Defending the 12th century since the 14th; blogging since the 21st.

Catholicism, Conservatism, the Middle Ages, Opera, and Historical and Literary Objets d'Art blogged by a suburban dad who teaches law and writes stuff.


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Who was Cacciaguida? See Dante's PARADISO, Cantos XV, XVI, & XVII.


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Why dying was, in fact, His reason for living

A while back I sort-of promised you a post on the positive role of violence in Christianity, with references to Rene Girard. I haven't written this -- but someone named John Laughland, identified as one who "teaches philosophy and politics in Paris", has. He does so in this article published in Lebanon (and I don't think they mean Lebanon, PA).

Along the way, he offers rocking interpretations of the episode of the woman taken in adultery, and of the last six of the Ten Commandments:

* In dealing with the crowd accusing the woman, Our Lord transforms them into from a crowd into individuals: "Let him who is without sin...." And the crowd disperses "one by one."

* If we look at the least six Commandments in reverse order, they describe the escalation of a Girardian cycle of violence. Thus, ancient Jewish law aims at banning the conditions that require blood-sacrifice; but only the New Law, in which the Victim is utterly innocent, can fulfill this aim and provide the definitive sacrifice.

Read it.

posted by Cacciaguida at 9:31 PM