Category Archives: politics

Can Sibling Rivalry Be Ontological?

Posted on January 10, 2023 by Abigail

In the top-floor, high-ceiling, six-room New York apartment where my parents once lived, next to the dining room table and in front of the window, there stood a tall potted plant. It grew and grew, though I don’t recall our giving … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, Bible, Biblical God, bigotry, book reviews, books, bureaucracy, Childhood, Chivalry, Christianity, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Female Power, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, 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, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Messianic Age, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, Mysticism, non-violence, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, Poetry, Political, Political Movements, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romanticism, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, 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, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged apocalyptic hopes, Arch of Titus, Bar Kokhba, Church Fathers and Jews, civilizational problems, cultural fault line, earlier New York, early Christian views, end of history, Eric Voegelin, Eric Voegelin's Israel and Revelation, first century expectations, Greeks and Socrates, inappropriately mystical, intuitive people, Isaiah's peaceable kingdom, Israel's 1948 Declaration of Independence, Jewish Christian ontology, Jewish messianism, Jewish/Christian competition, Jews Christians and God, last Jewish rebellion, lions and lambs, messianic hopes, Michael Wyschogrod, mystical views, mysticism and superstition, old rent apartments, ontological problem, predictions falsified, Presbyterian Church and BDS, Presbyterian Church and Deicide, Rabbi Mitchell Delcau, Rabbi Q&A with Presbyterian congregation, Roman rule in Palestine, sibling rivalry, supersessionism, supersessionism repudiated, Voegelin and Jewish history, Voegelin's Order and History | Leave a comment

Acting in Real Time

Posted on December 27, 2022 by Abigail

Of all the forms of worship I know about, Biblical religion is the one most wedded to chronology. It carries the message that the action called for cannot be postponed. It must be done now. There is a concomitant duty … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, American Politics, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, bigotry, books, bureaucracy, Childhood, Cities, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Female Power, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Health, Hegel, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Jews, Journalism, Judaism, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, Political, Political Movements, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romanticism, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, 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, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged 1776 vote on Independence, academic excellence, acting in real time, Biblical religion, Brooklyn College, Caesar A. Rodney, chronological religion, Churchill's speeches, college administration, college policy, deadlines, dealing with tyrants, Declaration of Independence, documentary evidence, eloquence in a leader, fate of nations, forgetting and remembering, God in the Sistine Chapel, grandfather looks like God, historical crisis, imprinting memory, improving curriculum, Iron Law of the Bully, Jeremy Kagan's The Nature And Pursuit of Truth in Different Cultural Contexts in Strauss Spinoza & Sinai: ed Bloom Goldstein & Student, keeping commitments, keeping national trust, Lincoln's speeches, living in the now, manipulative speeches, meaning what you say, Michaelangelo's God, mistrusting heroes, moral timeliness, now of action, oddities of memory, Rav Tsair, refusal to personalize, religion on the timeline, representing one's nation, Second Continental Congress, sense of history, spoken with intention, Talmudic view of language, the right words, this ironical age, urgent action, what has to be said, words and reality, words and things, Zelensky's address to Congress | Leave a comment

Religions, Cultures and Powers

Posted on December 6, 2022 by Abigail

As Jerry and I recover from our everything-that-could-go-wrong-did-go-wrong air travel experience, I’ve been taking this week to assimilate the intensely interesting experiences at the Theology Without Walls meetings in Denver. My reflections nestled around three questions: What did the TWW … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, bigotry, books, Childhood, Christianity, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, ethnicity, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Female Power, Femininity, Feminism, Films, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Health, Hegel, 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, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Messianic Age, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, motherhood, nineteenth-century, non-violence, novels, Ontology, Oppression, pacifism, Past and Future, Peace, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, Poetry, Political, Political Movements, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, radicalism, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romantic Love, Romanticism, science, scientism, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, 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, TV, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged AAR, American Academy of Religion, background assumptions, boundary encounters, challenges to cultures, confrontations testing cultures, cultural gestures, culture and truth, culture and ultimate belief, culture and ultimate reality, culture's internal contradictions, culture's permissions and prohibitions, divinity schools, evidence about God, globalized communication, God and anthropology, God and biology, God and history, God and neuroscience, God and physics, God and proofs, God in literature, God in memoir, God in the arts, Hegel's Philosophy of History, history's story, proofs of God, public universities, religion and culture, religion departments, religionists, religious competition, religious seeker, secular universities, The Absolute, the global adventure, Theology Without Walls, thought boundaries, TWW in Denver 2022, ultimacy, ultimate reality | Leave a comment

