Category Archives: medieval
Yom HaShoah
Yom HaShoah I really hadn’t wanted to go this time. It’s the night for commemorating/remembering the Shoah, the Holocaust, which my temple observes annually. Christian clergy sit on the raised platform at the front of the sanctuary and read, taking … Continue reading
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, American politics, anthropology, art, art of living, atheism, autonomy, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, bureaucracy, chivalry, Christianity, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, femininity, films, freedom, friendship, gender balance, glitterati, guilt and innocence, health, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, id, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, immortality, institutional power, Jews, journalism, Judaism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, martyrdom, masculinity, master, medieval, memoir, memory, Messianic Age, mind control, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, mortality, motherhood, mysticism, non-violence, ontology, oppression, pacifism, past and future, peace, philosophy, poetry, political, political movements, politics, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, race, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, scientism, seduction, self-deception, slave, social climbing, social construction, social conventions, social ranking, sociobiology, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, spirituality, status, status of women, suffering, terror, terrorism, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, the profane, the sacred, theism, theology, time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged a past life, annihilation of the Jews, anti-Jewish imagery, anti-Zionism, Augustine's Jewish problem, Bishop Ambrose, board of trustees, burning synagogues, ceremony, choir, Christian clergy, Christian factions, commemoration, crazy history, David Nirenberg's Anti-Judaism: The Western Tradition, diaspora, Divine Presence, divine/human partnership, empathy, empathy with victims, enemies of God, Evil, ex-terrorist, factional disputes, genocide, graciousness, Hebrew revival, Hebrew Scriptures, historian, historicity, Holocaust, Kasim Hafeez, mass murder, mass persecution, meditative silence, memory, mercilessness, new Covenant, New Israel, nice guys, normalized history, norms of decency, old Covenant, Old Testament, past life memory, pitilessness, promised land, Reform temple, reincarnation, remembering, resistence songs, saints, sanctuary, school spirit, Shekinah, Shoah, showing the flag, sincere clergy, spiritual victory, St. Augustine, supersessionism, Swedish incarnation, temple, The Bible, The Longest Hatred, theology of contempt, truthful sermon, victims, wandering Jew, warm bodies, witnessing, Yom HaShoah
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Saints, Lovers and Writers
Saints, Lovers and Writers Girls and women tend to think that their work is an addendum, an add-on, to the main event: life. I have published books and articles, given papers internationally, fought for the right to teach philosophy without … Continue reading
Posted in absurdism, action, afterlife, art, art of living, autonomy, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, childhood, Christianity, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, faith, femininity, feminism, films, freedom, friendship, gender balance, guilt and innocence, health, heroes, hidden God, history, history of ideas, idealism, ideality, identity, immortality, institutional power, Jews, Judaism, law, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, martyrdom, masculinity, master, medieval, memoir, memory, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, motherhood, mysticism, nineteenth-century, non-violence, past and future, peace, philosophy, poetry, political movements, politics of ideas, power, presence, promissory notes, psychology, relationships, religion, roles, romance, romantic love, self-deception, sex appeal, sexuality, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, spirituality, status, status of women, suffering, terror, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, the profane, the sacred, theism, theology, time, twenty-first century, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged Abigail L. Rosenthal's "A Good Look at Evil", Abigail L. Rosenthal's "Confessions of a Young Philosopher", academic press, beautiful movie stars, biblical couples, biblical women, book contract, braving ridicule, canonization, Catholic saints, Catholicism, Confessions of a Young Philosopher, D.H. Lawrence's "Lady Chatterly's Lover", divine-human partnership, editors, Ernest Hemingway's "For Whom the Bell