φύσις κρύπτεσθαι φιλεῖ
As early back as 380 BC, in his Republic, Plato is interested in the role of perception on reality. In his famous allegory of the cave he illustrates the primacy of perception over unmediated reality with prisoners who perceive shadows on a wall as reality unaware of the true forms casting them. The metaphor underscores how…
The story of Cain and Able is a short one. It is fewer than 300 words. I timed myself reading it and it took fifteen seconds. I consider myself to be well read and I can say, especially given its brevity, I do not believe there exists a more profound story than the story of…
If you recall, this project began with an epilogue for very particular reasons which are outlined in that article. Now we find ourselves at the end of this first section and as we prepare to proceed we do so with a prologue. Before jumping into it, I want to take a moment here and discuss…
In the Catholic liturgy, during the Penitential Act at the start of mass, a prayer is read called the Confiteor (“I Confess”). In that prayer is the line peccavi nimis cogitatione, verbo et opere which means “I have sinned exceedingly in thought, word and deed.” I have sinned. We are all sinners. But…this leaves a question. What is sin?…
Here we are on the other side of the fall, in the world, in history and forced to deal with our vulnerability, frailty, mortality and weaknesses — in short, the human condition. There are seven recognized master-motifs, recurring thematic threads that permeate the entire plot, to the biblical library. These have been outlined quite nicely…
The art of our necessities is strange, That can make vile things precious. William Shakespeare, King Lear (1606) In our last post we discussed the temptation and the fall from paradise. Today I want to look at the sins of Adam and Eve from a slightly different angle. Whether if it is the totalitarian kallipolis which…
I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself Genesis 3:10 I Here we are, the temptation and the fall from paradise. In many ways the story of the temptation and the fall from Eden was the corner piece of the jigsaw puzzle for me….
In Genesis 2:20 we get the statement of lack which then spurs on the divine creative energy. It says here that “for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him.” With this, God creates Eve and with her interpersonal ethics and the pattern by which people will relate to one another, to the…
In the beginning there was relation, and in the act of turning toward the other, humanity was born. Martin Buber, I and Thou (1923) Today we bring the second chapter of Genesis to a close with the introduction of Eve. Today’s post will deal with Adam’s need for a helper, the differentiation of humanity into male…
I named them, as they passed, and understood Their Nature, with such knowledge God endued My sudden apprehension: but in these I wound not what methought I wanted still John Milton, Paradise Lost 1667 (Book VIII, lines 338-354) In our last posts we discussed Adam’s role in tending and keeping the garden and the prohibition…