my face

i first saw my face in a dream
on a night when my fever had been high
for some time.
i had gone to sleep praying to christ
and a face was revealed.
not, of course, my face nowadays
nor my face when i was young
nor the face of the noblest of angels
as i always picture it in my mind.

it was a face surpassing even this --
and i knew at once it was my own.

about the face was a gold-tinged blackness.
the next day when my eyes opened
the fever raged no less,
but in my heart was a strange calm.

-- yagi jukichi

bed

happy to see aers score a fancy little blogger site; though it wouldn't let me post a comment on it for some reason. time for bed. good night all.

orality, sucka

'formulaic stability' and 'compositional variability' go hand in hand - 'this mid-state between fixed and free'. oral transmission 'exhibits "an insistent, conservative urge for preservation" of essential information, while it borders on carelessness in its predisposition to abandon features that are not met with social approval'. 'variability and stability, conservatism and creativity, evanescence and unpredictability all mark the pattern of oral transmission' - the 'oral principle of "variation within the same"'.
- werner kelber

bout to finish whuppin up on this little paper over the oral nature of the transmission of the earliest Jesus traditions.

glutton

glut*ton, n. 2. a person with a remarkably great desire or capacity for something

- random house webster's unabridged dictionary, 2nd edition, largest dictionary for sale in kirksville

'One of the great achievements of the last hundred years has been to deaden the human conscience on that subject [gluttony]...this has largely been effected by concentrating all our efforts on gluttony of Delicacy, not gluttony of Excess...She would be astonished...to learn that her whole life is enslaved to this kind of sensuality, which is quite concealed from her by the fact that the quantities involved are small. But what do quantities matter, provided we can use a human belly and palate to produce querulousness, impatience, uncharitableness, and self-concern?...Because what she wants is smaller and less costly than what has been set before her, she never recognises as gluttony her determination to get what she wants, however troublesome it may be to others. At the moment of indulging her appetite she believes that she is practising temperance.'

- the screwtape letters by cs lewis

baptise it up

today in christian history:

February 10, 1535: A dozen Anabaptists run stark naked through the streets of Amsterdam. Such strange actions, usually by Melchoirite Anabaptists, led to the group's ridicule by Protestants and Catholics alike. Former Catholic priest Menno Simons (1496?-1561) was finally able to bring the group into a nonresistant, discipled, and disciplined vision.

hmm, can't figure out how to make one of these my profile picture, but it sure is easy to get them onto a post...

what if i don't want a caption

psalm 10

you hear, o lord, the desire

of the afflicted;

you encourage them,

and you listen to their cry,

defending the fatherless

and the oppressed,

in order that man, who is

of the earth, may terrify no more.

there is hope in this world. maranatha.

black hole

i was sucked in to the xanga beast when forced to start an account before posting a comment on a friend's site. once again, matthew knoll-williams steers me toward a black hole - this one called 'blogger' - with remarks begging to be questioned, but, alas, not allowed until my life and privacy are promised to this online monster. i am beginning to feel the length contraction and time dilation already...