Tag Archives: Divine intervention
Fracture
Into each life some fractures must come. And they’re not all metaphorical. Mine came like this. It was Friday May 2nd. Jerry and I were due to speak at a Theology Without Walls group. We were standing in the foyer … Continue reading →
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, agnosticism, alienation, appreciation, art, art of living, atheism, authenticity, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, bigotry, bureaucracy, chivalry, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cults, culture, desire, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, female power, femininity, feminism, freedom, friendship, gender balance, 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, journalism, 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, Nihilism, non-violence, ontology, oppression, pacifism, past and future, peace, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, power games, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, radicalism, reductionism, relationships, religion, repairing the culture, 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, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, the profane, the sacred, theism, theology, time, Truth, TV, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, work, writing, Zeitgeist
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Tagged agnostics and believers, ambulance, bad fall, contagious meanness, danger of blindness, dedicated nurse, Divine intervention, evil nurse, false accusations, fracture, gifted surgeon, inner voice, lucky coincidence, meanness as contagious, miracle, miracle or coincidence, miracle within the laws of nature, non-supernatural miracle, Nurse Cruella, partial hip replacement, patient's self-defense, post-operative recovery, Princeton Hospital, Princeton School of Theology, providential intervention, providential message, rehab facility, self-advocating in hospital, self-defense in hospital, Theology Without Walls, unprofessional behavior
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Atonement and Forgiveness
This week, when Jewish time has been flowing between the New Year 5781 and the sacrosanct Day of Atonement, I have asked a couple of people I know for forgiveness. It’s the time of year when this is required, for … Continue reading →
Posted in absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, anthropology, art of living, atheism, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Biblical God, bigotry, chivalry, Christianity, cities, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, faith, female power, femininity, feminism, freedom, friendship, gender balance, guilt and innocence, health, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history of ideas, id, Idealism-, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, institutional power, Jews, Judaism, law, 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, mortality, non-violence, novels, ontology, oppression, pacifism, past and future, peace, philosophy, poetry, political, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, romance, romantic love, scientism, 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, twentieth century, twenty-first century, victimhood, victims, work, writing, Zeitgeist
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Tagged accepting the apology, adult life choices, anticipating trouble, apologizing, asking forgiveness, asking pardon, Barnard College, college friendships, conditions for forgiveness, conditions for prayer, courtship signs of trouble, crocodile tears, Day of Atonement, Days of Awe, divine calling halt, divine demand, divine exclusion and inclusion, Divine intervention, divine rebuke, divine refusal, divine roadblock, ex-friends, expressing anger, fake contrition, feeling obligated, forgiving injuries, friendships after college, generosity and friendship, generosity in lost friendship, generous forgiveness, genuine contrition, getting presentable to God, getting right with God, giving forgiveness, giving pardon, God saying stop, God’s absence, God’s presence, God’s withdrawal, holy day, holy week, hurt feelings, insensitivity, Jewish time, knowing what one did wrong, losing or risking status, lost friendship, lost youth, loving reactions, making peace, marital negotiations, moral competition, moral confrontation, moral hindsight, moral self-understanding, moral stakes, moral struggle, not invited to the party, novelistic plotline, overcoming resentment, points for trying, politics of experience, psychic wounds, psychoanalytic lore, psychoanalytic understanding, red flags in marriage, reflective repentance, relationship red flags, repairing past wrongs, repairing the world, repairing wrong, resolving life complexities, retrospective moral insight, retrospective moral self-insight, retrospective regrets, retrospective self-judgment, retrospective self-understanding, Rosh Hashanah, self knowledge and repentance, self-definition and premature self-definition, sending God a letter, sense of duty, sense of urgency, Shekinah, snubbed socially, social status, spiritual cleansing, the beautiful people, transcending resentment, understanding one’s misdeed, understanding relationships, unrepaired injuries, victim and victimizer, wounding another, Yom Kippur, youthful injuries, youthful quarrels
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What Would Hegel Do?
