Comments for THE LAND OF UNLIKENESS http://www.thelandofunlikeness.com Catholic Anglican Reflections on Theology and Culture Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:28:53 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Comment on Bulgakov Blog Conference, Day 2 by Eucharist, Eschatology, and World in the Ecclesiology of Bulgakov | Inhabitatio Dei http://www.thelandofunlikeness.com/2008/10/01/bulgakov-blog-conference-day-2/comment-page-1/#comment-26222 Eucharist, Eschatology, and World in the Ecclesiology of Bulgakov | Inhabitatio Dei Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:28:53 +0000 http://www.thelandofunlikeness.com/2008/10/01/bulgakov-blog-conference-day-2/#comment-26222 <!--%kramer-ref-pre%-->[...] own installment of the 2008 Bulgakov Blog Conference has just been posted over at Land of Unlikeness. I have [...]<!--%kramer-ref-post%--> Kramer auto Pingback[...] own installment of the 2008 Bulgakov Blog Conference has just been posted over at Land of Unlikeness. I have [...]

]]> Comment on Igor Stravinsky and sacred/secular music by Juliette de Marcellus http://www.thelandofunlikeness.com/2009/03/05/igor-stravinsky-and-sacredsecular-music/comment-page-1/#comment-26056 Juliette de Marcellus Mon, 09 Jan 2012 20:40:41 +0000 http://www.thelandofunlikeness.com/2009/03/05/igor-stravinsky-and-sacredsecular-music/#comment-26056 You have miss spelled la gloire de Dieu. You have miss spelled la gloire de Dieu.

]]> Comment on About TLOU by Part 2: Sufficiency and Satire: Reading the Consolation through the Menippean Form | Per Caritatem http://www.thelandofunlikeness.com/about/comment-page-1/#comment-25802 Part 2: Sufficiency and Satire: Reading the Consolation through the Menippean Form | Per Caritatem Wed, 14 Dec 2011 02:58:48 +0000 #comment-25802 <!--%kramer-ref-pre%-->[...] Dan   June 27th, 2008 2:23 [...]<!--%kramer-ref-post%--> Kramer auto Pingback[...] Dan   June 27th, 2008 2:23 [...]

]]> Comment on Bulgakov Blog Conference, Day 1, part 1 by The 2008 Bulgakov Blog Conference | Inhabitatio Dei http://www.thelandofunlikeness.com/2008/09/29/bulgakov-blog-conference-day-1-part-1/comment-page-1/#comment-25138 The 2008 Bulgakov Blog Conference | Inhabitatio Dei Thu, 27 Oct 2011 20:26:25 +0000 http://www.thelandofunlikeness.com/2008/09/29/bulgakov-blog-conference-day-1-part-1/#comment-25138 <!--%kramer-ref-pre%-->[...] Bulgakov Blog Conference has kicked off today with Cynthia Nielson’s supremely helpful introduction to Bulgakov. My own contribution will be coming up tomorrow and there are a large selection of other great [...]<!--%kramer-ref-post%--> Kramer auto Pingback[...] Bulgakov Blog Conference has kicked off today with Cynthia Nielson’s supremely helpful introduction to Bulgakov. My own contribution will be coming up tomorrow and there are a large selection of other great [...]

]]> Comment on Call for Papers – Sergii Bulgakov Blog Conference, September 2008 – Updated by Sergius Bulgakov http://www.thelandofunlikeness.com/2008/03/15/sergii-bulgakov-blog-conference-september-2008/comment-page-1/#comment-24880 Sergius Bulgakov Sun, 25 Sep 2011 08:37:10 +0000 http://www.thelandofunlikeness.com/2008/03/15/sergii-bulgakov-blog-conference-september-2008/#comment-24880 <!--%kramer-ref-pre%-->[...] Blog Conferencefrom Dan McClainI’d like to thank everyone who has offered to participate in the 2008 Bulgakov Blog Conference. We’ve had a ton of really positive response in the last week, and AD and I are really exciting [...]<!--%kramer-ref-post%--> Kramer auto Pingback[...] Blog Conferencefrom Dan McClainI’d like to thank everyone who has offered to participate in the 2008 Bulgakov Blog Conference. We’ve had a ton of really positive response in the last week, and AD and I are really exciting [...]

]]> Comment on More Bulgakov by sbulgakov: Aron Dunlap on Bulgakov with Herbert http://www.thelandofunlikeness.com/2007/09/23/more-bulgakov/comment-page-1/#comment-24664 sbulgakov: Aron Dunlap on Bulgakov with Herbert Thu, 28 Jul 2011 21:57:13 +0000 http://thelandofunlikeness.com/2007/09/23/more-bulgakov/#comment-24664 <!--%kramer-ref-pre%-->[...] [...]<!--%kramer-ref-post%--> Kramer auto Pingback[...] [...]

