Comments for The Pokey Finger of God http://www.pokeyfinger.com meditations on religion and culture Thu, 17 Nov 2011 12:38:58 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Comment on Is There a Place for Augustine? by Xephyr http://www.pokeyfinger.com/2011/11/16/a_place_for_augustine/#comment-85 Xephyr Thu, 17 Nov 2011 12:38:58 +0000 http://www.pokeyfinger.com/?p=763#comment-85 Yes. I must have been trying to be tricky with multiple negatives. Yes. I must have been trying to be tricky with multiple negatives.

]]> Comment on Is There a Place for Augustine? by John http://www.pokeyfinger.com/2011/11/16/a_place_for_augustine/#comment-84 John Thu, 17 Nov 2011 00:00:28 +0000 http://www.pokeyfinger.com/?p=763#comment-84 In the second paragraph, shouldn't "infallible" be "fallible"? In the second paragraph, shouldn’t “infallible” be “fallible”?

]]> Comment on Second and Third Derivations by beowulf http://www.pokeyfinger.com/2008/07/31/second-and-third-derivations/#comment-55 beowulf Thu, 31 Jul 2008 18:05:47 +0000 http://www.pokeyfinger.com/?p=733#comment-55 April DeConnick has <a href="http://forbiddengospels.blogspot.com/2008/07/accommodation-to-society-in-gnosticism.html" rel="nofollow">a relevant post</a> on hr blog about the Sethian Gnostics being accommodating to Pagan culture. April DeConnick has a relevant post on hr blog about the Sethian Gnostics being accommodating to Pagan culture.

]]> Comment on People and History by admin http://www.pokeyfinger.com/2008/07/27/people-and-history/#comment-54 admin Mon, 28 Jul 2008 23:10:01 +0000 http://www.pokeyfinger.com/?p=731#comment-54 So tell me: in the time you've spent working on a proper biography, did you ever uncover a reason for Abner being chosen as the inventor of baseball, besides his war record? So tell me: in the time you’ve spent working on a proper biography, did you ever uncover a reason for Abner being chosen as the inventor of baseball, besides his war record?

]]> Comment on People and History by admin http://www.pokeyfinger.com/2008/07/27/people-and-history/#comment-53 admin Mon, 28 Jul 2008 23:05:37 +0000 http://www.pokeyfinger.com/?p=731#comment-53 I presume you're referring to Doubleday. Here we were both wrong. There were quite a few "biographies" of Doubleday that came out in the '50s that went into great detail about his connection to baseball. I cannot personally vouch for the amount of manufactured content in these. None of his works on military history (which I presumed to be memoirs) seem to delve into matters as whimsical as gamemanship. I presume you’re referring to Doubleday. Here we were both wrong.

There were quite a few “biographies” of Doubleday that came out in the ’50s that went into great detail about his connection to baseball. I cannot personally vouch for the amount of manufactured content in these. None of his works on military history (which I presumed to be memoirs) seem to delve into matters as whimsical as gamemanship.

]]> Comment on People and History by tom barthel http://www.pokeyfinger.com/2008/07/27/people-and-history/#comment-52 tom barthel Mon, 28 Jul 2008 22:37:56 +0000 http://www.pokeyfinger.com/?p=731#comment-52 "He wrote memoirs and had biographies written about him." No one has yet written a biography. I have been working on just that for 30 months. “He wrote memoirs and had biographies written about him.”
No one has yet written a biography. I have been working on just that for 30 months.

]]> Comment on A Little Extra by Marvin Vining http://www.pokeyfinger.com/2008/06/16/a-little-extra/#comment-51 Marvin Vining Tue, 17 Jun 2008 02:56:11 +0000 http://www.pokeyfinger.com/?p=721#comment-51 My pleasure. And thanks for the insightful questions. I hope you don't mind me incorporating some of this material in my second edition :-) My pleasure. And thanks for the insightful questions. I hope you don’t mind me incorporating some of this material in my second edition :-)

