An honest man

Mark Shea came across some atheistic nonsense in his comboxes , including the following:

[N]one of the Gospels in their earliest form recorded a virgin birth of Mary: ‘The remark has long ago and often been made that, like Paul, even the earliest Gospels knew nothing of the miraculous birth of our Saviour.’ … [T]he church admitted that Virgin Mary was created at the third Council of the church at Ephesus in 431 when Bishop Cyril of Alexandria (d. 444) embraced the cause of Isis and anthropomorphized her into Mary, who then became the ‘new’ mother-of-God. The church added to the fabricated nature of Virgin Mary saying that other passages narrating a miraculous birth ‘were later additions to the original body of the apostolic catechesis’ with further aspects of the conception narratives ‘derived from extraneous sources’.

After carefully unpicking and correcting all this, Shea points out that this sort of stuff is lifted from Fundamentalist tracts (hence the title "Scratch and Atheist, Find a Fundamentalist." He then links to the author of one of these tracts, Ralph Woodrow who revised his views and published a book denouncing this sort of thing. In an essay on his site, Woodrow points out the flaws in the method of seeing (supposed) similarities between the religion of ancient Babylon and typically Catholic practices, and concluding that the the latter derives from the former.

By this method, one could take virtually anything and do the same—even the “golden arches” at McDonald’s! The Encyclopedia Americana (article: “Arch") says the use of arches was known in Babylon as early as 2020 B.C. Since Babylon was called “the golden city” (Isa. 14:4), can there be any doubt about the origin of the golden arches? … By this method, one could condemn Protestant and evangelical denominations like the Assemblies of God, Baptist, Church of Christ, Lutheran, Methodist, Nazarene, etc. Basic things like prayer, and kneeling in prayer, would have to be rejected, because pagans knelt and prayed to their gods. Water baptism would have to be rejected, for pagans had numerous rites involving water, etc. By this method, the BIBLE itself would need to be rejected as pagan. All of the following practices or beliefs mentioned in the Bible, were also known among pagans—raising hands in worship, taking off shoes on holy ground, a holy mountain, a holy place in a temple, offering sacrifices without blemish, a sacred ark, city of refuge, bringing forth water from a rock, laws written on stone, fire appearing on a person’s head, horses of fire, the offering of first fruits, tithes, etc. By this method, the LORD himself would be pagan. The woman called Mystery Babylon had a cup in her hand; the Lord has a cup in his hand (Psa. 75:8). Pagan kings sat on thrones and wore crowns; the Lord sits on a throne and wears a crown (Rev. 1:4; 14:14). Pagans worshipped the sun; the Lord is the “Sun of righteousness” (Mal. 4:2). Pagan gods were likened to stars; the Lord is called “the bright and morning star” (Rev. 22:16). Pagan gods had temples dedicated to them; the Lord has a temple (Rev. 7:15). Pagan gods were pictured with wings; the Lord is pictured with wings (Psa. 91:4).

Woodrow was accused of making his retraction for financial reasons, but, as he pointed out, his Babylon Mystery Religion: Ancient and Modern was a huge seller and his ministry took a loss by withdrawing it.

I swear allegiance to the R. G. Casey Building in Barton

When I was visiting family in Peking a few years ago we went to Mass at the Wangfujing Church dedicated to St Joseph. I naturally assumed that this was run by the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association. This was the English Mass but it was a little surprising that an American priest was saying it. I knew that members of the CPCA are in an invidious position and that the situation is not as simple as a simple split between the outlawed Catholic Church and the schismatic CPCA. It is more like the distinction which existed between the Church of England and the Catholic Church at the the beginning of Elizabeth I's reign (right at the beginning there were still Catholic Bishops, but she removed them pretty quickly) than that at the end. Nevertheless it is one thing for a native Chinese to schismatize in an attempt to get along under the crushing tyranny of the People's Republic of China, quite another for a foreigner to do so. After all this priest was free to leave.

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No diamond geysers

More follow up. It turns out that the planet made of diamond (and graphite, never forget the graphite) may in fact not be made of diamond.

