Memorial Day

My father's cousin: Sgt. Tommy Flynn, USMC, Vietnam.
Lived with villagers in the mountains CAP team, Papa Three, near Cam Lo just a few miles south of the DMZ, as described in A Voice of Hope.

My father:
Pfc. Joseph Flynn, 5th Eng. Btn., 5th Marine Division, USMC
Iwo Jima, Japanese Occupation

My grandfather:
Pfc. Harry Singley, 304th Eng., 72nd "Rainbow" Div., AEF
St. Mihel, Meuse-Argonne Offensive
"a little shrapnel in the leg, a whiff of gas"

My wife's great-great grandfather:

Pvt. John H. Hammontree, Co. H, 5th Tenn. Inf., US Vol., (3rd Bgd., 3rd Div., 23rd Army Corps, US Army of the Ohio)

Atlanta Campaign: Dalton, Rocky Faced Ridge, Resaca (bullet wound in left leg)

(Note: The photograph is actually of his cousin, Hiram.  Nine or ten Hammontree cousins served in Company H, 5th Tennessee.) 

Pvt. James Hammontree, 
Capt. Duncan's Co., Col. Bunch's Regt. (2nd Regt. East Tennessee Militia)
Battle of Horseshoe Bend (Gen. Andrew Jackson)
Creek (Red Stick) War, incl. in War of 1812

(Grandfather of previous)

Pvt. John Hammontree. 
Capt. John Mountjoy's Co. of Foot, 10th Virginia, Continental Line.
Deceased. 24 Feb 1778 at Valley Forge.

Pvt. Harris[on] Hammontree.   
Capt. Wm. Cunningham's Co. of Foot, 1st Virginia, Continental Line.  
Reported sick at Valley Forge.  
Killed by Indians on VA frontier, 25 Jul. 1781 
(Great-uncles of previous)

Trinity Sunday

Okay, I'm a day late, but I thought it would be amusing to consider the justification of the Trinity.  To many folks the whole idea seems wildly contradictory, and makes one wonder why so many very smart people had no problem with it.  There are two possibilities.  Those very smart people weren't so smart or we just don't get it. 

The latter is not beyond possibility.  The folks of those days operated with different categories of thought than we do.  Many of them used the system known as Neoplatonism, but for the most part they used the system known as Aristotelianism.  To moderns, the differences are hard to see, primarily because they are both different from Scientism.  To post moderns, all three are Whatever.

It is interesting that the founder of Neoplatonism, Plotinus, deduced a Trinity from Platonic principles, which he called the One, the Intellect, and the Soul.    If you note a similarity between that and the Christian Trinity of Creator, Word, and Spirit, you will not be the first.  Plotinus worked while Christianity was gaining popularity, but before the terrible persecutions.  (Plotinus also gathered twelve disciples around him, one of whom [Porphyry] gathered his teachings into books and wrote a biography of his teacher.)  Neoplatonism was very popular among early Christians.  Thus, when we read that Hypatia of Alexandria "succeeded to the school of Plato and Plotinus," we should understand 1) she was teaching a philosophy that most Christians found agreeable and 2) she would not likely have been an atheist. 

Plotinus' arguments can be found here, here, and here. 

The Aristotelian argument, as articulated by Aquinas, runs differently.  (We must assume certain things as already having been demonstrated in prior proofs.) 

You Don't Have to Be Hollywood

to gives things the Hollywood treatment.  There is a movie out about the burning of the "second library of Alexandria" and the murder of Hypatia that plays all the long-debunked myths of Gibbons.  There is a review of it here at Armarium Magnum

Hey, she looks pretty hot for a philosopher who was in her fifties at the time she was murdered.  (And yes, we know.  She is wearing First Century garb in the Fifth Century.  So do the Roman soldiers, who wear the lorica segmentata.)

