Tag Archives: The Bible

I Was Politically Correct for 15 Minutes

Posted on November 27, 2018 by Abigail

I Was Politically Correct for 15 Minutes It happened like this. I was remembering a case I know of, where a young woman, who had her whole life before her, was being forced into the sealed back of a truck. … Continue reading →

Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, alienation, American politics, anthropology, art of living, atheism, autonomy, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, books, bureaucracy, chivalry, 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, femininity, feminism, 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, journalism, Judaism, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, martyrdom, master/slave relation, memoir, memory, Messianic Age, mind control, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, nineteenth-century, non-violence, novels, ontology, oppression, pacifism, 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, race, radicalism, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, romanticism, 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, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Amalekites, annihilation of Israel, “Beautiful Soul”, better angels, biblical conquest narratives, Canaanites, collective victimization, commemorating veterans, country music, devil in the details, epiphanies, European colonialism, European hegemony, false consciousness, fiddle and guitar, giving victims voice, Goethe’s “Confessions of a Beautiful Soul”, Goethe’s “Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship”, Great Britain’s mandate, guilt in wartime, Hank Williams, Hank Williams’ “Cold Cold Heart”, Hegel’s abstract universal, Hegel’s concrete universal, hitchhiking, Hittites, Holocaust, innocence, intersectionality, Israel’s covenant, Jebusites, making visible, manicure, moral outrage, Mozart concert, Nazi killing methods, neuropathy treatments, nonviolence, Occupation by Jordan, Occupation of Palestine, Occupation of West Bank, Occupations in history, oppressed people, Ottoman Empire, P.C., paradigm shift, peace and love, Philistines' Greek origin, philosopher friends, politically correct, pre-holocaust Germany, promised land, public and private, pure motives, purity, rednecks, rednecks and racism, religionist, salon, school children, Shoah, state of Israel, supersessionism, The Bible, UN mandate, unworldliness, veterans, Veterans Day, Willie Nelson’s “Roadhouse”, worldview | Leave a comment

A Good Look at Evil’s Second Edition

Posted on February 20, 2018 by Abigail

A Good Look at Evil’s Second Edition The author’s advance copy of my expanded second edition of A Good Look at Evil, arrived Friday. The look of it is entirely gorgeous. To have such endorsements, from opinion-shapers of recognized importance … Continue reading →

Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, anthropology, art, art of living, atheism, autonomy, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, Christianity, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, 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, immortality, institutional power, Jews, journalism, Judaism, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, martyrdom, masculinity, master, master/slave relation, memoir, memory, Messianic Age, mind control, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, mortality, mysticism, non-violence, novels, ontology, oppression, past and future, peace, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, poetry, political movements, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, race, radicalism, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, secular, self-deception, 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, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged 20th century culture, A. E. Housman's "To An Athlete Dying Young", Abigail L. Rosenthal's "A Good Look at Evil", Abigail L. Rosenthal's "Confessions of a Young Philosopher", Adam Kirsch, advance copy, analytic philosophers, ancient Greeks, arête, Aristotle, at the mercy of appetite, attractive lies, author's aims, authority figures, be the best that you can be, Biblical narrative, blurbs, book cover, book publication, celebrity, champion athlete, climbing the mountain, Columbia class of 1925, common culture, Confessions of a Young Philosopher, cultural ancestors, cultural forebearers, cunning of evil, dialogue, Edgar Allan Poe's "To Helen", elegiac poem, endorsements, evil's reality, excellence, facing facts, fame, father/daughter relationship, feminist activists, filial piety, flawless performance, force of circumstance, fundamentalism, fundamentalist, Gail Godwin, gifted novelist, glory, going wrong, hazards of life, Henry M. Rosenthal, ignorance, inflated egos, inter-ethnic conversation, interdenominational conversation, international conversation, jacket copy, life achievement, life aims, life goals, life of pleasure, literary critics, literary talent, manipulative purposes, missing your moment, misuse of words, moral vision, narrow minds, narrowness, noble aims, nonwestern cultures, Olympic athlete, opinion shapers, pagan culture, peak performance, Phyllis Chesler, pleasure, power of evil, public disfavor, public favor, public intellectuals, pursuit of pleasure, reality checks, revised edition, seizing your moment, snares of pleasure, The Bible, The class genius, the longest conversation, The Olympics, the struggle with evil, the vices, top of one's game, true lies, uncultivated mind, virtue, Western culture, William Lycan, winning the match, winning the race, wrong intentions, x-ray vision | Leave a comment