“In theory, 55 Cancri e could still have a high carbon to oxygen ratio and be a diamond planet, but the host star does not have such a high ratio,” stated University of Arizona astronomy graduate student Johanna Teske, who led the study. “So in terms of the two building blocks of information used for the initial ‘diamond-planet’ proposal – the measurements of the exoplanet and the measurements of the star – the measurements of the star no longer verify that.”

Obama and Cameron would rather not have to think about Assyriology

Further or Alternatively was decent enough to credit me when pinching one of my posts. I am obliged to her, or as it may be him, for The tragic tale of George Smith and Gilgamesh. He, or as it may be she, picks up on the fact that a lecture on the discovery of an Akkadian text about the Flood on a tablet in the British Museum received wide attention.

What is most striking about all this? It's a close call. Is it:

- a national newspaper covering recent developments in Assyriology in glowing terms and funding expensive new research in the field?
- recent developments in Assyriology producing lecture halls thick with reporters?
- carpenters in Chelsea and lectures where we now find Sketch? (This is the "Lecture Room and Library" at Sketch. It's a fun place to eat and "The extensive and acclaimed wine list was awarded ‘Best Award for Excellence’ by the Wine Spectator and AA Guide’s ‘Best UK Wine List'", which is more than the Society of Biblical Archaeology ever got for its wine list.)
- a Prime Minister turning up to a lecture on recent developments in Assyriology?
- a left-wing Prime Minister casually brushing aside a claim for public funding for a popular cause by saying that was a "vulgar expedient"?

Ohyeahalmostforgot…

It's just possible, however unlikely, that in the last surviving handheld data crystal which contains the entire contribution to the internet made in the third millennium, this website will be the only uncorrupted portion. So I since I mentioned last year that Voyager 1 and 2 were on their way out of the Solar System I had better mention that Voyager 1 has now left.

While there is a bit of an argument on the semantics of whether Voyager 1 is still inside or outside of our Solar System (it is not farther out than the Oort Cloud — it will take 300 more years reach the Oort cloud and the spacecraft is closer to our Sun than any other star) the plasma environment Voyager 1 now travels through has definitely changed from what comes from our Sun to the plasma that is present in the space between stars.

Interstellar space sounds like someone tuning a theramin.

This is NASA's announcement of Voyager 1's position.

One piece at a time…

A story from Johnny Cash comes to Adelaide

Richard Andres Jorquera, 27, was one of seven people arrested in July last year after 140 V8 engines and 175 high-powered transmissions disappeared from the production plant over a two-year period. Jorquera admitted stealing nearly 140 parts using his courier van over 18 months but pleaded guilty to two counts of theft when he faced the Adelaide District Court, under a deal with the prosecution.

He was taking the car out one piece at a time:

 

Articles of belief

If I am talking about a book which has the definite or indefinite article at the beginning of its title, I will always drop it where there are modifiers. I tend to pay no intention to whether it is simply a name for the work (The Iliad) or the name or title of somebody in the book, used as the book's title (The Lord of the Rings). In English, Homer's first epic is called The Iliad, a work which even a typhlochiist* like myself acknowledges shows source material from wide stretches of space and time. So one might talk about "an older Iliad " I would never say "a shorter The Iliad ", nor "Homer's The Iliad"; I would avoid "Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream". 

Adam Roberts has just published an extract from his new book The Riddles of The Hobbit at tor.com. It looks very interesting although I do tend to think that Tolkien scholarship begins with Christopher Tolkien  and ends with T. A. Shippey.†

But there is another The Hobbit; a second The Hobbit written by Tolkien, comprising revisions to this first edition, additional material written forThe Lord of the Rings and the appendices of The Lord of the Rings, plus other material. The most significant of these latter are two separate prose pieces, both called ‘The Quest for Erebor’ first collected in the posthumously-publishedUnfinished Tales (1980). Tolkien’s first revisions were confined to the ‘Riddles in the Dark’ chapter. After writing the first Hobbit Tolkien came to the conclusion that ‘the Ring’ was more than just a magic ring conferring invisibility on its wearer—that it was indeed the most powerful artefact in the whole world, one with which people could become so besotted as to lose their souls. Gollum, he reasoned, would not freely give up such an item. So he rewrote the scene, and all subsequent editions of the novel treat the encounter in a less light-hearted manner. This is symptomatic of something larger, a reconceptualising (Tolkien purists might say: a distillation or focusing) of his now-celebrated legendarium. No longer a folk-story, it now becomes a grand sacramental drama of incarnation, atonement and redemption.

