So yesterday I spoke with MOC, the programme co-ordinator for Medieval Studies at St. Michael's. He says I only need two more classes in that major to graduate, so I will be doing the intro course (what a way to end!) and I may do a thesis. The thesis depends on my finding a sufficient corpus to work with as well as someone willing and able to supervise me. I'm thinking about doing a thesis on disability in fables in the middle ages. MOC says that it sounds like a very good idea, but agrees that I need the groundwork first. So we'll see.
And today I went to the library and photocopied a large portion of Brian Copenhaver's Hermetica, namely the Asclepius as well as as many notes as I could before my photocopy card ran out. So I took the book out as well to see if there is some of the introduction I should copy as well. Then I grabbed Peter Dronke's edition of Bernardus Silvestris's Cosmographia, as well as Winthrop Wetherbee's translation of it, as well as Brian Stock's book, Myth and Science in the Twelfth Century. After Confession I shall take them home and begin working, I hope.
Showing posts with label book. Show all posts
Showing posts with label book. Show all posts
28 May 2008
21 March 2008
Holy Thursday
I'm amazed at how much I do not remember of what happens on a given day during Easter. For example, I forgot that Holy Thursday means a foot washing ceremony. Father Pat did not call on me as one of his random people from the congregation, but all the same, it was a wonderful service. And again I was blessed to be able to keep vigil with our Lord in the garden.
I read a portion of Mother Teresa, Come Be My Light and was struck with how close I feel to the words I read in one of her letters. She spoke of things in her past which I struggle with and fight against now, namely pride. And she spoke about once having a fear of crosses, but now embracing them before they even come. This was encouragement to me, as I am sometimes blessed to see that a cross will be coming to me, and it does strike fear in me and I am ashamed of it. She has much consolation and wisdom to share for me. I do know some of what I have been called to do, although the specifics are not yet present in my mind. It frightens me because I know that I am too proud and because of such a vice I should not be given any such gift, but yet I am given it all the same. This pride that lives in my heart of hearts cuts and scratches as a thorn and a burr and in doing so, keeps and shall keep me humble. I can only hope that this is true and I will truly learn it.
I read a portion of Mother Teresa, Come Be My Light and was struck with how close I feel to the words I read in one of her letters. She spoke of things in her past which I struggle with and fight against now, namely pride. And she spoke about once having a fear of crosses, but now embracing them before they even come. This was encouragement to me, as I am sometimes blessed to see that a cross will be coming to me, and it does strike fear in me and I am ashamed of it. She has much consolation and wisdom to share for me. I do know some of what I have been called to do, although the specifics are not yet present in my mind. It frightens me because I know that I am too proud and because of such a vice I should not be given any such gift, but yet I am given it all the same. This pride that lives in my heart of hearts cuts and scratches as a thorn and a burr and in doing so, keeps and shall keep me humble. I can only hope that this is true and I will truly learn it.
11 March 2008
An Overdue Update
I've finished reading that book, now, and I expect I shall read it again. It has a strong emphasis upon learning to listen through journaling. I've started journaling a little, and I have found it to be a very good exercise, although a challenge to establish as a discipline. However, one must look on the source of why it is challenging: whether it is God telling you something, or if it is a sign that you should be pursuing it all the more as the devil seeks to stop you from getting closer to God. In this case, for myself, I believe it is either the latter or my lack of discipline, or something of both.
In other news, I've been reading Anticlaudianus, by Alain de Lille for Latin class. It is an interesting work, although I tend to agree with C. S. Lewis on the value of this work (Lewis had Opinions on it and Alain de Lille). Allegory of Love discusses it and Cosmographia, by Bernardus Silvestris; and while a certain kindness is extended to Bernardus for the originality of his topic, he tears Alanus ab Ilanus to shreds as an unoriginal hack. On the whole it was an intriguing analysis which I do not fully agree with, although I certainly do to a certain extent.
And on a more random note, steampunk computer things! I cannot believe I did not know about this genre until recently. Or rather, that it existed as its own genre.
In other news, I've been reading Anticlaudianus, by Alain de Lille for Latin class. It is an interesting work, although I tend to agree with C. S. Lewis on the value of this work (Lewis had Opinions on it and Alain de Lille). Allegory of Love discusses it and Cosmographia, by Bernardus Silvestris; and while a certain kindness is extended to Bernardus for the originality of his topic, he tears Alanus ab Ilanus to shreds as an unoriginal hack. On the whole it was an intriguing analysis which I do not fully agree with, although I certainly do to a certain extent.
And on a more random note, steampunk computer things! I cannot believe I did not know about this genre until recently. Or rather, that it existed as its own genre.
26 February 2008
Hearing God's Voice
I'm too tired to write properly on this right now, but I have been reading a book my grandma gave me written by a former senior pastor of my church called Hearing God's Voice. It's actually seven keys, but so far it is excellent. Vern Heidebrecht is an excellent and wise speaker and writer whom I cannot praise highly enough. When I have more time, I will begin posting on what I am learning in this book, and possibly its application in my life.