The Blessing

Posted on November 29, 2022 by Abigail

We’ve just returned from the Denver meetings of the American Academy of Religion – more specifically the subfield that Jerry founded: Theology Without Walls. It was founded in recognition of the current, unprecedented openness of communication in our world. It … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Afterlife, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, Bible, Biblical God, bigotry, book reviews, books, Christianity, Cities, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, eighteenth century, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Female Power, Femininity, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Hegel, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, Jews, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, Memoir, memory, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, motherhood, nineteenth-century, Ontology, Oppression, pacifism, Past and Future, Phenomenology of the Mind, Philosophy, Poetry, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, secular, self-deception, Sex Appeal, social climbing, social construction, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, Suffering, Terror, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Violence, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Abraham Isaac and Jacob, Advaita Vedanta, American Academy of Religion, Atheism, Biblical accuracy, biblical history, biblical Israel, Biblical people in real life settings, Biblical test cases, choices of evils, Christian missionaries, Christian persecution of the Jews, Christian Supersessionism, Christians Jews and sibling rivalry, covenant in history, cultural absolutes, deceptions and the Biblical Jacob, disinheriting an ancestor, global communication, global influence, gnostic, God beyond religion, God's pilot project, guru, guru follower, historical problem of sibling rivalry, Immanuel Kant, indigenous spirituality, instructive Biblical record, interreligious dialogue, interreligious influences, Isaac's blessing, Israel and the Promised Land, Jacob and Esau, Jerry L. Martin, Jewish identity, Jewish survival, Kant and Reform Judaism, Kant's moral philosophy, Karmic payback, local cultures, local religions, Marxists, modern Israel, monotheism, Mother Ganga, non-Western spirituality, origin stories, pacifism, Pentateuch, preserving the Biblical record, preserving the God story, Promised Sands, recording the Biblical story, Reform Judaism, religious homecoming, Replacement Theology, Replacement Theology and the Holocaust, Return to Israel, sibling rivalry, sibling rivalry in history, spiritual but not religious, spiritual exploration, stealing the blessing, struggling with an ancestor, Supersessionism and Israel, The Book of Genesis, The Covenant, the human story, The River Ganges, theologians, theologically unsolved, theology and sibling rivalry, Theology Without Walls, three patriarchs, Torah, Torah Study, Universal Creator, Universal God in the Bible, universal moral law, weekly parashah | 1 Comment

Ancestors

Posted on October 25, 2022 by Abigail

How odd of God To choose the Jews. So goes the old rhyming joke, from I dunno who. Some Englishman perhaps. But allow me to step in, on behalf of God, to explain why God did that. My explanation may count as … Continue reading →

Posted in Absolute freedom and terror, Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, bigotry, book reviews, books, Childhood, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Female Power, Femininity, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, Jews, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, motherhood, nineteenth-century, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Philosophy, Political, Political Movements, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Race, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, secular, self-deception, Sex Appeal, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, 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, twentieth century, twenty-first century, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Abrahamic religion, ancestors, being above it, bible as historical, Book of Job, chief rabbi of Odessa, chosen people, cost of life choices, covenant as divine partnership, covenant with God, divine connections, divine to human relationship, drama of assimilation, Edmund de Waal's The Hare With Amber Eyes: A Hidden Inheritance, empathy with God, family mysteries, family puzzle pieces, Family secrets, fleeing Europe, following one's heart, generational memory, God and Abraham, God in history, God in meditation, God in nature, God outside the Bible, God's footprints in history, hidden epic, history as record of action, history as record of deeds, How odd of God, inherited duties, inherited roles, inherited sorrows, Jewish destiny, Jewish genius, Jewish history, Jewish predicaments, Jewish vulnerability, Jewish week of mourning, Jews agree to the covenant, Jews and insult, Jews consent to covenant, Jews in Vienna, Jews record the covenant, justifying God, lech lecha, lifelong friendship, love or duty, native born Israeli, Nazi genocide, Neve Granot, personal affinities, Rav Tsair, Rechov Rav Tsair, religious chanting, religious rituals, Sabra, Shiva, sympathy with God, the covenant as partnership with God, the Jewish assignment, theodicy, Tom Stoppard, Tom Stoppard's Leopoldstadt, Viennese roots, walking a social tightrope, wealth as protection, Wittgensteins of Vienna, writers' conversation | 2 Comments

