Sunday 13 January 2019

Of knights, camels, polemics, and beauty

Prepared for battle

I was just rereading the chapter on polemical language in my book, The Song in the Night. It's a good description. So many people who need to be right arguing about what they do not know. Curious. How much better is a good piece of music.

Behind this image of the castle is a small portion of my library of scholarly books trying to search out what their authors were discovering (why else does one write?) and variously succeeding or not. Where is the power? Why should we seek it?  You can see that it is a magnificently sunny day in castle land. The forces approaching the castle are led by a knight on a camel. Surely not - what knight rode a camel!

I too am preparing for a beta discovery of the errors and incongruities in my reading of the Scripture. How can I reconcile this with my faith. How does the NT fit with my musical appreciation for the OT? Based on my upbringing in the faith, it is clear that the conversation has to change. Polemics - being right - cannot be prophetic. Let's rather be beautiful. There must be a theology that will not pit us against each other.

There was a lovely service this morning at St Barnabas, with Palestrina's motet Sicut Cervus sung by the choir. It is nice to hear a choir sing well. This performance from the Sistine chapel is lovely.


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