A Sound of Sheer Silence

The Liturgists released a podcast about a week ago entitled "The Ethics of F***ing."  It was a excellent episode, and wisely featured Rev. Bromleigh McCleneghan and her book Good Christian Sex , which I did a deep-dive into a while back .  But for me the most impactful interview, in a different sort of way, was the interview with Christopher West.  West, for those who are not familiar, is a kind of celebrity proponent of the Theology of the Body, the complex philosophical and hermaneutical program to explain traditional Catholic sexual teachings in a modern form.  Theology of the Body relies primarily on a reading of Genesis 1 through 3, and "Science Mike" of the Liturgist honed in on a core problem that resides at the heart of the Theology of the Body.  Listening to West has inspired me to circle back to looking more closely at the problems inherent in the Theology of the Body (a project I worked on in a somewhat scattershot form a number of years ago), because Sc

This is almost certainly a mistake, but let's talk about Kevin Williamson and abortion.  For those who are not aware, Kevin Williamson is a conservative writer, long known for having controversial and provocative positions on things (he came to my attention for stating that people in distressed, rural communities have no one to blame but themselves, since they could always move from those distressed rural communities).  Recently, he was hired as a full-time writer for The Atlantic  (a higher-end, intellectually-oriented magazine), and then last week un-hired.  The source of his un-hiring was backlash stemming from repeated, public comments endorsing the idea that women who have abortions should be hanged . It is this position that I would like to talk about for a moment. The general response is to declare this an "extreme" position that is outside the bounds of any abortion-related discourse.  But, is it?  If you read the podcast exchange and strip away the (by Williams

I will confess that I really like Jesus Christ Superstar .  I like the music, I like the over-the-top staging.  I just like it.  And, in a true upset, the live version on NBC Easter Sunday night was actually really well done.  Judas (Brandon Dixon), Mary Magdalene (Sarah Bareillis), and Simon the Zealot (Erik Gronwall) were particularly good, Alice Cooper was appropriately ridiculous as Herod, and John Legend as Jesus brought a soulful note to the character.  The live audience was a nice touch, and the staging was very industrial and interesting. But, watching in Sunday night, it hit me as to the real reason why I like Jesus Christ Superstar .  People talk about how  Jesus Christ Superstar  is a "modern" take on the Jesus story, and that's true.  People talk about how it shows a more human Jesus, and that's true, too.  But the real reason why  Jesus Christ Superstar  is modern is that the whole story is really a reflection on cynicism and pragmatic politics, to the

1. Now the green blade riseth, from the buried grain, Wheat that in dark earth many days has lain; Love lives again, that with the dead has been: Love is come again like wheat that springeth green. ("Now the Green Blade Riseth," lyrics by John Macleod Campbell Crum, tune Noel Nouvelet [French traditional carol]) I noticed the breeze tonight.  It was blustery--it played havoc with the Easter fire, making it hard to keep things lit.  But what I noticed most was that it was a spring breeze.  It certainly wasn't warm, but it also wasn't cold, either.  It was cool and refreshing, but more importantly it carried with it the promise of something new.  You could feel, in a strange and inchoate but nevertheless real way, that warmer days were actually, truly on the way.  It was as if the breeze was an omen, "I'm not all that, but I bring confirmation of what is to come." I understand completely why most human cultures once thought of the seasons as b