12 February 2008
On the Medieval Book Mid-Term
Someone pointed out to me, today, that if I can write a mid-term, which I did not study for save for briefly glancing at one example which might be covered, after having stayed up most of the night working on and stressing over a Latin presentation and still feel like I did well on it, I should pay attention. To be fair, I was fortunate and the example of Insular Half-Uncial I pulled up in a Google search was from the Lindisfarne Gospels, which was one of the facsimiles we were given a sample of to examine on our test. As soon as I saw the question asking us to comment on one of the facsimiles, I just recorded what I remembered from looking online a few minutes earlier, that the Latin is in Insular Half-Uncial and the English glosses are in Insular minascule. That said, it was fun hunting down what was abbreviated and what was not and commenting on that.
31 January 2008
On Cogs and Wheels
How I think has been passing through my head, lately. Perhaps it is all this focus on the many dreams I have been having lately, along with the constant sense of wanting to keep moving. In any event, I find I have tried to explain to people on occasion how I think, so I decided to attempt to explain it in a coherent fashion to myself.
It was once asked: Through what lens do you see the world? Is it a world moved by politics? by relationships? by economics? by religion? by something else? I stopped and considered the world, for a moment, and my approach to it. Every category suggested seems accurate and inaccurate all at once. And then it occurred to me that I view the world, existence, as a story.
In this story, there is an all-powerful, all-knowing being who exists outside of time and is called God. God can do anything He should desire, and this means that anything and everything is a possibility. And by that, I do not just mean it in a theoretical sense, but there is an active awareness that aliens could land, the mountains could dance a jig, the sun could remain fixed in the sky, the ground could open up and swallow a great population and close again as a great mouth. Sure I don't expect these things, but they are entirely possible and I have no issues accepting their possibility.
Along with that, there is an over-arching storyline to the tale of existence. Every life, every happening, and that which ties it all together -- all of it, on every level, has a storyline of varying complexities. And as with all stories, everything happens for a reason; everything advances the plot in some way, or develops character, or does something to bring the story along. All pain, all suffering, all joy, all peace happens for a reason and nothing is truly meaningless. No, God does not control this all like puppets on a string, although He, like all the other players, influences it and helps to direct it. Although, unlike any of the other players, He knows how it ends.
And so when tragedy strikes or anything happens, it strikes me as tragic, but part of me feels a detached excitement to see what will happen next. This may seem a bit heartless, and perhaps it is. I deeply and powerfully love individuals whom I come to know, but care little for those whom I do not come to know. Perhaps this is why I take little interest in biographies and instead prefer to read fairy tales.
Yet, really, I am not so heartless. Even as I type this, it reads as a characterisation of who I really am. And I believe that it is. But perhaps it gives voice to that great part of me which does not see things through the same kind of emotive lens that others often see the world. Questions of "how could this happen?" do not matter to me, and the question of "why?" voiced to the heavens so rarely crosses my lips.
"What next?"
"What should I do?"
"How?"
These, when I have not been blinded by pathos, come sooner and matter more to my understanding. But maybe I have merely described an ideal, and those who know me will tell the imagining from the truth. But in this moment, before my remembering fades again, this is my worldview. This is the lens through which I view the world. Through the eyes of the book.
It was once asked: Through what lens do you see the world? Is it a world moved by politics? by relationships? by economics? by religion? by something else? I stopped and considered the world, for a moment, and my approach to it. Every category suggested seems accurate and inaccurate all at once. And then it occurred to me that I view the world, existence, as a story.
In this story, there is an all-powerful, all-knowing being who exists outside of time and is called God. God can do anything He should desire, and this means that anything and everything is a possibility. And by that, I do not just mean it in a theoretical sense, but there is an active awareness that aliens could land, the mountains could dance a jig, the sun could remain fixed in the sky, the ground could open up and swallow a great population and close again as a great mouth. Sure I don't expect these things, but they are entirely possible and I have no issues accepting their possibility.
Along with that, there is an over-arching storyline to the tale of existence. Every life, every happening, and that which ties it all together -- all of it, on every level, has a storyline of varying complexities. And as with all stories, everything happens for a reason; everything advances the plot in some way, or develops character, or does something to bring the story along. All pain, all suffering, all joy, all peace happens for a reason and nothing is truly meaningless. No, God does not control this all like puppets on a string, although He, like all the other players, influences it and helps to direct it. Although, unlike any of the other players, He knows how it ends.
And so when tragedy strikes or anything happens, it strikes me as tragic, but part of me feels a detached excitement to see what will happen next. This may seem a bit heartless, and perhaps it is. I deeply and powerfully love individuals whom I come to know, but care little for those whom I do not come to know. Perhaps this is why I take little interest in biographies and instead prefer to read fairy tales.
Yet, really, I am not so heartless. Even as I type this, it reads as a characterisation of who I really am. And I believe that it is. But perhaps it gives voice to that great part of me which does not see things through the same kind of emotive lens that others often see the world. Questions of "how could this happen?" do not matter to me, and the question of "why?" voiced to the heavens so rarely crosses my lips.
"What next?"
"What should I do?"
"How?"
These, when I have not been blinded by pathos, come sooner and matter more to my understanding. But maybe I have merely described an ideal, and those who know me will tell the imagining from the truth. But in this moment, before my remembering fades again, this is my worldview. This is the lens through which I view the world. Through the eyes of the book.
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