Tag Archives: biblical Israel
Why Choose the Jews?
It feels like forever – so changed are the times! – but it’s only been two days at this writing. Starting in the early hours of October 7, Hamas operatives surprised and overwhelmed Israeli surveillance and defenses at the Gaza … Continue reading
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, American politics, anthropology, art, 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, 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, mysticism, non-violence, novels, ontology, oppression, pacifism, past and future, peace, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, poetry, political, political movements, politics, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, race, radicalism, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, romance, romantic love, romanticism, science, scientism, secular, seduction, self-deception, sex appeal, sexuality, 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, TV, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged accepting the historical condition, anti-semitism, anti-semitism on campus, anti-Zionism, asymmetrical relations between siblings, asymmetrical relations between the sexes, Biblical insights, biblical Israel, Biblical narratives and history, blaming the Jews, book of Genesis, Cain and Abel, casus belli, choosing the Jews, competitve victimhood, curing anti-semitism, curing sibling rivalry, defending the oppressed, deliberate targeting of civilians, escaping history, explaining anti-semitism, expulsion from Eden, families under siege, fashionable oppression, fashionable victimhood, Genesis as a theory of history, Genesis as an introduction to history, gnostic escapism, Hamas operatives, Hegel, Hegel’s theory of history, history’s cost, ill-timed visit to Israel, incurable human relations, incurable situations, inheriting the human situation, Israel’s 1948 War of Independence, Israeli defenses, Israeli surveillance, James Baldwin, Jewish students and professors, Jews and philosophy of history, Jews and theories of history, killing your brother, knowing when to run, Kojeve, Kojeve’s theory of history, living in history, living with God in history, Marx, Marx’s theory of history, no place is safe, oppression of women, origin of history, philosphers of history, privileging the underdog, public war crimes, purpose of higher education, refusing history, selective anti-oppression, selective condemnations, selective outrage, sibling rivalry, suffering of mortality, surprise attack, the chosen people, the fall into history, the Jewish homeland, The Longest Hatred, the mark of Cain, the reality of living in history, the suffering of the human condition, the suffering of work, theology and history, theories of history, undermining higher education, unfashionable oppression, vulnerability of women, why Cain kills Abel, Yom Kippur attack
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Voegelinian Vagaries
In last week’s column, I mentioned that Eric Voegelin is a political philosopher whom I approach – in advance and in principle – with a high degree of respect. Unlike most contemporary thinkers about life at the political level, he is not … Continue reading
Posted in absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, anthropology, art, art of living, atheism, bad faith, Bible, Biblical God, bigotry, book reviews, books, 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, Gnosticism, guilt and innocence, health, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, 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/slave relation, memoir, memory, Messianic Age, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, ontology, oppression, past and future, peace, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, political, political movements, politics of ideas, postmodernism, 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, theology, time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged Abigail L. Rosenthal's A Good Look at Evil, Abigail L. Rosenthal's Spoiling One's Story: The Case of Hannah Arendt, anti-Semitic question, apocalypse, audience Q & A, Auguste Comte, before and after, Bible and history, Biblical canon, biblical Israel, Biblical narrative, Biblical source criticism, Center for Process Studies, changing opinions, Christian Jewish competition, Claremont University, collegial respect, cultural change, cultural change and personal change, culturally derived views, daily journaling, Deuteronomy, divine and human guidance, divine commands, divine providence, Eric Voegelin, erudite scholar, eschatology, Exodus, expertise on nazism, gnostic movements, God gives the words, guilt and innocence on the timeline, hearing God’s word, heckler at lecture, higher criticism, Holocaust, how to live in history, inspiration in action, journal keeping, keeping the past relevant, life in culture, life in history, live and learn, living in time, living with God in history, Marxism, mental health, Moses at the burning bush, Nazi canards, nazi rhetoric, players in history, players in the human story, political philosopher, political philosophy, prayer guidance, professional respect, providence and history, providential footprints, providential incident, reconceiving the past, reversing opinions, self monitoring, self tracking, supersessionist assumptions, testimony under oath, the Bible as literature, the gift of the Jews, time and justice, Torah, Voegelin's inspiration, Voegelin's Israel and Revelation, Voegelin's misunderstandings, Voegelin's Order and History, who drew first
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The Family Laundry
A cousin just told me that the Israeli branch of the family is putting out a book that she has seen in advance of publication. It’s about the immediate forebears of that branch, who are people of large consequence in … Continue reading