]]> Comment on lent: on death and dominion by Elsie http://www.thelandofunlikeness.com/2010/02/17/lent-on-death-and-dominion/comment-page-1/#comment-23655 Elsie Thu, 10 Mar 2011 19:11:54 +0000 http://www.thelandofunlikeness.com/2010/02/17/lent-on-death-and-dominion/#comment-23655 Lent on death and dominion.. Nifty :) Lent on death and dominion.. Nifty :)

]]> Comment on From an upcoming review on The Politics of Discipleship by Darkness Whistler http://www.thelandofunlikeness.com/2010/07/09/from-an-upcoming-review-on-the-politics-of-discipleship/comment-page-1/#comment-2360 Darkness Whistler Sun, 11 Jul 2010 19:17:43 +0000 http://www.thelandofunlikeness.com/?p=327#comment-2360 And...the "non-diaglogical" exstience of the humans in WALL-E as a parallel to the culture Ward is describing seems to me to be right on. And…the “non-diaglogical” exstience of the humans in WALL-E as a parallel to the culture Ward is describing seems to me to be right on.

]]> Comment on From an upcoming review on The Politics of Discipleship by Darkness Whistler http://www.thelandofunlikeness.com/2010/07/09/from-an-upcoming-review-on-the-politics-of-discipleship/comment-page-1/#comment-2359 Darkness Whistler Sun, 11 Jul 2010 19:15:06 +0000 http://www.thelandofunlikeness.com/?p=327#comment-2359 Great introduction to your review Dan. As you know, I am only partly through Ward's wonderful book (comprehensive exam readings unfortunately do not include him). I find his notion of "impolite interruption" to be particularly helpful and to be illumined quite helpfully by the WALL-E story. It seems to me that "interruption" of the simulacrum of global capitalistic culture can take (perhaps) a number of different forms, one of which at least is not really an interruption at all. It contrasts with Ward's form of interruption in that it seems agonistic and merely a continuation of the unending war of equally valid value preferences (of course there is the assumption of an Enlightenment metaphysic at work here that assumes a world of indisputable facts, which are quite distinguishable from these value preferences...we have brother Weber and the culture of capitalism to thank for this). I am thinking of a couple of examples of this in particular, one of which is pointed out by Ward himself (at least as far as I have read TPOD (The Politics of Discipleship). One, perhaps more banal, form of interruption that is no interruption, but a continuation, is the plethora of cultural/political commentary shows which fill both the radio and television air waves. They are no interruption because they do not acknowledge that politics are imagined and therefore require certain kinds of mythologies to fund and give them shape. They assume a very flat world in which everyone simply comes to the table with a common and basic rationality (namely, we are all individual consumers with value-laden preferences whose base desires can be appealed to in order to gain our confidence and support...often the support of our purchasing power). A lot of decontextualized stats and sophistry are thrown at us as viewers/consumers with no sense of the history(ies) and or socio-political traditions and assumptions out of which these stats and sophisms arise. An example would be Sean Hannity or Keith Oberman appealing for a particular judgement of "The Tea Party" movement (or whatever exactly it is). Another, which Ward describes, and which arises out of this same global capitalistic culture, is the way campaigns for state and national governmental offices are ran or campaigns or protests for issues of justice and peace are pursued. Moveon.org, pro-life, gay rights, antiwar, and some other groups and campaigns could be considered here. These campaigns (some of which I have participated in) are less and less about actual face to face meetings with those who one represents or hopes to represent and more and more about media consultants and lobbyists. Now, I certainly want to affirm the goodness of campaigns for a healthy justice, peace, etc. but the way these campaigns are conducted through the media and modes of capitalistic consumerism is more and more like the sophistry and ahistorical nature of the cultural/political pundits I mentioned above. These campaigns and commentary programs assume this same flat-consumerstic framework and are therefore agonistic in how they battle for our desires. I have not quite found a way to articulate it yet, but Ward's work of "interruption" seems to be of a different kind. Perhaps it is because he is seeking, through sustained engagement of the various streams of Christian theology/philosophy and contemporary philosophy, to shape another kind of imagination. And while he uses resources like the great theological ethicist John Howard Yoder, I don't get the sense the this imaginary or mythos he is articulating is one which paints a hard and fast boundary between Church and World. Therefore the Church is the erotic community that is to embody this imaginary and be engaged, as the Body of Christ, with the world so dominated by the Global Capitalistic, Post-democratic imaginary (ies). These are just some thoughts that are bouncing around my mind as I read him and the beginnings of your review on him. Again, great