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author | Matěj Cepl <mcepl@cepl.eu> | 2021-03-08 00:10:04 +0100 |
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committer | Matěj Cepl <mcepl@cepl.eu> | 2021-03-08 00:10:04 +0100 |
commit | 088477a4d031bd59cf68ed5b3b5b93f8836b1cac (patch) | |
tree | bd27f8230e2a2cbd8fb2a22acb6f7139d63d67c8 | |
parent | 47f454ee691bcfe35d19a14e729dd967c33e2394 (diff) | |
download | blog-source-088477a4d031bd59cf68ed5b3b5b93f8836b1cac.tar.gz |
On humanism
-rw-r--r-- | faith/on-humanism.rst | 78 | ||||
-rw-r--r-- | faith/working-class-snape.rst | 27 |
2 files changed, 103 insertions, 2 deletions
diff --git a/faith/on-humanism.rst b/faith/on-humanism.rst new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e1ce9af --- /dev/null +++ b/faith/on-humanism.rst @@ -0,0 +1,78 @@ +On Humanism +########### + +:date: 2021-03-07T22:00:24 +:category: faith +:tags: Christianity, + +I have heard today yet another sermon where the preacher fought +against the great of evil of humanism (fortunately, this was +a tangential comment, the main point of sermon was something else +and it was very good). It irked me again as it does anytime (most +often) American protestant pastor fights against the evils of +humanism. Two reasons: + +1. Calling humanism evil is just using wrong label, the label + which means a lot of very good things. Humanism_ was very + strange combination of things which very good and some which + were very bad, but making it sound all bad is just great + disservice to many things which I hold dear. Humanism means + the beginning of the rationalist tradition of modern Europe, + it means great movement *ad fontes* which gave us the modern + translations of Bible, modern Biblical hermeneutics, + Reformation, revival of the doctrine of the Incarnation, sons + of humanism were all great Reformers of the sixteenth century, + Martin Luther, Jean Calvin, Czech brethren, Jan Ámos Komenský. + Yes, it also meant an unsuccessful Florentine revival of the + Greek paganism, first weak attempts of atheism, but still + I don’t think it was that unequivocally bad. + + Even if the author of such claim admits that it was just + a sloppy using of the term humanism for just its modern + version, still I am not persuaded I can take this modern + humanism as unequivocally evil. I gave today to my Mum as + a gift a book “Skoro modlitby” (Almost prayers), a collection + of quotations from the books of Karel Čapek, who is one of the + most fundamental representative of the Czech humanist + tradition (together with Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, our first + President, whose one of the most fundamental books is “Ideály + humanitní” (Ideals of humanity)). Again, I am not completely + persuaded about this tradition, there is a lot on it, which is + not great, but older I am getting more I am returning to some + of its aspects: stress on “práce drobná” (small acts of work, + which is usually more important than a great showy + accomplishment), humility, patience with us and with others. + Again, I cannot say this humanism is the root of all evil of + the modern world. + +2. And yet, if we even mention that it is just a wrong label for + something which is truly evil, I still don’t know what we are + talking about. Whenever I ask what actually is that humanism, + which is so evil, I am pointed towards anthropocentrism and + statement by the ancient Greek pre-Socratic philosopher + Protagoras that “Man is the measure of all things”. Wikipedia + claims that Plato interpreted it (in the Socratic dialogue + named after Protagoras himself) as there is no objective + truth. + + First, I have no idea what does it have to do with Erasmus of + Rotterdam, Lorenzo Valla, or Karel Čapek. + + Second, and what’s much more important, I still don’t + understand how the obscure Socratic dialogue has anything to + do with the pains of the current world, and especially what + should I do to overcome its ultra-evil influence. The word + “humanism” is so incredibly vague, that I really don’t know + what specifically I should be worried about, what should + I avoid. The term sounds more than useful label for something + specific as a shibolet, public declaration of membership in + the community, with no meaning whatsoever. “I am a good guy, + because I declare my opposition to humanism, whatever it + means”. + + What exactly I am supposed to do, or not to do? Would that + preacher take the time and make one sermon specifically + explaining what exactly he/she means under this term? + +.. _Humanism: + https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance_humanism diff --git a/faith/working-class-snape.rst b/faith/working-class-snape.rst index 83e1802..570e70a 100644 --- a/faith/working-class-snape.rst +++ b/faith/working-class-snape.rst @@ -42,8 +42,22 @@ Severus and Lily because they got into very posh boarding school, Petunia because of her marriage with a more-or-less successful salesman (perhaps because of gratitude she was willing to stick with him even if he was completely obnoxious and perhaps even -abusive?). I found some_ threads_ which_ at least partially -acknowledge this. +abusive?). + +I found some_ threads_ which_ at least partially acknowledge +this. + +--- + +**{participants on the thread added other interesting references}** + +* “`Picketing For Peace by HissyTheDangerNoodle`_” + … working-class Snape decides to help his father during + nation-wide strikes of the Thatcherite era. + +* “`Curry Sauce, Scraps and a Smack by Jaxon`_” + +* “`A dealer, not a Death Eater by Jaxon`_” .. _`All Our Kin: Snape and Evanses flight from the urban poverty of early 1980s`: @@ -63,3 +77,12 @@ acknowledge this. .. _which: https://www.reddit.com/r/HPfanfiction/comments/eqrzg6/lf_tobias_snape_is_a_coal_miner/ + +.. _`Picketing For Peace by HissyTheDangerNoodle`: + https://archiveofourown.org/works/13334973 + +.. _`Curry Sauce, Scraps and a Smack by Jaxon`: + https://archiveofourown.org/works/12846999 + +.. _`A dealer, not a Death Eater by Jaxon`: + https://archiveofourown.org/works/14046060 |