"another The Hobbit ; a second The Hobbit " – aaargh! But later he has "After writing the first Hobbit".

Still looks good though. 

*In the Hymn to Apollo, traditionally attributed to Homer (hence "Homeric Hymns") , the bard asks the maidens of Delos who is the sweetest singer. They reply that "he is a blind man and lives on rocky Chios". This is the origin of the tradition that Homer was blind and from Chios. τυφλὸς ἀνήρ, οἰκεῖ δὲ Χίῳ ἔνι παιπαλοέσσῃ – typhlos anēr, oikei de Chiō eni paipaloessē.

†You can include his Author of the Century  if you like but it is simply a rehash of the earlier book.

The stitch up

One of the great pleasures of the Australian Constitution is its observation of the proprieties. For example the Prime Minister is not mentioned. This might seem odd but the constitution is drafted in such a way as to give rise to the Westminster system. It does not explicitly state all the rules – with the scope for endless quibbles based on infelicitous wording to which that would give rise – instead, the unwritten rules are simply imported into our system.

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Mickey Mouse Morals

The phrase "Mickey Mouse" used as an adjective suggests incompetence and ineptness. If you watch the classic early Disney cartoons, with their wit, their skill and their invention you realise how unfair this is. Walt Disney Animation – leaving aside the horror that is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse –   is always worth watching.

That is why it is so galling to watch Donald Duck promote population control in this propaganda film from 1968:

The naivety is refreshing. IThey are not worried about there being too many people, they are worried about too many brown people. Donald would not appear again in a Disney cartoon until Mickey's Christmas Carol from 1983.  

…it's like the female infanticide, isn't it yeah?

Abortion is illegal in the United Kingdom except when (outside of Northern Ireland) two doctors agree that it is in the interests of the psychological or physical health of the mother that the pregnancy be terminated. For some reason nobody seems to notice that two human beings go in to an abortion clinic and (usually) only one comes out alive. It absolutely is not grounds for abortion that "we wanted a boy but this is a girl".

The London Daily Telegraph filmed two doctors being told by a woman that she wanted an abortion because of the baby's gender and then conniving in putting something more acceptable on the paperwork. You can hear the woman saying of her putative baby girl "…that's not really appropriate for us right now. We were hoping for a boy and so we are not looking to have this baby at the moment." At a clinic in Manchester, Dr Prabha Sivaraman changes the subject: "I don't ask questions. If you want a termination, you want a termination". Then, on the telephone she is telling a colleague "it is basically social reasons". Sivaraman seems to be putting the strong arm on the other doctor at 1:40 "you are part of our team and she doesn't want questions asked". At 1:58 the woman says "it is the wrong gender" Sivaraman seems to be embarrassed but she says nothing.

Dr Raj Mohan in Birmingham says frankly "it's like the female infanticide isn't it?" Then the woman asks him to put down a different reason so he agrees and says "I'll put too young for pregnancy." Even though the woman has already told him she already has a child and a "partner" and wanted another baby, provided that baby is a boy.

None of this should be surprising. These doctors are already making a living ripping tiny human beings to pieces, for the convenience of adults. They can hardly be expected to refuse because the only reason for doing so is because of the baby's sex. The shocking thing is that the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) deliberated about this case for nineteen months, agreed there was enough evidence to proceed with a prosecution for criminal attempt but insisted that it was not in the public interest to do so. It is difficult to see under what circumstances, according to the CPS, it would ever be in the public interest to prosecute.

It is possible to be convicted of criminal attempt if the accused believes he is committing the offence (smuggling heroin in the leading case) but in fact he is not (the heroin turned out to be harmless powder. Therefore it is immaterial whether or not the woman truly wanted an abortion or even whether or not she was pregnant.

Philip Johnston alludes to the fact that sex selection abortions are the concern of certain  *ahem* ethnic groups. 