Yom HaShoah

Posted on April 25, 2017 by Abigail

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 | 4 Comments

“The Big Picture”

Posted on August 2, 2016 by Abigail

“The Big Picture” Why do we need philosophy? There are entire philosophic orientations, Wittgenstein’s is one, holding that philosophy as traditionally practiced is something to be cured of, and that the only thing philosophy can usefully do is to cure … Continue reading →

Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, alienation, American politics, anthropology, art, art of living, atheism, autonomy, Bible, Biblical God, chivalry, Christianity, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, courage, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, faith, fashion, femininity, feminism, freedom, friendship, gender balance, 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, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, martyrdom, masculinity, master, medieval, memoir, memory, Messianic Age, mind control, modernism, mortality, mysticism, nineteenth-century, ontology, oppression, past and future, peace, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, poetry, political, political movements, politics, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, race, reductionism, relationships, religion, Renaissance, roles, romanticism, seduction, self-deception, sex appeal, slave, social climbing, social conventions, social ranking, sociobiology, spiritual not religious, spirituality, status, status of women, suffering, terror, terrorism, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, theism, theology, time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged "man will be a god to man", "the best lack all conviction", "the moderns", "the worst are full of passionate intensity", administrators, alienation, automobile manufacturers, autonomous man, autonomous woman, bankers, Battle of Lepanto, Battle of Tours, biblical world view, botanists, chefs, church authority, Church Fathers, Classical world view, common experience, communism, conscience, cosmology, cultural self-condemnation, cultural self-reproach, disaffiliates, disvalued Jews, dualism, expertise, experts, facism, fly in fly bottle, free will, Galileo, Galileo's telescope, Gates of Vienna, geologists, globalization, grammarians, Greco-Roman world view, Hebrew Scripture, house painters, ice cream from the hardware store, identity theory, intelligent will, Islamism, Israelite world view, Jihad, language of specialists, lawyers, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Materialism, metaphysics, micro-particle physicists, mind as brain, mind/body, Modernity, naturalism, newscasters, novelistic lives, Ontology, ordinary language, Patristic writings, personal identity, personal life, philosophic cure, philosophic therapy, philosophical puzzles, philosophy, photographers, physicalism, poets, political Islam, priests, puzzle pieces, qualia, quarrel of the ancients and the moderns, reductionism, religion, religious authority, scientism, secularlism, self-assertion, sins of the West, social life, specialists, supervenience, The Bible, the mind/body problem, the will, the will to power, W.B. Yeats' "The Second Coming", Western Civilization, Wittgenstein's philosophical investigations, Wittgensteinians | Leave a comment

“The Well of Time”

Posted on March 1, 2016 by Abigail

“The Well of Time” “Very deep is the well of the past.” So, in Joseph and His Brothers, Thomas Mann begins his monumental recreation of the Biblical Book of Genesis. In early adolescence, Mann’s Joseph was my favorite book, together … Continue reading →

Posted in action, alienation, anthropology, art, art of living, atheism, autonomy, Bible, childhood, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, faith, fashion, femininity, feminism, freedom, friendship, gender balance, guilt and innocence, health, heroes, hidden God, history, history of ideas, idealism, ideality, identity, idolatry, immortality, institutional power, Jews, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, memoir, mind control, modernism, mortality, past and future, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, poetry, political, political movements, power, propaganda, psychology, public intellectual, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, seduction, sex appeal, sexuality, 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, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged adolescence, adult conversation, alchemy, ancestors, autonomy, bad luck, biblical experience, biblical redactors, biblical time, bitterness, boredom, childhood, choice, convenant, creativity, evanescence, family life, feeling trapped, fleetingness, flux of time, fortune, freedom, God's time, good luck, grandfather, grownups and kids, Homer's Odyssey, kid's stuff, lottery of life, memory, no exit, pagan time, paganization, past and future, past present and future, personal authority, promising, remembrance, responsibility, restlessness, revelation, self-determination, sexual competition, sexual rivalry, social life, social position, social safety, The Bible, The Book of Genesis, The Joseph stories, The Old Testament, the specious present, Thomas Mann's Joseph and His Brothers, threats, Time, time and eternity, winners and losers, writers | 2 Comments

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