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, American politics, anthropology, art, art of living, autonomy, Bible, Biblical God, books, Christianity, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, courage, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, ethics, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, femininity, feminism, freedom, friendship, glitterati, guilt and innocence, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, immortality, institutional power, Jews, Judaism, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, medieval, memoir, memory, mind control, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, oppression, past and future, political movements, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, propaganda, psychology, public facade, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, secular, seduction, self-deception, social climbing, social construction, social conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, spirituality, status, status of women, suffering, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, the profane, the sacred, theism, theology, time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Uncategorized, victimhood, victims, violence, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged anti-semitism, anti-Zionism, biblical Israel, Biblical narrative, book projects, Commemorative volume, Coulda been a contender, El Al flight, Eminent families, Exclusivism in religion, Family flaws, Family lineage, family prestige, Family pride, Family secrets, Family shame, family tree, Flaws and virtues, Generational change, God and Abraham, going along to get along, Grammatical competence, Holy envy, Identity reinforced, Identity undermined, Jerusalem, Jungian thought-forms, Kibbutznik, Krister Stendahl, lech, lecha, Life summonses, Medieval Jerusalem, modern Israel, moral courage, Objective case, opportunism, Passing the buck, Personal truthfulness, Political dynasties, pride and shame, promised land, Reclaiming desert, Religious pluralism, Reproving transgression, Self-betrayal, selling out, Sense of identity, Skeletons in the closet, Speaking Hebrew, Taking a stand, The cost of taking a stand, The navel of the world, truth unvarnished, Visiting Israel, Washing family laundry, Wedding on the Jordan
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Now You See It, Now You Don’t
Now You See It, Now You Don’t Last night I watched Renique Allen being interviewed on C-Span about her book, It Was All a Dream: A New Generation Confronts the Broken Promises to Black Americans I was utterly riveted by … Continue reading
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, alienation, American politics, anthropology, art, art of living, autonomy, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, books, chivalry, Christianity, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, 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, institutional power, Jews, journalism, Judaism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, martyrdom, masculinity, master, master/slave relation, memoir, memory, mind control, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, motherhood, non-violence, ontology, oppression, pacifism, past and future, peace, philosophy, political movements, politics, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, race, radicalism, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, romance, 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, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, the profane, the sacred, theism, theology, time, TV, twenty-first century, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged American origins, American West, being black, Biblical covenant, biblical Israel, biblical Israel and its neighbors, biblical narratives, black culture in the South, black incarceration, C-Span interview, Chaim N. Saiman’s Halakhah: The Rabbinic Idea of Law, communal consensus, dating pool, defacing the divine image, defending the Shekinah, defense of the feminine, demoralized men, divine feminine, Divine Presence, eligible black men, eligible men, erotic color lines, erotic predicament, erotic problematic in minority communities, explaining the Exile, Idolatry, Jehudim, Jewish survival, Lakota princess, Lakota warrior, love after lockup, millennials, models for healthy relationships, murder, Native American culture, parental couple, portable laws, promised land, rabbinic Judaism, racial bottleneck, refusal to compromise, relationship training, Renique Allen’s It Was All a Dream: A New Generation Confronts the Broken Promises to Black Americans, residential segregation, reverse migration, segregation in the North, self-revelation, sexual immorality, shared history, Shekinah, sin as an explanation, single parent homes, social grouping, social segregation, strategic vulnerability, the American South, the divine image, the First Exile, the Jewish assignment in history, the Mayflower, the religion of Israel, the Sanhedrin, the Second Exile, unfair imprisonment, unfair sentencing, what the hell it’s home, white liberals, white radicals, woman’s place in Israel, woman’s place in Judaism
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“Presence”
“Presence” Our rabbi, whom our temple can no longer afford to employ, will be gone in a few more weeks. This Friday, the temple is holding a service in his honor and I am one of those in the lineup … Continue reading
Posted in absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, American politics, anthropology, art of living, atheism, autonomy, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, chivalry, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, eighteenth century, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, faith, fashion, femininity, feminism, freedom, friendship, guilt and innocence, health, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, idealism, ideality, identity, idolatry, immorality, immortality, institutional power, Jews, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, martyrdom, masculinity, memoir, memory, mortality, motherhood, mysticism, non-violence, ontology, oppression, pacifism, past and future, peace, philosophy, poetry, political, politics, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, romance, seduction, self-deception, social conventions, social ranking, sociobiology, spiritual not religious, spirituality, status, suffering, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, theism, theology, time, twenty-first century, Utopia, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged "be here now", "being here now", 1776, absence, America, American covenant, Biblical covenant, biblical criticism, biblical Israel, chagrin, clock time, covenant, Declaration of Independence, employment contract, Eternity, farewells, feminine side of God, Femininity, forefathers, Fourth of July, frustration, hail and farewell, half-absence, higher criticism, History, homesickness, Independence Day, insolvency, Jewish continuity, Jewish memory, Jewish scholarship, Jewish temporality, Jewish theology, Jon D. Levenson, Jon D. Levenson's Sinai & Zion: An Entry into the Jewish Bible, living in the now, loss, maternal love, meditation, memory, moral courage, Mother, past present and future, patriotism, pop psychology, presence, Rabbi, rabbinate, sabbath, Shabbat, Shekinah, spirituality, temporality, Torah Study
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