The director recognizes that the Great Library that was attached to the Museum no longer existed in the fifth century.  The last clear reference to it is from AD 135.  Strabo does not mention it at all in his Geography, even though he gives an otherwise detailed survey of the Museum and the Palace precincts.  For that matter, there is no evidence that a library was housed in the Serapeum at the time that the emperor ordered the temple demolished.  (The demolition was carried out by Imperial troops as well as by the city mob.)  All of the scenes that push the director's agenda seem to have been invented from whole cloth or to have been altered from the primary sources.  There is no record that Hypatia was killed for her learning or for being an uppity woman.  (In fact, one scholar I know states that a female teacher speaking in public was more likely to be a Christian than a pagan.  Hypatia is not referred to as a pagan in the primary sources, only as a teacher of Neoplatonism.  But Neoplatonism was viewed quite favorably by Christians.  Had not Plotinus himself deduced that God was necessarily Triune?  Was not Augustine of Hippo himself learned in the philosophy?) 

The director has confused modern fundamentalism with the fifth century. 

Oh, and he also tries to convince the audience that Hypatia was on the verge of heliocentrism, just so the audience is subliminally conditioned to imagine how "science" was stopped dead in its tracks by the mob. 

Addendum
A couple of reviewers of the movie have noted a peculiarity.  All of the wicked Christians dress in black and are played by swarthy Middle Eastern types and speak in Middle Eastern accents.  All of the noble pagans and "good" Christians are white, wear white clothes and speak in upper class British accents.  Hmm.  Is there a tinge of racism in there?  

For those that are interested, the full story of the political intrigues that led to her murder is contained in the Ecclesiastical History by Socrates Scholasticus.  (There is further material in a parallel book by Sozomen, but the latter's History ended with his death prior to reaching the time of the murder.) 

Socrates Scholasticus, Ecclesiastical History, Book VII, ch. 13-15.

The Alexandrian public is more delighted with tumult than any other people: and if at any time it should find a pretext, breaks forth into the most intolerable excesses; for it never ceases from its turbulence without bloodshed.

Two Pretty Good Movies

But they might be hard to find. 

Now This is Funny

 

Sometimes, the Mask Slips, a Little....

The Besserwissers really do think they are born to rule. 

In an interview published by Spanish language newspaper La Vanguardia [Woody] Allen says “I am pleased with Obama. I think he’s brilliant. The Republican Party should get out of his way and stop trying to hurt him.”

But wait - there's more!

The director said "it would be good…if he could be a dictator for a few years because he could do a lot of good things quickly."

Woody, Woody, shouldn't you at least try to hide it a bit more? 

Well, it's Fox News, and the remainder of the post reminds us of Mr. Allen's unseemly relations with his step-daughter.  But I suppose someone who reads Spanish could hunt down the website.  I tried to access it, but it would not load up for some reason.  
entertainment.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/05/17/woody-allen-president-obama-dictator/

www.lavanguardia.es/.../woody-allen-seria-buena-una-dictadura-de-obama-durante-unos-cuantos-anos.html

Good Advice

I ran across the following letter on another message board.  I copy it here together with a follow-up but without the fellow's name.

Mark, thought you'd want to know: I just finished Mike Flynn's The January Dancer. Oh my freaking good golly, Mark, it is stunning. I am at an utter loss for words. I didn't think anything could top Eifelheim for emotional impact, but TJD does.

On to Up Jim River!

I cannot find it in me to disagree.  He responds to a comment as follows

I have been telling anyone willing to listen -- and a few who aren't willing -- that Eifelheim is probably on a par with The Lord of the Rings in its originality, depth, and emotional impact. It is simply that good.

The January Dancer is that good too. Besides being rollicking good space opera, its surprise-twist ending makes it rollicking good detective fiction as well. I was simply stunned at the conclusion, repeating to myself, "Why didn't I see that coming? All the ingredients were there!" as I read and re-read the last few pages. It is simply masterful.

This is almost too much.  I said "almost."  Is he wrong?  I might not compare it to LOTR; but neither do I think it sucks rocks.  I can only hope that his hyperbole on January Dancer does not set him up for a let-down on Up Jim River.  Besides, sales really ought to be better, I'm thinking.