding a healthier outlet… in Orthodoxy, the emphasis of salvation and the cross is Christ’s triumph, and the gospel is an invitation to join Christ in the fight against evil. The war is against their own passions, weakness, and, yes, demons. There is not a liberal bogeyman, nor an attempt to be relevant and cater to you. It is reality, and it is demanding something of you.”(related: Beacom’s Men Only Want One Thing and ’s Let Them Live Dangerously, shared previously — and has discussed the research on boys, men and church here, here, here and elsewhere, compiled a course and resource list and written Heroic Fraternities)
- , Front Porch Republic — “When we gather with family at home or with friends on the porch, a toast can be like lighting a candle in the dark. It’s the simplest of actions, but also the confirmation of Christ’s presence amongst us. The demons will exist irrespective of human belief, but so will God’s blessings and powers. When we toast we celebrate our fight against the forces of darkness and evil.”
(related: Until The Morning Star Rises, shared previously)
Malick The Philosopher — Thomas Hibbs, First Things — “…Malick has been preoccupied with theology throughout his career. Early on, he considered making film versions of richly theological books like A Canticle for Leibowitz and Walker Percy’s The Moviegoer. During the filming of Badlands, Malick recommended to Martin Sheen, who plays the serial killer protagonist, that he read Dostoevsky’s Brothers Karamazov… the book prompted his return to the Catholic faith. More recently, after watching Martin Scorsese’s film version of Shusaku Endo’s Silence, Malick wrote to the director to ask, “What does Jesus demand of us?””
(related: more on Malick here, here and here, shared previously)
Jubilee —
, New Verse Review —“to not miss this
sublunary rebirth, this
resurrection
kind of thing.”
(good time to re-up her essay Incense On The Mountain, shared previously)
The Age Of Depopulation — Nicholas Eberstadt, Foreign Affairs — “Depopulation will transform humanity profoundly, likely in numerous ways societies have not begun to consider and may not yet be in a position to understand.”
(related: the equally relevant demographic decline among church attendance and giving has been anticipated here by Jake Meador, shared previously)
In The Safety Of The Crown Of Thorns —
, Over The Field — “But though its membership will be absent deep within the wood, its legacy will endure for ages to come… there can be no time for sentimentality on the Hawthorn’s part. There is a woodland to build: a place of richness and plenty where creatures great and small will make their home, all in the land where the Hawthorn first laid its courageous roots.”- , Blind Mule Blog — “…almost all of the decisions we make around marriage and family center around the adults—their longings, their loses, their desires, their identity, their feelings—and the problem is when you elevate adults, kids will have to sacrifice for them… children are a blessing from the Lord, it’s true—and not just to their parents and the world, but also and greatly to one another. And this is something to consider.”
(related: Cousins Are Disappearing, The Family Tree Stripped, and Hannah's Children, shared previously)
- , Women Walking In Wisdom — “…I certainly didn’t arrive here because of preference.”
Surrendering Your Fertility And Family Size To God —
, The Calvary of Woe — “…after having seen the measures people take to avoid having children - as well as the measures people take to have children, that there was something more at play here.”(related: this from , this from , and this from , shared previously)
to watch, listen to
Continuing On:
Genealogies Of Modernity — Season 1, Episode 2 — Karen Detlefsen: Women In Early Modern Philosophy
The Natural Womanhood Podcast with Grace Emily Stark & Cassondra Moriarty — Episode 2 — What is pelvic floor therapy, and why do you need it? An interview with Dr. Jen Tippmann
Woven Well Podcast with Caitlin Estes — Episodes 5-6 — Client Story: Mary and The Pill: Facts about Birth Control
(more resources on female embodiment in the Big Ol' Compilation)
to glean from: tip, product, resource
This is a bit of an abnormal lineup for a usually lighthearted section, but the good things were piling up!
- has summarized their Capita report on the needs of stay-at-home parents, and recently had a podcast discussion about it. (The archives here include plenty of her own work, along with this piece her coworker Elliot Haspel wrote.) There will be a virtual webinar at 2pm Eastern time this Friday, discussing the findings and recommendations. Join us!
- will be conducting a book club for ’s recently released Mothers, Children, and the Body Politic. For a Q&A with Nadya about the book, see this interview with .
- is planning a slow, collaborative read-through of Neil Postman’s Technopoly in the first few months of next year. I will be engaging with the chapter on medical technology. Subscribe to Kaitlyn to follow those future discussions.
I, too, appreciated the posts and comments regarding welcoming children last week. Mine was fun to write and promoted a few conversations in my personal life before posting. Thanks for welcoming others into the conversation and encouraging the discussion regarding how we welcome children.
Finally got a chance to dive into these. So many good links! I loved the Terence Malick article, especially the final quote by Charles de Koninck: “We will only be able to understand ourselves when we understand the universe. Our present is filled with the past.” Going to be ruminating on that for a while.
And I'm terrible at online read-alongs but have wanted to read Neil Postman for so long. Looking got to hearing your thoughts on the book!