As If We Were Free

Posted on September 20, 2022 by Abigail

As If We Were Free We are just back from the pleasant French city of Montreal in Canada, where Jerry and I gave papers and attended the presentations of others at the meetings of the Eric Voegelin Society, a group … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, American Politics, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, bigotry, bureaucracy, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Female Power, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Journalism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master/slave relation, memory, Messianic Age, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, novels, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, Poetry, Political, Political Movements, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, radicalism, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Roles, Romantic Love, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, 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, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged academic horror stories, American Political Science Association, anonymous denunciation, apocalyptic fantasies, behaving as if free, Canada, coerced confessions, Czech dissidents, denounced anonymously, denouncer and denouncee, Eric Voegelin, Eric Voegelin Society, escaping the human condition, escaping the Nazis, existential questions, hard to be human, ideological path, ideology-driven regimes, imprisonments, life assignment, loyalty to the party, mass executions and gulags, materialist cynicism, materialist reductionism, mock trials, Montreal, moral defeat, Nazism and communism, no one is safe, no-longer-sayable, one-man rule, ostracism, penumbra of fear, pointless sacrifice, police state, political philosophers, political theorists, professional risks, social defeat, social eviction, social risks, soul-destroying ideologies, struggles for freedom, the fellowship of truth tellers, totalizing programs, utopian delusions, Václav Havel, Venezuela and Cuba, where to draw the line | 1 Comment

Putting Order Into History

Posted on September 13, 2022 by Abigail

Putting Order Into History Aviva Zornberg has written another of her inspired books about the Bible, this one suggestively titled, The Beginning of Desire: Reflections on Genesis. Why read the Bible? Isn’t it a just collection of stories that … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, American Politics, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, Bible, Biblical God, bigotry, books, Childhood, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Female Power, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Guilt and Innocence, Hegel, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, Jews, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, memory, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, motherhood, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, Political, Political Movements, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, radicalism, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Social Conventions, 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, TV, twentieth century, twenty-first century, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Adam's sin, aesthetic attitude, Aristole's "rout in battle", Aviva Zornberg's The Beginning of Desire: Reflections on Genesis, Bible stories, biblical truth, book of Genesis, choice in history, Churchill v Hitler, clarifying the before and after, confidence in democracy, confronting reality, democracy v demagoguery, democratic civilization, facing chaos, faith in the ballot, faith in the courts, holding off chaos, human incompleteness, January 6th Hearings, January 6th mob, joining the rout, knowing what to do, Liz Cheney, making order, making sense, making situations intelligible, meaning of history, mob rule, moral chaos, moral choice, Noah's flood, Noah's generation, observing v acting, Odessa, only human, order in history, order out of chaos, providing evidence, resisting God, Russian aristocrats, Russian invasion of Ukraine, seeing the pattern, standing with Ukraine, the order of battle, Tsarist Russia, Ukraine and historic Russia, Ukrainian defenders, Western leaders and Ukraine, what really happened?, who did what?, who said what?, world historical hero, Zelensky | 2 Comments

Dragon Hunting

Posted on June 21, 2022 by Abigail

Dragon Hunting Dragon hunting has never, to my knowledge, been deemed the sport of kings since the requisite skills are not confined to any class of people, royal or other. Rather, the know-how is reserved for gifted souls. They know … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, American Politics, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Biblical God, bigotry, book reviews, books, bureaucracy, Chivalry, Christianity, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Female Power, Femininity, Feminism, Films, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Journalism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Messianic Age, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Philosophy, Political Movements, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, radicalism, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, slave, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, 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, TV, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Abigail L. Rosenthal's "Confessions of a Young Philosopher", antinomian, argument's power, argument's weakness, Épater les bourgeois, being turned to stone, brainwashing, brainwashing in Korean War, breaking a spell, capturing minds, coerced confessions, combatting dragons, concealed intentions, controlling others, cunning manipulator, deliberate incivility, dragons, Electoral College results, gifted souls, Greek mythology, having what it takes, Jacob Taubes, January 6th Hearings, January 6th historic precedence, January 6th Insurrection, January 6th legal evidence, January 6th mob, justice as the interest of the stronger, Me Too Movement, mental coercion, methods of manipulation, occult knowledge, ousting a predator, Pence's citizenship, Plato's Republic, pointless erudition, pointless wit, power relations, rule-breaking, Secret Service Agents, seeing the wolf first, sexual predator, slaying dragons, society's rules, Socrates, spellbinder, sport of kings, subverting minds, swallowed by a dragon, theological pied piper, Thrasymachus, Trump and Pence, Trump and The Insurrection, Trump and The Secret Service, uncanny power, under a spell, unfair means, Unhidden Depths: Confessions of a Young Philosopher, unholy attraction, uninvited intrusion, Vice President Pence | 1 Comment

