Tag: christianity

by jad

Rothko, Sontag, and a Book Called Fotografare

“The people who weep before my pictures are having the same religious experience I had when I painted them.” That’s what Mark Rothko said in 1965 about the colorfield work he’s most famous for, an insistence on a “meaning” behind the “abstraction” that his son, Christopher, has reiterated in interviews about the major exhibit he co-curated in Florence this year: “He wanted those who looked at his paintings to experience the same religious experience that he had while creating them.” I’m no art historian and had no sense of his intentions when I encountered a Rothko in real life for … Continue reading “Rothko, Sontag, and a Book Called Fotografare” →

by jad

Assisi, and a Pasta Lunch About Empire

While we were still in Umbria, we took a day trip out to Assisi, the home of Saint Francis. Our main motivation was to meet up with Christine’s host family from when she came here as a WWOOFer, working on a farm for little bit while we still lived in Lebanon and she had to leave the country anyway to renew her visa. But she also really just wanted to see Assisi. I had zero expectations and was quite taken by the beauty of the area. We spent most of our time having a delightful pranzo with the older couple, … Continue reading “Assisi, and a Pasta Lunch About Empire” →

by jad

Easter, Žižek, and Abolishing ICE

The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. Happy Easter to all who celebrate. x I didn’t pay attention to the calendar when I booked our tickets to see Žižek months ago—it was last night, one of the biggest nights of the year at work—so I didn’t end up going. But Christine did. Here’s the man signing my scrapbook (he said I was very wise to ask for his signature on that—don’t tell his publisher) in a photo that Christine took using her old PowerShot called “Pete.” Look at how this self-proclaimed Christian Atheist is … Continue reading “Easter, Žižek, and Abolishing ICE” →

by jad

Gunther Anders, the Bomb, and the Thingification of Man

Pope Leo XIV was reported the other day as saying on AI: “We currently interact with machines as if they were interlocutors and thus become almost an extension of them. In this sense, we not only run the risk of losing sight of the faces of the people around us, but of forgetting how to recognize and cherish all that is truly human.” It sounds like typical priestly pablum, the kind that anyone who has ever spent any time in a Catholic school might roll their eyes at out of force of habit; I can almost hear Father Madi crooning … Continue reading “Gunther Anders, the Bomb, and the Thingification of Man” →

by jad

Japan Trip: St. Mary’s Cathedral, Tokyo

This is St. Mary’s Cathedral, built in 1964 to commemorate 100 years of Christianity in Japan. This was also two decades after the first cathedral had been destroyed in WWII. The building was designed by Kenzo Tange in the shape of a cross, with eight hyperbolic parabolas opening upwards to form a cross of light, which continues vertically along the length of the four facades. The design would later inspire San Franscisco’s own St Mary’s. I found the building breathtaking, with the brut concrete interior even more effective than the outside. But apparently, the clerical authorities were lukewarm about it, … Continue reading “Japan Trip: St. Mary’s Cathedral, Tokyo” →

by jad

Some Sort of Attempt

When I was finding my way back to some kind of Christian faith, I stumbled on a zine from the 80s called “A Pinch of Salt,” initially founded by a group rather cheekily calling itself C.I.A., or “Christians Interested in Anarchism.” I was a would-be radical fumbling around for some sort of faith, and they were a group whose tagline in the early days was “some sort of an attempt at revolutionary Christianity,” and it completely turned what I thought I’d known about the religion of my birth upside-down. Indeed, one of the pages of first issue boldly declared in … Continue reading “Some Sort of Attempt” →

by jad

Salt of the Earth

Who are the “salt of the earth”? The working class, the poor, the ordinary people who sustain the world through unrecognized labor and quiet endurance. We get this phrase from the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:13, where Jesus is alluding to the high value of salt in the Judeo-Roman economy. It was so valuable that Roman soldiers were paid with it, giving us the word “salary,” from the Latin “sal” for salt. Salt is valuable because it preserves and gives flavor, so Jesus uses it as a metaphor for his disciples’ role in the world. Today, Christians take … Continue reading “Salt of the Earth” →

by jad

The Party of Overthrow

“How long, O Lord, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?” That’s Engels quoting the souls of the martyrs slain for the word of God who cry out with a loud voice saying: “How long, O Lord?” And this is what Engels hears in the response they’re given; to rest for a little while yet, for more martyrs must be slain: “So here it is not yet a question of a ‘religion of love,’ of ‘love your enemies, bless them that curse you, etc.’ Here undiluted revenge is preached, sound, honest revenge … Continue reading “The Party of Overthrow” →

by jad

If We Deny Our Happiness

Today’s #AdventWord is “joy” because this coming Sunday’s traditionally called “Gaudete Sunday,” from the Latin word for “rejoice.” Gaudete, gaudete!Christus est natusEx Maria virgine,gaudete! This got me thinking about the ambiguities of celebration in the midst of suffering, and how even Bethlehem couldn’t bring itself to celebrate Christmas last year, out of respect for Gaza. Even my mother wondered if I’d find decorations hurtful coming home after five Christmases away; I said no. In fact, I was looking forward to seeing them again. I found a poem called ‘A Brief for the Defense’ by Jack Gilbert while thinking about joy … Continue reading “If We Deny Our Happiness” →

by jad

Advent I

Today is the first Sunday of Advent, the start of a season that’s become a bit of a barometer of my mood every year. There have been years when I was energized and engaged, turning the weeks before Christmas into an art project or two, often using the prompts made by @adventword. And there are other years when I felt the exact opposite: drained, dejected, and disengaged. This year feels different in a new way. I’m somewhere in between. I’m busier than ever before, but I don’t want the same old rituals. Or maybe I want to engage with them … Continue reading “Advent I” →