Encouragement from Hesiod

σοὶ δ᾽ ἐγὼ ἐσθλὰ νοέων ἐρέω, μέγα νήπιε Πέρση. τὴν μέν τοι κακότητα καὶ ἰλαδὸν ἔστιν ἑλέσθαι ῥηιδίως: λείη μὲν ὁδός, μάλα δ᾽ ἐγγύθι ναίει: τῆς δ᾽ ἀρετῆς ἱδρῶτα θεοὶ προπάροιθεν ἔθηκαν ἀθάνατοι: μακρός δὲ καὶ ὄρθιος οἶμος ἐς αὐτὴν καὶ τρηχύς τὸ πρῶτον: ἐπὴν δ᾽ εἰς ἄκρον ἵκηται, ῥηιδίη δὴ ἔπειτα πέλει, χαλεπή [...]

Review: The Complete Short Stories of Flannery O’Connor

I recently finished reading The Complete Short Stories of Flannery O’Connor. It took me quite a while to finish the 550 page volume, which conveniently obliged my intermittent reading habits with ten or fifteen page stories. I highly recommend the book for its memorable depictions of the American south, its incisive portrayals of sin [...]

Love’s Labors Lost

It was so fun to join Mike and Rachel Vendsel & Family at Samuell-Grand Park in Dallas this past Friday. We watched a performance of Love’s Labor’s Lost, an excellent early comedy that I had not had the privilege seeing before. Rachel’s brother played Ferdinand, King of Navarre, and it was a marvelous [...]

aspect, ἀρετή, and the sacrament

It’s funny how the relevance of my studies crops up on serendipitous occasions. During one of the the lessons from this week’s Greek class, my professor emphasized the importance of aspect in translating participles. (Apparently, there is an ongoing debate regarding how to translate Greek participles. One set of grammarians argues that [...]

Johnny Cash, "Hurt"

I bought American IV: The Man Comes Around by Johnny Cash today. Included was a bonus DVD with the video shown above. The CD is amazing; I highly recommend it. Cash exudes the tragic wisdom that one achieves through suffering. As the Chorus of the Elders at Argos observe in Aeschylus’ [...]

Dostoevsky and the Eucharist

Two scenes from novels by Fyodor Dostoevsky came tomind this morning as I took communion. The first cameas I took the bread. As I held that morsel in myhand, I looked around at the congregation, and had arealization: this is the body of Christ. The peoplein this room with me right here, with all their [...]

Metaphors Matter

I’ve been thinking quite a bit lately about metaphors. The word “metaphor” comes from the Greek cognate “μεταφέρω,” which means “carry across” or “transfer.” I find the concept of metaphor fascinating because it offers a sophisticated alternative to the rationalistic thinking that has seemed to mark the modern period. Though we might [...]

Psalm 137

After posting “Kubla Khan” and “Dover Beach”, which are both lyric laments, I thought we might take a gander at a Hebrew poem that demonstrates the same sentiment. Arguably, the Hebrews (and Psalm 137 in particular) are the fountainhead of poetic lament in western culture. Unfortunately, I am not a Hebrew scholar, and so we [...]