I called myself a Hegelian for much of my academic career. Though that field is usually assigned to Continental Philosophy, the chair of one highly-regarded – and predominantly Analytic – philosophy department to which I’d applied told me that my … Continue reading →
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, alienation, American politics, anthropology, art, art of living, atheism, autonomy, bad faith, Biblical God, bigotry, books, bureaucracy, Christianity, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, cults, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, eighteenth century, 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, institutional power, Jews, journalism, 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, mortality, nineteenth-century, novels, ontology, oppression, past and future, peace, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, poetry, political, political movements, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, radicalism, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, romantic love, scientism, 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, work, writing, Zeitgeist
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Tagged Abigail L Rosenthal's Feminism Without Contradictions, academic career, addressing cultural assumptions, analysts vs continentals, Analytic philosophy, answers to prayer, Antonio Gramsci’s Prison Notebooks, appeals to unconscious instinct, Brooklyn College students, collective conclusions, contemporary cultural skepticism, Continental philosophy, cultural conformism, culture and history, decoding unspoken assumptions, democracy highest form of government, dialectic and history, dialectic and world views, dialectic vs prayer, dialectical method, diverse student body, Divine intervention, doing philosophy, dominant cultural opinion, elite opinion, fashionable opinion, Frances Fukuyama's The End of History and the Last Man, Gates of Vienna 1683, God helps those who help themselves, Hegel vs theism, Hegelian analysis, Hegelian teaching method, Hegelian thought, history of ideas, images lifted out of context, jihad and the West, Lepanto 1571, manipulative speech, mass communication and demagogues, mass communication and mob action, mass opinion, mob action and demagogues, Nietzsche and Marx, objective truth, Parisian postmodernism, petitionary prayer, philosophic questions, philosophy and inspiration, Poitiers 732 A.D., prayer and healing, prayer is not enough, prayer vs magic, prayer won't mail a letter, reign of soft terror, rights dignity and representation, skepticism and social privilege, skepticism within the educated, skeptics nihilists and revolutionaries, social construct, stages of consciousness, story of human history, teacher-student dialogue, technology and deception, the battle for Ukraine, the long march through institutions, the reasonable life, the victory of representative democracy, the way of the lemming, the West and the other, the West and Ukraine, unconscious power dynamic, underlying power relations, using Western achievements against the West, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Western hegemony, Western intellectuals, what would Hegel do, WWHD
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The Return of the Well-Tailored Proto-Nazi
The Return of the Well-Tailored Proto-Nazi This is about my return encounter with the dapper gentleman who first surfaced last May, when I gave a talk at California’s Claremont School of Theology, based on a chapter from my book, A … Continue reading →
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, alienation, American politics, anthropology, art of living, atheism, autonomy, Biblical God, books, chivalry, Christianity, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, ethics, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, femininity, feminism, 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, institutional power, Jews, Judaism, life and death struggle, love, masculinity, master, master/slave relation, memory, mind control, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, 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, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, scientism, secular, seduction, self-deception, 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, twenty-first century, victimhood, victims, work, writing, Zeitgeist
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Tagged a quiet life, Abigail L. Rosenthal's "A Good Look at Evil", adversary’s energy field, bad vibes, banality of evil, book about evil, Claremont School of Theology, deceiving appearances, defending the Holocaust, denouncing evil, Divine intervention, essentially Jewish, experimental neuropathy treatment, force of will, founding TWW, frustrating the adversary, genocide, gentle reader, gentleman, giving ground to the adversary, giving no openings, Hannah Arendt, he’s back, Holocaust Denial, Jerry L. Martin, Jewish defensiveness, Jewish self-defense, justifying genocide, Loma Linda Neuropathic Therapy Center, martial arts, martial arts of the spirit, mental focus, mental self-defense, New York Subway, not the type, petitionary prayer, power of prayer, powers of darkness, predatory vibes, rationalizing genocide, silent aggression, speak of the devil, the best of taste, Theology Without Walls, TWW trialogue, wanting to flee, young theologians
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Jewish Time
Jewish Time Lately, I’ve had a growing sense of living my life on something I call “Jewish Time.” Have I anything concrete in view? In my childhood, when my parents were awaiting Israeli dinner guests, they expected them to be … Continue reading →
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, anthropology, art of living, atheism, autonomy, Bible, Biblical God, books, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, faith, fashion, freedom, friendship, Gnosticism, guilt and innocence, Hegel, hegemony, hidden God, history, history of ideas, id, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, institutional power, Jews, Judaism, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, memoir, memory, mind control, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, novels, ontology, past and future, peace, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, poetry, political, political movements, politics, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, race, radicalism, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, scientism, secular, self-deception, social construction, social conventions, 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, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