How Can We Know If It’s God?

Posted on May 10, 2022 by Abigail

How Can We Know If It’s God? Are we making a big mistake? Couldn’t it be Tom, Dick, or Susie instead? Well, no. Those three friends are all palpable, visible, leave imprints when they sit on the couch, chat about … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Anthropology, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Biblical God, books, bureaucracy, Chivalry, Christianity, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Female Power, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, Jews, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, master, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, motherhood, Mysticism, non-violence, novels, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, scientism, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, Sociobiology, 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, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Abigail L. Rosenthal's "A Good Look at Evil", academic evaluation, academic grievance, academic politics, academic tenure, accessing circumstances, arbitration hearing, astral bodies, atheists, coincidence, communication overload, conceptual rigidity, confronting one's culture, confronting one's situation, contemporary communication, divine authority, divine ecstasy, divine signs, divine vision, divine visitation, Divine witness, divine/human interactions, escapist fantasies, escapist flight, faculty union, getting fired, ideal world, Jewish angels, Jewish calendar, Jewish essence v Jewish existence, Jewish relation to God, Jewish time, linear time, openness to God's direction, personal relationship with God, prayer guidance, prayer-guided life, problematic of history, prophetic claims, providential messaging, reasons for atheism, recognizing God, religious acculturation, retroactive confirmation, risk and certainty, the God question, theological mistakes, unconscious projection, Ur of the Chaldees., Willie Nelson | 4 Comments

Believers

Posted on April 26, 2022 by Abigail

Believers When I was a child, the grownups around me held all kinds of beliefs and I wished I could be like them. Failing that, I hoped they wouldn’t find out how I really felt. As a high school girl, … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, Anthropology, Art of Living, Autonomy, bad faith, Biblical God, bigotry, books, Childhood, Chivalry, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Female Power, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Guilt and Innocence, Hegel, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Immorality, Institutional Power, Jews, Journalism, Judaism, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Martyrdom, Masculinity, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, Political Movements, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Race, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, Sociobiology, 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, twentieth century, twenty-first century, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Abigail L. Rosenthal's "Confessions of a Young Philosopher", American girls, American hostage in Teheran, anti-Jewish persecution, Barry Rosen, becoming a Jew, belief and identity, believers, Brooklyn College philosophy, child's insincerity, City University of New York, coherent narrative, core identity, courtship modalities, damned if you do damned if you don't, dialectical life, different strokes different folks, discovering Jewish identity, discovering one is Jewish, explaining everything, explaining one’s life, finding a narrative thread, French courtship, French women, Freudian psychoanalysis, girlfriends and boyfriends, God and chronology, God in history, God's presence, grownups' beliefs, handling insults, harassing Jewish students, hazing in Australia, Hegelian narrative, holding nothing back, Jewish explanations, Jewish identity, joke that's not a joke, keeping your cool, keeping your honor, losing social power, maintaining a sense of belonging, misspent youth, Park Avenue psychoanalysis, partnering with God, persecution and identity, personal motivation, personal uniqueness, philosophic memoir, post-modern deconstructions, pretend adoration, reductive explanation, Smith College girls, social clumsiness, social cuts, social double bind, social power, standing up to persecution, Unhidden Depths: Confessions of a Young Philosopher, unified self, Yaffa Eliach's Hassidic Tales of the Holocaust | Leave a comment

	Abigail on Voegelinian Vagaries
	Judy Dornstreich on Voegelinian Vagaries
	Abigail on New Year’s Day 2023
	Can Sibling Rivalry… on The Blessing
	broonov on New Year’s Day 2023

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