Tolls", eros, fight for truth, Gandhi, great lover, greatness in women, heroes of the spirit, heroic wives, Hindu, Hinduism, holiness, human and divine eros, inauthenticity, Ingrid Bergman's Joan of Arc, intellectual courage, intercession, intimacy, Jennifer Jones's Song of Bernadette, lapsed Catholics, Lord Byron's "Don Juan", man behind the curtain, marginalization, mental fight, miracle cure, miracles at Lourdes, peasant girls, phoniness, pilgrimage, pilgrims, prayer, purity, Rachel in Genesis, religion of Israel, reprinting, ridicule, Saint Bernadette Soubirous, sainthood, saints, Sarah in Genesis, seeing a vision, self-sacrifice, Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex, the lame the halt and the blind, The Wizard of Oz, truthfulness, young girls
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Nostalgia and Yearning
Nostalgia and Yearning For most of my life, I’ve lived under a low-hanging cloud of yearning. The Germans call it Sehnsucht. It’s romantic longing for a fog-enshrouded, mystery-enfolded, beckoning future. It’s the kind of longing depicted in the movie, “Wuthering … Continue reading
Posted in action, afterlife, alienation, anthropology, art, art of living, autonomy, beauty, Bible, childhood, chivalry, Christianity, cities, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, faith, fashion, femininity, feminism, films, freedom, friendship, gender balance, guilt and innocence, health, heroes, hidden God, history, history of ideas, idealism, ideality, identity, idolatry, immortality, institutional power, Jews, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, martyrdom, masculinity, master, medieval, memoir, memory, mind control, modernism, mortality, mysticism, nineteenth-century, non-violence, ontology, oppression, past and future, peace, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, poetry, political, political movements, power, propaganda, psychology, public intellectual, reductionism, relationships, religion, Renaissance, roles, romanticism, seduction, sex appeal, sexuality, social conventions, sociobiology, spirituality, suffering, terror, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, theism, time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged acceptance, aestheticism, aesthetics, alchemy, ancient Egypt, ancient Israel, Anya Seton, Anya's Seton's Green Darkness, art as a cultural marker, beautiful art, being centered, belonging, bodice busters, Carnegie Museum, creativity, curators, curators' fads, daydreams, doomed lovers, Egyptian mummies, Egyptian tombs, Egyptian wall paintings, El Al flight, Emily Brontë, Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights, equilibrium, estrangement, Fine art, Germany in the 1930s, girlhood, girlhood fancies, Goethe, Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther, gothic romance, Hollywood films, Holocaust, home sickness, homecoming, hypnotic regression, idealization, idealized future, idealized past, imagination, Lawrence Olivier, life balance, living in the now, Merle Oberon, Metropolitan Museum, modern Israel, museum goers, Native American art, Nazi period, nostalgia, Old Hollywood films, ordinary life, past life regressions, Peace, place in history, present world, projection, recognition, reincarnation, relics, repetition, retrospection, return, reunion, romantic suicide, Sehnsucht, Shoah, star-crossed lovers, stately homes, Stefan Zweig's "The World of Yesterday", suicide cult, the moors, The Romantic Movement, Thomas Mann's Joseph and His Brothers, time travel, Tudor times, Turner Classics, typee, world of tomorrow, yearning
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“The Politics of Ideas”
“The Politics of Ideas” They say you are what you eat, but it’s been my experience that you are what you believe. People live and die for the ideas they believe to be true. What is more, people dress, work … Continue reading
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, anthropology, art, art of living, atheism, autonomy, Christianity, cities, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, ethics, evil, existentialism, faith, fashion, femininity, feminism, freedom, friendship, gender balance, guilt and innocence, Hegel, heroes, hidden God, history, history of ideas, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immortality, institutional power, Jews, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, martyrdom, masculinity, master, medieval, Messianic Age, mind control, modernism, mortality, mysticism, non-violence, ontology, past and future, peace, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, political, political movements, power, propaganda, psychology, public intellectual, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, seduction, social