The Hall of Fire

Well, Dan, I would consider as one "person" (whether a 'character' or not) Tolkien the living Oxford don and his slightly fictionalized self whenever his presence is explicit like the Narrator of The Hobbit or the Historian of the LR Prologue, or implicit, as the "translator" of ...

Self-castration had long been viewed with horror in both Hebrew and Roman societies, since it was associated with the bloody and orgiastic cult of Tammuz/Adonis; under Roman law it was punishable by death, and the Jews cast out any man who did so. Of course, the practice of maintaining eunuchs as co...

"“Translator’s note: The histories are here given in English of this day, translated from the version of Eriol of Leithien"


Wouldn't the 'translator' be Tolkien himself?

"“Translator’s note: The histories are here given in English of this day, translated from the version of Eriol of Leithien"


Wouldn't the 'translator' be Tolkien himself?

It's a man thing?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magdalene_ ... Revelation



It should be pointed out that, in the US at least, the declining number of priests has resulted in diocesan staffs increasingly comprising nuns and laywomen; bishop's offices are hardly boy's clubs any more.

Maureen Dowd's op-ed in the New York Times this morning, about the scandal, women, and the Catholic church, is the sharpest and most powerful piece of writing I've read from her in years Yopu think so, Prim? Really? I'm disappointed in you. Her comparison of Catholicism to Wahabist Islam and its tr...

He seems to be speaking as an individual, though, and not as a spokesperson for the RCC.

Since he's retired, that's a given. A revolting opinion.

I agree, Yovargas: the last guy is getting rich off fraud. The poo and pee stuff is silly, and I wouldn't object to silly but for the fact that my tax dollars went to support it.

What I find funniest is 500 'art scholars' soberly pronouncing DuChamp's 'Fountain' to be the mosts significant work of the 20th-century- blissfully clueless, apparently, that DuChamp was snarkily sending up 'sober art scholars!' I've long thought that if anyone were to write a new book on this stuf...

[Language warning]

http://www.cracked.com/article_16107_6- ... s-art.html

"Of course it's art! It's sitting on a plinth, isn't it?"

--Germaine Greer

I'm with Lord M here. I wouldn't be troubled in the least if this 'pastor' led a Unitarian congregation or some New Age group or what have you. My problem is that he is in charge of what calls itself, specifically a Christian church, part of the Dutch Reformed (Calvinist) faith. To go back to the fo...

I don't have any problem with this fellow believing, and preaching, whatever he chooses. I think however that if I were a parishioner of what purports to be a Dutch Reformed church, I would be rather upset at the chap drawing a salary for what he is not.

The thing is, the reason I back out, is, I find myself (inevitably) wondering what on earth Sauron and the Mouth of Sauron and the Orcs and Saruman and all the rest were going to do with Middle Earth once they had it. I doubt they had a particular idea- well, maybe Sauron did. Power or the lust for...

Painful memories of the strained relations between the two religions were raised earlier in Benedict's papacy, when he favored a revival of the pre-Vatican Council version of the Tridentine Mass, which includes a prayer for the conversion of Jews. And even that is inaccurate- why can't reporters ge...

it should be left to the victims to decide whether to pursue remedies through the criminal justice system

I wouldn't even agree with that. The cases should be pursued through the criminal justice system, period.

As an outsider (or a once-insider), I have often wondered whether the Church's view of the fixed-nature of doctrine is something like our secular notion of stare decisis, which as you know provides that our legal decisions are final/precedential/binding ... unless they are not. No, they're more lik...

Whatever Jesus might or might not think about the wealth, power, gilt and purple trappings of the RCC, he would surely be appalled to hear that any man professing to follow his teachings would harm a child. I don't think you're seriously trying to imply that the Church teaches that child molestatio...

vison, you seem to misunderstand the fundamental nature of Catholicism: doctrine isn't subject to change . It's not a question of getting in tune with popular opinion, or 'welcoming new ideas' where it comes to matters of faith and morals. Sure, the outward trappings can and do change, like Mass in ...

What if, instead of defrocking those priests, he had welcomed their ideas? Welcome the ideas of priests who preach violent Marxist revolution? Not. Gonna. Happen. Married clergy is a possibility. Women priests? Not so likely; it would require a change in dogma, which is (theoretically) unchangeable...