It is hard to see any reason not to proceed with a prosecution other than because the two subjects – abortion and ethnicity – were seen as too politically toxic.

He also posts the "reasons" given by the CPS for its decision. 

Any Questions About Election Day?

Mark Dreyfus, the Australian Attorney-General (for a day or two anyway) was caught asking "any questions?" as if to a room full of journalists. There was nobody but him and the camera which may well have been remotely controlled. When going overseas, his boss is fond of waving to people who aren't there, for the benefit of the photographers. 

Much more fun for today's election, I give you the 1986 top ten hit "Election Day" by Arcadia (3/5 of the then members of Duran Duran). The shorter version is rather fuzzy so instead enjoy this song at the full 8:48 .

After the Missal, what next?

So a decent translation of the Roman Missal is finally in use. What else? 

Liturgiam Authenticam directed that “integral translations” of all of the liturgical books were to be prepared “in a timely manner” (§77). The Roman Missal was first, of course. The following documents are now in fairly advanced stages of revision: The Order of Confirmation; The Order of Celebrating Marriage; The Order of Dedication of a Church and an Altar; Exorcisms and Certain Supplications; Supplement to the Liturgy of the Hours". The first two are the most advanced; they are called “Gray Books”, meaning that they have already been reviewed once by the bishops of English-speaking dioceses. The latter two are “Green Books”, because this is the first year in which the bishops have been given an opportunity to review them. “The mills of God grind slowly”, wrote Longfellow, “yet they grind exceeding small.” The revision process is slow as well. The “Gray book” documents will not be ready for public use until, at minimum, late in 2014; the “green book” documents perhaps a year later. This assumes that everything goes to plan; if not, the schedule could slip.

Are Angels non-kosher?

Genesis 18 came round in the cycle of readings the other day (readers with a Missal will thus know how far my backlog goes).  The Lord appears to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre. At some times the number of visitors appears to be three (taken to be angels), at other times it appears to be one (the one Lord). Abraham hastens to make food ready.

Then he took curds, and milk, and the calf which he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree while they ate.

The consumption of dairy with meat or after meat is forbidden under Jewish law, based on texts which forbid the consumption of kids boiled in their mother's milk (Exodus 34:26, Exodus 23:19, Deuteronomy 14:21).  The Torah is said to be eternal, so why does Abraham serve this forbidden food?  That question led me to this answer from a Jewish advice website.

…and the darkness comprehended it not

 There is this website of deepbrowed religious types (well maybe some of them would prefer "spiritual") called artsandfaith.com.  They produce lists of top films. 

In 2010 they produced The Arts & Faith Top 100 Films (2010) .  This is a list of the top 100 films of all time from the whole world.  No English language film until number 22 (the Cohen Brother's A Serious Man), not that there is anything wrong with that. The best 100 films of all time. So what did they do in 2011? The Arts & Faith Top 100 Films (2011).  They did not do it in 2012 or 2013. That would just have been silly.

Eight Questions about the 2010 list. Reading the Eternities about the 2011 list.

There is also The Arts & Faith Top 25 Films on Marriage. I have heard of number 12, seen number 20, but the rest could just be a leg pull. I have done better with The Arts & Faith Top 25 Road Films, having seen 1-4, 13, 14, 19 and 20.

So here is 2011 list [with 2010 ranking in square brackets].

The Passion of Joan of Arc [4] by Carl Theodor Dreyer.

Andrei Rublev [8] by Andrei Tarkovsky.

Ordet [1] by Carl Theodor Dreyer.

The Decalogue [2] by Krzysztof Kieślowski.

Au Hasard Balthazar [6] by Robert Bresson

Make Way For Tomorrow [-] by Leo McCarey.

The Gospel According to St. Matthew [10] by Pier Paolo Pasolini.

The Son by Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne.

Ikiru by Akira Kurosawa.

10 Babette's Feast [3] by Gabriel Axel.

11 The Mirror [16] by Andrei Tarkovsky.

12 Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans [7] by F. W. Murnau.

