“In many pre-modern, traditional societies it is through his or her membership in a variety of social groups that the individual identifies himself or herself and is identified by others. I am brother, cousin and grandson, member of this household, that village, this tribe. These are not characteristics that belong to human beings accidentally, to be stripped away in order to discover ‘the real me’. They are part of my substance, defining partially at least and sometimes wholly my obligations and my duties. Individuals inherit a particular space within an interlocking set of social relationships: Lacking that space, they are nobody, or at least a stranger and an outcast. To know oneself as such a social person is however not to occupy a static and fixed position. It is to find oneself placed at a certain point on a journey with set goals; to move through life is to make progress – or fail to make progress – toward a given end. Thus a completed and fulfilled life is an achievement and death is the point at which someone can be judged happy or unhappy. Hence the ancient Greek proverb: ‘Call no man happy until he is dead.’

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]]> http://www.insurgentamerican.net/2011/08/31/after-sex-war-%e2%80%93-or-reflections-on-jesus-gender-and-postmodern-life/feed/ http://www.insurgentamerican.net/2011/08/31/after-sex-war-%e2%80%93-or-reflections-on-jesus-gender-and-postmodern-life/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/InsurgentAmerican/~3/tQtIgVukNe8/ http://www.insurgentamerican.net/2011/02/27/unpacking-the-lords-prayer/#comments Sun, 27 Feb 2011 18:12:53 +0000 stan http://www.insurgentamerican.net/2011/02/27/unpacking-the-lords-prayer/ Most of us raised Christian have memorized one version or another of the Lord’s Prayer, or the Pater Noster. A version appears in two Gospels, Matthew and Luke.

The most popular version goes:

Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us,
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.

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]]> http://www.insurgentamerican.net/2011/02/27/unpacking-the-lords-prayer/feed/ http://www.insurgentamerican.net/2011/02/27/unpacking-the-lords-prayer/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/InsurgentAmerican/~3/Z-LFs1VcJr4/ http://www.insurgentamerican.net/2009/06/24/midrash-on-money-draft/#comments Wed, 24 Jun 2009 10:57:17 +0000 stan http://www.insurgentamerican.net/2009/06/24/midrash-on-money-draft/ Stan Goff

He that puts not out his money to interest, nor takes reward against the innocent. He that does these things shall never be moved.

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]]> http://www.insurgentamerican.net/2009/06/24/midrash-on-money-draft/feed/ http://www.insurgentamerican.net/2009/06/24/midrash-on-money-draft/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/InsurgentAmerican/~3/jx7iR8a8TYw/ http://www.insurgentamerican.net/2009/05/19/talk-given-at-wake-forest-university-april-2009/#comments Tue, 19 May 2009 11:18:23 +0000 stan http://www.insurgentamerican.net/2009/05/19/talk-given-at-wake-forest-university-april-2009/ Militarism patriarchy capitalism pornography
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]]> http://www.insurgentamerican.net/2009/05/19/talk-given-at-wake-forest-university-april-2009/feed/ http://www.insurgentamerican.net/2009/05/19/talk-given-at-wake-forest-university-april-2009/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/InsurgentAmerican/~3/reJ3d-ItVvY/ http://www.insurgentamerican.net/2009/04/09/apocalypse-now-small-group-section-5-revelation/#comments Thu, 09 Apr 2009 10:15:24 +0000 stan http://www.insurgentamerican.net/2009/04/09/apocalypse-now-small-group-section-5-revelation/

“Apocalypse Now” Small Group
For Lent — from February 25 (Ash Wednesday) to April 11 (Easter is the 12th)
All Saints United Methodist Church