Friday!

[fox_c]

So here I am at the end of the week; not too bad, all things said and done. Work is moving along at a nice clip - not too slow, not too frantic. Just about right. Granted this won't last long, but hey, enjoy it while you can

Comments

His Dark Materials

[beelady]

I'm so glad you got around to finding the rest of it and reading it all.

I know that it is considered heretical in some quarters, but something is only heretical if you mean it as a direct attack? Or if you deliberately mean to inflame? I don't know. Pullman is open and outspoken in his non-religious but I have no idea whether he meant it to be heretical. Critical possibly...quite possibly. I found it spiritually challenging in that sense, but only in a way that made me think more about how I live my faith, rather than to shake my faith directly. (If that makes any kind of sense). I know some raging persons who won't touch this or HP with a ten foot pole and they have been lumped together for criticism. This is entirely unfair in my mind. I like both very much, but for me, HP is more like...boys own adventure stuff with a serious side. HDM is similar in that sense, but with a much more darker edge in the literary sense. The writing has a different quality too - not better or worse, just different. DT is the person to talk to about this as he reads these two, Tolkien, Jordan and allllll the rest and still maintains his outlook.

I just know good writing when I read it. I read The Subtle Knife around the time I was candidating and man, did I wish I had one....Discernment is SO not my gifting!!

Re: His Dark Materials

[rabbitwarren]

Oh! Heresy versus Blasphemy. We actually just covered this in my Literary Obscenity of the 20th Century class. Heresy generally not only attacks the Church but puts forth an organized or structured alternative or counter argument; a genuine undermining as opposed to a blasphemy vague attack or disrespect. It's been a while since I've read His Dark Materials, but I think you could make a very good argument for it being heretical, although conversely I think that you would have a much harder time with Harry Potter since it seems much less of a structured and organized counter option to conventional religion. Of course on top of all that there is the question of WHAT religion is it heretical to, since Lutherism was heretical to Catholicism but I'm sure the practitioners don't consider themselves heretics.

Fun new vocabulary (for me anywho) was heterodoxy, which simply means a mild divergence from orthodox teachings. Then there were a lot of fantastic words attached to heresy which I now can't remember (grumble) ooo, wait, I have a GIANT dictionary, and really I much prefer the paper ones to internet when you are just browsing for something (heraldry.. no, but pretty shields, v. nice big dictionary. hermaphrodite bridge has a pretty picture of a ship AH, here we go)
heresimach: person actively combating heresy
heresiography: treatise on heresy

oh man, I really like my obscenity class.

(aargh, wasn't signed in. Although chances are everyone knew it was me)

Re: His Dark Materials

[fox_c]

What is candidating? What do you mean by discernment?

Re: His Dark Materials

[beelady]

I was a candidate for Foundation in Ministry training in ...whenever it was.... 2002? Or so? Obviously, i wasn't successful. At the time I could have used a Subtle Knife to help me!

Discernment of God's voice in that context...decision making in general. I dither a LOT (as you are gathering - I'm talking to you online while I write this).