conventions, sociobiology, spirituality, suffering, terror, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, theism, theology, time, twenty-first century, Utopia, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged 586 B.C., ancient history, anger, anomaly, anti-semitism, aporia, apostles, Apostles Peter and James, archaeology, arguing to find the truth, arguing to win, argument, belief systems, beliefs, Brooklyn College, Christendom, Christian Fathers, Christian Jewish rapportchement, Christians, circumcision, competition for converts, counter-example, country gospel, damnation, destruction of The Temple, dialectic, diversity, Early Christianity, elites, Ethics, evangelical Christians, evil inclination, Feminism, feminist politics, feminist slogans, First Temple, freedom, Gentiles, good inclination, History, ideas, ideology, Institutional Power, institutional practice, integrity, inter-religious dialogue, Jesus, Jewish antiquity, Jewish authorities, Jews, John G. Gager's "Who Made Early Christianity: The Jewish Lives of the Apostle Paul", Judaica, Judaism, liberation, life of ideas, Mind Control, missionary, models, morals, mores, multi-culturalism, New Yorkers, opinion shapers, original sin, paradigms, personal conduct, philosophy professor, Plato, Political Movements, politics, politics of ideas, Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton University, principles, refutation, religious politics, resentment, salvation, search for truth, shared assumptions, sinners, social boundries, social conduct, social construct, social control, social penalties, social practice, Socrates, Socratic dialogues, sophisticates, steles, supersessionism, synagogue donors, synagogue membership, synagogues in the ancient world, The Book of Acts, The Covenant, The Crucifixion, the Law, The Passion of Christ, the rift between Christians and Jews, the Righteous Gentile, theology, thought police, thought world, tragic history, truth, world views, wrongheadedness, You are what you believe, You are what you eat
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“Jews and Christmas”
“Jews and Christmas” Lord! What a topic! No, please no. Years ago, I attended an interfaith discussion group peopled mostly by clergy, Jewish and Christian, also theologians and philosophers – all “religionists” as they are sometimes called today. It was … Continue reading
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, action, alienation, anthropology, art, autonomy, Christianity, contradictions, courage, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, faith, fashion, films, freedom, friendship, guilt and innocence, heroes, history, history of ideas, identity, ideology, idolatry, immortality, institutional power, Jews, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, love, martyrdom, master, medieval, Messianic Age, mind control, mortality, mysticism, past and future, peace, philosophy, political, political movements, power, psychology, public intellectual, relationships, religion, roles, seduction, sex appeal, sexuality, slave, social conventions, sociobiology, spirituality, suffering, terror, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, theism, theology, time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, violence, war, Zeitgeist
Tagged "Danny Boy", "David and Bathsheba", "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer", "Solomon and Sheba", abomination of desolation, Amazon reviews, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, atonement doctrine, Ben Hur, beth midrash, careerism, Charlton Heston, Christian doctrine, Christmas carols, Christmas Eve, Christmas tree, critics, Crucification scene, dialogue, Edward Alexander, Edward Alexander's Jews Against Themselves, Gina Lollobrigida, Gregory Peck, Hanukkah, Hollywood Bible movies, interfaith, Isaiah 53, Jeff Hunter, Jesus, Jewish Anti-Zionists, Jewish apostates, Jewish nation, Jews, Jews and Christians, Jews for Jesus, Jews in Hollywood, longest hatred, Maccabees, medieval Christian persecution, Messiah, Michael Wyschogrod, miracles, most hated nation, new Christians, New Year 2016, original sin, Passion of Christ, people pleasing, persecution of Christians, philosophers, pogroms, Rainbow Group, religionists, salvation, Seleucid dynasty, street beatings, Suffering Servant, Susan Hayward, temple in Jerusalem, temple reconsecration, The Trinity, theologians, truthfulness, writers, Yul Brynner
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“The Suffering of the Situation”
“The Suffering of the Situation” While the record snowfall piled up, higher than my shoulders where it touched the house in some corners, I was not thinking how beautiful it all was. I was not breaking out the marshmallows to … Continue reading →