]]> Comment on Book Review — The 13th Apostle by KJ Vandenberg http://www.pokeyfinger.com/2008/06/05/thirteenth-apostle/#comment-50 KJ Vandenberg Fri, 13 Jun 2008 04:28:05 +0000 http://www.pokeyfinger.com/2008/06/05/thirteenth-apostle/#comment-50 I actually agree with Pat Pierce. Obviously DeConick is more of a scholar than I'll ever be, but I don't think it's unreasonable that the Judas text is working on the same Sethian theme as the rewriting of the Genesis Garden of Eden story, where the serpent is rewritten as the knowledge-revealing hero. This theme can also be seen in, and explained by, the Greek Saviour story of Prometheus. Another hero who was such because he challenged and tricked God-Zeus rather than capitulate to his wishes. The gnostics, in my opinion, took the familiar themes and turned them inside out. This makes them notoriously difficult to understand to those 'not in the know'. To make them agree with the proto-orthodox tradition seems to me to do them a disservice. Before I go on, I really should read DeConick's work. I do enjoy her blog and her views tremendously. I actually agree with Pat Pierce. Obviously DeConick is more of a scholar than I’ll ever be, but I don’t think it’s unreasonable that the Judas text is working on the same Sethian theme as the rewriting of the Genesis Garden of Eden story, where the serpent is rewritten as the knowledge-revealing hero. This theme can also be seen in, and explained by, the Greek Saviour story of Prometheus. Another hero who was such because he challenged and tricked God-Zeus rather than capitulate to his wishes.

The gnostics, in my opinion, took the familiar themes and turned them inside out. This makes them notoriously difficult to understand to those ‘not in the know’. To make them agree with the proto-orthodox tradition seems to me to do them a disservice.

Before I go on, I really should read DeConick’s work. I do enjoy her blog and her views tremendously.

]]> Comment on Book Review — The 13th Apostle by Pat Pierce http://www.pokeyfinger.com/2008/06/05/thirteenth-apostle/#comment-49 Pat Pierce Thu, 12 Jun 2008 22:25:10 +0000 http://www.pokeyfinger.com/2008/06/05/thirteenth-apostle/#comment-49 I quite liked it too. But one thing that bothered me about DeConick's book is the whole take on the word daimon. It's well known that "daimon," especially in the first century, had multiple meanings, and certainly one of them would be, as the National Geographic team translated it, "spirit." In fact, it's actually more than likely that the translation IS more on the lines of a benign "spirit," because the Gnostics were so heavily influenced by Platonic ideas, and Plato often speaks of "daimons" in the sense of inferior divinities or, more heroically, spirits of dead warriors. Not evil, and possibly not good either -- just entities who are above the mortal realm but below the gods. The NG translators, I note in looking at my copy of the first edition of the Gospel of Judas, do footnote the possibility that "daimon" could be said to mean an actual evil "demon." But can anyone reading the rest of the text really think that is so? Jesus takes Judas aside to confide in him and share with him the mysteries of the kingdom - why would he do that with an evil entity? I think it's much more likely that this text is exactly what the National Geographic said -- and that it fits exactly into the mode of the Gospel of Mary Magdalene and the Gospel of Thomas and other Gnostic writings, in that the Gnostics take an unconventional apostle and make them the hero. I quite liked it too. But one thing that bothered me about DeConick’s book is the whole take on the word daimon. It’s well known that “daimon,” especially in the first century, had multiple meanings, and certainly one of them would be, as the National Geographic team translated it, “spirit.” In fact, it’s actually more than likely that the translation IS more on the lines of a benign “spirit,” because the Gnostics were so heavily influenced by Platonic ideas, and Plato often speaks of “daimons” in the sense of inferior divinities or, more heroically, spirits of dead warriors. Not evil, and possibly not good either — just entities who are above the mortal realm but below the gods. The NG translators, I note in looking at my copy of the first edition of the Gospel of Judas, do footnote the possibility that “daimon” could be said to mean an actual evil “demon.” But can anyone reading the rest of the text really think that is so? Jesus takes Judas aside to confide in him and share with him the mysteries of the kingdom – why would he do that with an evil entity? I think it’s much more likely that this text is exactly what the National Geographic said — and that it fits exactly into the mode of the Gospel of Mary Magdalene and the Gospel of Thomas and other Gnostic writings, in that the Gnostics take an unconventional apostle and make them the hero.

]]> Comment on Equilibrium by beowulf http://www.pokeyfinger.com/2008/06/04/equalibrium/#comment-43 beowulf Wed, 04 Jun 2008 15:49:48 +0000 http://www.pokeyfinger.com/2008/06/04/equalibrium/#comment-43 March 21 will be the day after the equinox next year, another whammy. March 21 will be the day after the equinox next year, another whammy.

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