(no subject)

[sigerson]

"For in this world fear, grief, toil, and peril are unavoidable, but it is of the utmost importance for what cause, with what hope, and to what end a man endures these things."
--Augustine

Yeah, That Augustine. Of Hippo.

Current reading is redefining him for me. "Augustine and the Limits of Politics", by Jean Bethke Elshtain. I had thought of him as just a morose, original-sin-happy, all-sex-is-evil, women-suck-too, early Church father.

I think I might have to read City of God. The whole thing. Elshtain is steadily redeeming him from the multiple negative associations. (Example--yes, he does counsel that wives should be subservient. But not because, as Aristotle would have it, they're inherently inferior. Instead, Auggy's women are equal in the eyes of God, but to maintain the peace and tradition of the household and thus the state, they should be subservient. I disagree at the end, o'course, but stating that women are not absolute inferiors is kind of radical for the time.)

Wow.


Plus, Jess just informed me that the sheep animation will be in the SIGGRAPH Electronic Theater. Oh My God. Not only does she rock, but she has made my margin doodles world famous. Wooooooooooot!

Comments

[sanj.livejournal.com]

It astonishes me whenever I read The Confessions just how smart Augustine was. I find myself agreeing with him right up to a point... and that point is usually where he backs away from what I would call the logical conclusion, usually reiterating the status quo of his society or the party line of the Church in that period.

I can't wait until your visit next weekend! *hug*

Plus, the man lacked bowel control!

[(Anonymous)]

That same man from Hippo also wrote in his Confessions:

I had prayed to you for chastity and said, "Give me chastity and continence but not yet." For I was afraid that you would answer my prayer at once and cure me too soon of the disease of lust, which I want satisfied, but not quelled.

I think he was a lot cooler than most people probably give him credit for, though why he wanted to wait for continence beats me....

BTW, this is steve, who does not yet have an LJ of his own :)
Let me know if you ever see this too, since it's a comment to an older entry.