13 The Seventh Seal [13] by Ingmar Bergman.

14 Three Colors Trilogy [15] by Krzysztof Kieślowski.

15 Stalker [30] by Andrei Tarkovsky.

16 Magnolia [58] by Paul Thomas Anderson.

17 Winter Light [38] by Ingmar Bergman.

18 The Searchers [-] by John Ford.

19 Tokyo Story [21] by Yasujiro Ozu.

20 La Promesse [44] by Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne.

21 Tender Mercies [73] by Bruce Beresford.

22 The Apostle [32] by Robert Duvall.

23 Diary of a Country Priest [11] by Robert Bresson.

24 The Bicycle Thief (Ladri di biciclette) [28] by Vittorio De Sica.

25 A Man For All Seasons [31] by Fred Zinnemann.

26 The Miracle Maker [-] by Derek W. Hayes & Stanislav Sokolov.

27 Paths of Glory [-] by Stanley Kubrick.

28 Grave of the Fireflies [-] by Isao Takahata.

29 Wild Strawberries (Smültronstället) [35] by Ingmar Bergman.

30 Into Great Silence (Die Grosse Stille) [24] by Philip Gröning.

31 Munyurangabo [19] by Lee Isaac Chung.

32 The Apu Trilogy [17] by Satyajit Ray.

33 The Flowers of St. Francis (Francesco, Guillare de Dio) [55] by Roberto Rosselini.

34 Nights of Cabiria by Federico Fellini.

35 The Night of the Hunter by Charles Laughton.

36 2001: A Space Odyssey by Stanley Kubrick.

37 Chariots of Fire [68] by Hugh Hudson.

38 The Straight Story [54] by David Lynch.

39 Touch of Evil [-] by Orson Welles.

40 It's a Wonderful Life [45] by Frank Capra.

41 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days [70] by Cristian Mungiu.