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Tagged being orphaned, Bucks County PA, Buddhism, covenant, covenant and geography, covenantal history, covenantal signatories, covenantal time, defining boundaries, desert vista, Divine intervention, divine manifestations, divine thunderclap, Eastern religion, empirical life, essential being, false transcendence, Fear and Trembling, getting one’s bearings, God as Co-Author, God in the storm, Hinduism, holy land and covenant, home sweet home, homelike experience, insider knowledge, Israeli time, Jewish time, late for dinner, lateness, life in history, loved and hated, meaningful timeline, modern Orthodox women, New York City, non-theistic systems, personal God, philo-semitism and antisemitism, philosophy, philosophy intro class, philosophy of religion, promised land, providential intervention, provincial customs, punctuality, religious boundary disputes, religious geography, setting one’s course, sincere words, spiritual systems, sub specie aeternitatis, subliminal losses, trans-empirical life, unspoiled landscape, worldly customs
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Ridicule
Ridicule It seems almost an age since the Republican Primary Debates, but there is an aspect of that contest that still comes to my mind. Part of Donald Trump’s victory was due to his success in ridiculing his opponents. He … 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, childhood, chivalry, Christianity, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, cults, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, femininity, feminism, 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, mysticism, nineteenth-century, 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, romance, romantic love, 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, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
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Tagged "I'd rather be on the inside looking out", "the true Israel", a woman's looks, academic distinction, academic honors, adventures with God, ancient Israel, Assyrian conquest, Babylonian conquest, biblical stories, biography, caricature, Carly Fiorina, Christendom, Christianity, Christianity and Judaism, Christianity from Judaism, city walker, courtesy, Danish philosophy, deference, Divine intervention, Divine preference, Donald Trump, Donald Trump’s victory, duel of wits, Egyptian bondage, Exodus, first exile, flight from Egypt, God's presence, gospel songs, Governor Jeb Bush, grade school mockery, Hebrew Scripture, ironical style, irreverent theatre, Jehudim, Jewish assignment, Jewish breakaway sect, Jewish survival, Jewish vocation, Jews as witness, Joakim Garff's Soren Kierkegaard A Biography, kindergarten mockery, King of Denmark, malice, mockery of women, originality, parting of the Red Sea, Peder Ludvig Moller, philosophical talent, political downfall, political malice, political success, political victory, providence, redacting the Bible, Regine Olsen, Republican Primary Debates, ridicule, sarcasm, satirical magazine., Senator Marco Rubio, single women, Soren Kierkegaard, supersessionism, talented writer, ten lost tribes, The Corsair, The Covenant, The Jews, the Northern Kingdom, The Sullivan Family, tribe of Benjamin, tribe of Jehudah, twelve tribes, unlived sex life, women philosophers, writer and thinker
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Real Life and the Philosophic Life
Real Life and the Philosophic Life Is there any connection between the two? The book I recently fell in love with, John Kaag’s American Philosophy: A Love Story, was heartening to me on two fronts. First, the American philosophers, whose … Continue reading →
Posted in absurdism, academe, action, alienation, art, art of living, atheism, autonomy, beauty, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, courage, courtship, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, faith, freedom, friendship, gender balance, heroes, hidden God, history, history of ideas, idealism, ideality, identity, immortality, law, legal responsibility, literature, love, masculinity, memoir, memory, nineteenth-century, past and future, philosophy, poetry, political movements, politics of ideas, presence, promissory notes, psychology, public intellectual, relationships, religion, roles, romance, romantic love, scientism, social construction, social conventions, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, spirituality, suffering, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, the profane, the sacred, theism, time, twenty-first century, work, writing, Zeitgeist
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Tagged "the divine Plato", 19th century, 19th century optimism, Abigail L. Rosenthal's "Confessions of a Young Philosopher", American optimism, American Philosophy, archives, Athenian street, Athens, Australian materialism, autobiography, Baruch Spinoza, business mentality, Cephalus, Charles Darwin, Confessions of a Young Philosopher, conventionality, counter-culture, Darwin, Darwinian Laws of Nature, David Stove, David Stove's "Against the Idols of the Tribe", despair, determinism, dialogue, Divine intervention, Evolutionary theory, faith in progress, fate, fictional narrative, go along to get along, God as Witness, God's action, God's role, honesty, John Kaag, John Kaag's "American Philosophy: A Love Story", justice defined, limits of honesty, love life, luck, made up stories, memoir, native grain, New World, overcoming despair, personal pathway, philosophy's tools, Plato, political justice, Pragmatists, promise keeping, providence, pursuit of truth, road less traveled, role of chance, romantic risks, satire, Socrates, Socratic dialectic, Socratic method, Spinoza's Ethics, the God factor, The Name, Tom Wolfe, Tom Wolfe's "The Kingdom of Speech", true love, true stories, truth seeker, truth telling, unconventionality, what rings true, William James, William James' "The Will To Believe"
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