choice with the WALL-E analogy. I look forward to the rest of the review and any thoughts you have in reaction to what I have said. Peace, Greg (Darkness Whistler) Great introduction to your review Dan. As you know, I am only partly through Ward’s wonderful book (comprehensive exam readings unfortunately do not include him). I find his notion of “impolite interruption” to be particularly helpful and to be illumined quite helpfully by the WALL-E story. It seems to me that “interruption” of the simulacrum of global capitalistic culture can take (perhaps) a number of different forms, one of which at least is not really an interruption at all. It contrasts with Ward’s form of interruption in that it seems agonistic and merely a continuation of the unending war of equally valid value preferences (of course there is the assumption of an Enlightenment metaphysic at work here that assumes a world of indisputable facts, which are quite distinguishable from these value preferences…we have brother Weber and the culture of capitalism to thank for this).
I am thinking of a couple of examples of this in particular, one of which is pointed out by Ward himself (at least as far as I have read TPOD (The Politics of Discipleship). One, perhaps more banal, form of interruption that is no interruption, but a continuation, is the plethora of cultural/political commentary shows which fill both the radio and television air waves. They are no interruption because they do not acknowledge that politics are imagined and therefore require certain kinds of mythologies to fund and give them shape. They assume a very flat world in which everyone simply comes to the table with a common and basic rationality (namely, we are all individual consumers with value-laden preferences whose base desires can be appealed to in order to gain our confidence and support…often the support of our purchasing power). A lot of decontextualized stats and sophistry are thrown at us as viewers/consumers with no sense of the history(ies) and or socio-political traditions and assumptions out of which these stats and sophisms arise. An example would be Sean Hannity or Keith Oberman appealing for a particular judgement of “The Tea Party” movement (or whatever exactly it is).
Another, which Ward describes, and which arises out of this same global capitalistic culture, is the way campaigns for state and national governmental offices are ran or campaigns or protests for issues of justice and peace are pursued. Moveon.org, pro-life, gay rights, antiwar, and some other groups and campaigns could be considered here. These campaigns (some of which I have participated in) are less and less about actual face to face meetings with those who one represents or hopes to represent and more and more about media consultants and lobbyists. Now, I certainly want to affirm the goodness of campaigns for a healthy justice, peace, etc. but the way these campaigns are conducted through the media and modes of capitalistic consumerism is more and more like the sophistry and ahistorical nature of the cultural/political pundits I mentioned above.
These campaigns and commentary programs assume this same flat-consumerstic framework and are therefore agonistic in how they battle for our desires. I have not quite found a way to articulate it yet, but Ward’s work of “interruption” seems to be of a different kind. Perhaps it is because he is seeking, through sustained engagement of the various streams of Christian theology/philosophy and contemporary philosophy, to shape another kind of imagination. And while he uses resources like the great theological ethicist John Howard Yoder, I don’t get the sense the this imaginary or mythos he is articulating is one which paints a hard and fast boundary between Church and World. Therefore the Church is the erotic community that is to embody this imaginary and be engaged, as the Body of Christ, with the world so dominated by the Global Capitalistic, Post-democratic imaginary (ies).
These are just some thoughts that are bouncing around my mind as I read him and the beginnings of your review on him. Again, great choice with the WALL-E analogy. I look forward to the rest of the review and any thoughts you have in reaction to what I have said.
Peace,
Greg (Darkness Whistler)

]]> Comment on from Graham Ward’s Politics of Discipleship by DWM http://www.thelandofunlikeness.com/2010/06/21/from-graham-wards-politics-of-discipleship/comment-page-1/#comment-2031 DWM Wed, 23 Jun 2010 18:35:24 +0000 http://www.thelandofunlikeness.com/?p=287#comment-2031 Yeah, the excerpts are too easy to pass up, especially with so much work going into book reviews, an article, and the diss proposal right. I hope you can excuse my lack of original contribution :) As for your comment: see my next <a href="http://www.thelandofunlikeness.com/2010/06/23/bachelard-on-the-genesis-of-language-williams-on-theological-poetics/" rel="nofollow">excerpt</a>. Yeah, the excerpts are too easy to pass up, especially with so much work going into book reviews, an article, and the diss proposal right. I hope you can excuse my lack of original contribution :)

As for your comment: see my next excerpt.

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