42 Apocalypse Now by Francis Coppola.

43 Code Unknown: Incomplete Tales of Several Journeys by Michael Haneke.

44 Black Narcissus by Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger.

45 Day of Wrath [] by Carl Theodor Dreyer.

46 The Child by Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne.

47 Close-Up by Abbas Kiarostami.

48 Yi Yi: A One and a Two by Edward Yang.

49 Ponette by Jacques Doillon.

50 The Burmese Harp by Kon Ichawa.

51 Stroszek [87] by Werner Herzog.

52 Places in the Heart [-] by Robert Benton.

53 The New World [96] by Terrence Malick.

54 Still Life (Sanxia Haoren) [26] by Zhang Ke Jia.

55 Jesus of Montreal [88] by Denys Arcand.

56 The Death of Mr. Lazarescu [-] by Cristi Puiu.

57 Eureka [78] by Shinji Aoyama.

58 Heartbeat Detector (La Question Humaine) [72] by Nicolas Klotz.

59 Summer Hours [74] by Olivier Assayas.

60 Playtime [37] by Jacques Tati.

61 Ran [-] by Akira Kurosawa.

62 Rashômon [75] by Akira Kurosawa.

63 The Double Life of Veronique [-] by Krzysztof Kieślowski.

64 My Night at Maud's [23] by Éric Rohmer.

65 Becket [76] by Peter Glenville.

66 Silent Light [43] by Carlos Reygadas.

67 Wings of Desire (Der Himmel über Berlin) [12] by Wim Wenders.

68 A Man Escaped (Un condamné à mort s'est échappé ou Le vent soufflé où il veut) [29] by Robert Bresson.

69 Faust [59] by F. W. Murnau.

70 Lawrence of Arabia [-] by David Lean.

71 Koyaanisqatsi [-] by Godfrey Reggio.

72 Paris, Texas [61] by Wim Wenders.

73 My Life To Live (Vivre sa vie) [53] by Jean-Luc Godard.

74 How Green Was My Valley [-] by John Ford.

75 The Return [98] by Andrei Zvyagintsev.

76 M [46] by Fritz Lang.

77 The Island [33] by Pavel Lungin.

78 Days of Heaven [36] by Terrence Malick.

79 Crimes and Misdemeanors [95] by Woody Allen.

80 Paprika [-] by Satoshi Kon.

81 Floating Weeds (Ukigusa) [18] by Yasujiro Ozu.

82 Born Into Brothels [-] by Zana Briski & Robert Kauffman.

83 Vertigo [-] by Alfred Hitchcock.

84 Syndromes and a Century (Sang sattawat) [81] by Apichatpong Weerasethakul.

85 After Life (Wandâfuru raifu) [65] by Hirokazu Koreeda.

86 Spirited Away [-] by Hayao Miyazaki.
 
87 The Trial [-] by Orson Welles.
 
88 The Rules of the Game [-]  Jean Renoir.

89 Sullivan's Travels [-] by Preston Sturges.

90 Schindler's List [-] by Steven Spielberg.

91 Dogville [-] by Lars von Trier.

92 There Will Be Blood [-] by Paul Thomas Anderson.

93 The Spirit of the Beehive [51] by Victor Erice.

94 Early Summer [9] by Yasujiro Ozu.

95 Amadeus [-] by Milos Forman.

96 Fiddler on the Roof [-] by Norman Jewison.

97 Sophie Scholl: The Final Days by Marc Rothemund.

98 Ratcatcher [-] by Lynne Ramsay.

99 The Iron Giant [-] by Brad Bird.

100 The Story of the Weeping Camel [-] by Byambasuren Davaa & Luigi Falorni.

***************** 

And here are the 32 films in the 2010 list which did not make the 2011 list:

22 A Serious Man by Joel & Ethan Cohen.

25 Nostalghia by Andrei Tarkovsky.

40 The House is Black by Forough Farrokhzad.

41 Summer / The Green Ray by Éric Rohmer.

47 Late Spring by Yasujiro Ozu.

48 Killer of Sheep by Charles Burnett.

49 Solaris by Andrei Tarkovsky.

50 The Cyclist by Mohsen Makhmalbaf.

52 Cries and Whispers by Ingmar Bergman.

57 The Wind Will Carry Us by Abbas Kiarostami.

60 Fanny and Alexander by Ingmar Bergman.

62 A Moment of Innocence by Mohsen Makhmalbaf.

63 The Trial of Joan of Arc by Robert Bresson.

66 By Brakhage: An Anthology by Stan Brakhage.

67 Lorna's Silence by Jean Pierre & Luc Dardenne.

69 Dersu Uzala by Akira Kurosawa.

71 An Autumn Afternoon (Sanma no aji) by Yasujiro Ozu.

79 Meshes of the Afternoon by Maya Deren & Alexander Hammid.

80 Rome, Open City by Roberto Rossellini.

82 Rosetta by Jean Pierre & Luc Dardenne.

84 Pickpocket by Robert Bresson.

85 Punch-Drunk Love by Paul Thomas Anderson.

86 The Sacrifice by Andrei Tarkovsky.

89 Ushpizin by Giddi Dar.

90 Frisbee: The Life and Death of a Hippie Preacher by David Di Sabatino.

91 Au Revoir, Les Enfants by Louis Malle.

92 Son of Man by Mark Dornford-May.

93 The Virgin Spring by Ingmar Bergman.

94 In Praise of Love Jean-Luc Godard.

97 M. Hulot's Holiday by Jacques Tati.

99 Breaking the Waves by Lars Von Trier.

100 The Song of Bernadette by Henry King.

 

A few notes for the organist

I suppose a parish priest might give a few verbal pointers to the organist. Play here, don't play here, that sort of thing. Fr Adrian Fortescue went a little bit further
The Liber Organi is an incredibly beautiful hand-written book which Fortescue wrote to provide the organist at his church, St Hugh’s in Letchworth, with everything needed to accompany the liturgies. The inside front cover contains a photograph of the church taken in 1916 and the inside back cover contains the author's dedication 'in perpetuity' to St Hugh's.

It has seemed good to God and to us

I was recently reading the Book of Ezra chapter 6, specifically verse 14:

And the elders of the Jews built and prospered, through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. They finished their building by command of the God of Israel and by decree of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes king of Persia.

The Jerusalem Bible where I read it has "with the order of the God of Israel and the order of Cyrus and of Darius" which tends to suggest that the Kings are almost on an equal level with God (I am not sure why Artaxerxes is left out in the JB). I was reminded of the letter from the Council of Jerusalem to the Christians at Antioch, Acts 15:25: "For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us…"